Masters of Photography Vol. 13 – Australians is now available and we are already on to the next one. This time, Fashion Industry Broadcast goes global. From Seoul to Berlin, “Masters of Photography Vol. 52 – Next Gen” is a carefully-curated selection of emerging artists who we think might be the next big thing. This art book will feature an amazing selection of their work, as well as thought-provoking interviews.
Every Monday,we will introduce you to one of these new talents. Today, we are flying away to Ukraine for an exclusive interview with Tania Shcheglova & Roman Noven a.k.a Synchrodogs.
How would you describe your style?
Unconventional and nature-related.
How and when did you decide to become a professional photographer?
There wasn’t an exact moment. We were just shooting a lot because we loved it and were developing ourselves constantly to become professionals.
Where do you find inspiration?
In nature, night dreams, the subconscious and in our own meditation technique.
Who are your favourite photographers of all time and why are they so special to you?
We try to avoid the influence of other artists on our art so we rarely read art blogs or magazines. There are so many great artists around, but nobody that we can specifically mention.
This art book features photographers from the entire world and each of them has a very specific identity. How do you think your geographic location affects your work?
Being born in Ukraine makes it hard to get your work noticed. There is no way you can meet somebody influential who will help you starting an international career here, so you have to achieve everything by yourself. And when you know you have to work harder to make it, you put more and more effort into your work and you become a perfectionist.
If you could move to any city in the world, where would you like to live and work as a photographer?
We haven’t decided yet, but New York sounds cosy.
What are you five dream locations to shoot?
‘Dream locations’ means we will definitely shoot there sooner or later and we never give our secrets away, sorry!
How would you describe the photography industry in your country? What are the chances for a young artist to ‘make it’ and become global?
There is much less of a chance to become famous by accident here in Ukraine. You have to work hard for years to get known. There is one internationally known and respected art institution in Ukraine called Pinchuk Art Center, which organizes the Pinchuk Art Prize every year -we were nominated for it in 2013. It gives Ukrainian artists a nice chance to move forward in their career by taking Ukrainian artists to the Venice Biennale. It is a good step in the career ladder.
As young photographers, you have been part of a big switch in the industry. Indeed, photography today is much more democratised than a few decades ago. Everyone can have access to retouching programs, publishing sites and good cameras. What are your thoughts on the evolution of the industry and the impact it has on your work?
Progress is always good; it just gives us more options. We still use professional film cameras for many projects, even though there are so many digital camera options available nowadays. We also use very little retouching. There are so many possibilities; it’s great to be able to choose whether you need something or not.
A lot of young photographers got discovered thanks to their Tumblr or Instagram account. What is your relationship with social media platforms?
Social media platforms are so important nowadays, not just for us but for business globally. People use Facebook more than any other website: they read the news; see updates in groups, etc. Our Facebook page is also very important to us as artists. We count near 110k followers so we have to regularly update it with news, create content and communicate. It allows us to grow.
Post manipulation has been long debated, especially in commercial and fashion photography. How much do you retouch your images and what is your opinion on the whole body image debate?
We usually only use a little bit of retouching to correct white balance and light. Film doesn’t like too much post production, and it’s also hard to manipulate pictures with film grain so that they still look natural. For commercial shoots there may be more post-production work but these are the industry’s requirements – pictures should look perfect, clean and appealing, but still not artificial and lifeless.