Synchrodogs
Synchrodogs is a Ukrainian duo of photographers, Tania Shcheglova and Roman Noven. Along with their vast body of personal work, they have collaborated with brands like Burberry, Kenzo, Lady Gaga, Marni, and many more.
What tools do you use for your practice?
We usually shoot with medium frame film digital cameras, Kodak Portra film, sometimes Fuji film as well. When films are scanned we may do color correction a bit using Photoshop.
What’s your daily schedule?
Is it a shame or something to be proud of to admit we wake up in the afternoon? Mostly because we are so much more productive in the evening and at night, it is our time to work creatively. Our day is: breakfast/coffee, then go for a walk and do minor things like stopping by post office, or bank, then coming back home to basically start working at around 4pm, and it can last all evening (or night), being interrupted by some entertainments like food or 5 minutes of meme scrolling. During the day we deal a lot with emails, shooting organizations or work on exhibitions. Sometimes we have days of nature - just take our enduro motorbike or car and drive away. The other days Roman is making music, playing piano or synthesizer, and Tania is making jewelry as part of our charitable project called Crystaltania.
How do you see yourself in the future?
Yes, we are the people of major goals, we always think big. We would like to basically do what we do but develop ourselves in more directions, we already work with video and start working with 3d, cgi. In future we will be working more with mixed media. This year we got our book published by Louis Vuitton (called Fashion Eye of Ukraine), it is one of the major steps in the way to our big dream, and our major goal. The next thing we would also love to do is creating video clip for some artist as we love music a lot.
What are some advantages / disadvantages to sharing a practice with your partner?
We always try to see advantages, we are our own brain centre, even if our vision on some things is different we can't call it disadvantage, as after discussion we come to a best solution taking into account different approaches. We are each others mentors in different areas.
Where do you spend money and where do you make money?
We spend money on food! And traveling. And make money on photography, mostly ad campaigns and commercials, or selling prints via galleries and exhibitions.
What has inspired your work recently outside of photography?
Lockdown? Having more spare time can do wonders: working on archives we made so many new photographs, we have a book length new project ready since the beginning of quarantine, as the energy and time should be used productively.
What do you think is the most valuable asset for emerging photographers?
Talent, ambition and being able to fight laziness and doubt.
What is a prediction you have about your industry that others may not know or agree with?
These times are like floating in the river when you don't know where it is taking you. How can one predict anything at all when all plans get altered with world situation so fast. You only have to trust the process and grab good opportunities that appear on your way, use this period for development. New times are coming for sure and we all also have to be new to go in line with it.
How many people do you consider a part of your practice?
It really depend what exact project we are talking about. If our personal ones (like Slightly Altered or Supernatural) - its only two of us doing one hundred things, everything from creating idea to producing props and making installation. We only give films to be developed and scanned in photo lab in the end. Even postproduction and retouch we got used to working on ourselves. If talking about commercial projects the team means a lot, they all have to be professionals, we often work with same team of hair/make up artists, stylists, who are well trusted in any situation..The team can be both small or big, it depends. Advertorial team may be 5 people, advertising campaign or video can be 20-30.
What's your favourite restaurant to order from?
We have a delivery that serves orders from many restaurants in the city, we use it every two days, always different food depending on the mood. We are big food lovers, even feel a bit guilty about how big, we even eat at night!
