The "big night out," the "prom day," or, as a guy was shouting, hanging out from a car window, "Fuck you, losers! I've just graduated!" is the tradition of extravagant proms held each year at the end of May across Bulgaria. Thousands of graduating high-school students, aged 18 to 19, hold their proms—an expensive ritual symbolizing the break between the carelessness of their youth and the responsibility of early adulthood.

With each passing year, the party becomes flashier, the dresses shorter, and the boys' attitudes more thuggish. The cars are getting increasingly expensive, and the music is now predominantly "chalga" or pop-folk—a folk-inspired dance music with a blend of Bulgarian, Greek, Turkish, and Arabic influences. Oh, and these balloons are no longer filled with helium...

Yet, there is something magical and surreal about that moment. I spent the last week of May photographing these young people. I deliberately chose a more abstract and minimalistic approach, focusing on the emotions this tradition provoked in me. I sought the beauty of the moment, going beyond the obvious. One particular picture, in which a girl takes a selfie in front of a ridiculously long white limousine, provoked me to develop this mini-series. She stands there alone, all by herself, with an open car door as a metaphor for the long road walked and the unknown that will unfold in front of her after that night of celebrating the end of youth. Ultimately, there is hope that when we close one chapter, we open another one. And the best is yet to come...

@marrtin_iliev