Haunting Experimenting! Synchrodogs is a team of two photographers living in Ukraine – Tania Shcheglova and Roman Noven, dreaming of some warmer time to come. They are always gay and happy, though sleepy answering the questions. They wake up at 1 pm and go to bed at 3, spend their days traveling to the most awful cities of Ukraine and sometimes living in trains, eating sushi for the last money in a pocket and playing with every cat they meet on the street.
KALTBLUT: What elements from different cultures do you enjoy bringing together in your photography?
Synchrodogs: We love Ukrainian kitch together with people’s trying to look Europeans. We stand for unobvious mixtures so that people can not recognize which culture it actually is inspired by, but more attention we usually pay to the elements that look weird and unsure, which can not be defined as “post soviet”, “american“ or some other nonsense.
KALTBLUT: I’ve noticed Synchrodogs are making excellent and innovative use of the background and surroundings. How important is this for your pictures?
Synchrodogs: We usually make use of any good place we come across. Location may be a truly inspirational thing for us, some ideas we just keep in mind for a long time until we meet the correct background. At late spring–late autumn time we drive our motorbike far away from the city and stop only the moment we find a new shot. As winter is too cold to shoot in Ukraine we visit all the indoors being in constant search.
KALTBLUT: What potential do lo-fi cameras have that others lack?
Synchrodogs: Hm, you may ask the lo-fi camera users. We shoot contax g2 and like making a picture look crappy, even plastic. The main thing is what the picture says and what the picture shows, which reaction it causes after all.
KALTBLUT: What fascinating project are you working on at the moment? Another book coming soon?
Synchrodogs: We never actually know what is coming soon until it is coming. We shoot some new projects that are absolutely different from what we were doing before, no gossipy before we finish. Some magazine covers and stories are almost printed and sent to us via post, but no “news of the month” to tell now. There is something crazy waiting for us behind the corner but the horoscope doesn’t say what.
Interview by Amanda M. Jansson
