This interview is about a person for whom film is both a part of their lifestyle and a key assistant in their work. Serhiy Vovk — co-founder of KAMA and the music label Thousand Kisses Place, as well as the music supervisor of the web series "Sex.Insta.ZNO".
The hashtag #vovkaplenka, which you use to tag your photos, appeared in 2019. What was before that?
As a child, I shot on a Minolta point-and-shoot camera. When my family traveled, we always took photos. And as a kid, I really enjoyed the process because it required care, ritual, and anticipation. I liked putting photos into albums and recalling: this is barbecue on Ai-Petri, and this is when we were in Monaco.
Why did you return to film?
I increasingly saw film photos on Instagram. When we had the Selekta café, I looked at photos people posted from our place, and the best shots were from a regular customer. She shot on film and used the hashtag #lenkinyplienky, and I immediately came up with my own #vovkaplenka.
You like experimenting with films. You always take new and different ones from us. Why don’t you stick to just one?
It’s my principle — to try different things. I often tell this to students. Through trying, you can find yourself and what you like. Negative experience is also experience, so — why not. But I already have my favorites. I really like Kodak Portra. And Kodak Ektar works really well on the Olympus Mju; I’m happy with the shots. I also really like Lomography.
You have a huge collection of vinyl records at home. Where does this love for analog media come from?
For me, analog media is the materialization of the world. I still wonder what life is: is it an illusion, the Big Bang, God, aliens, the Matrix? Everything is very ephemeral, but when you hold a photograph in your hands, you realize: here is the reality you captured. Like with vinyl: it’s materialized music. You can see on the groove where the bass starts, just by the structure of the record!
What do you most often capture with your lens?
Right now, I shoot lifestyle: family, parties, behind the scenes of the series. I carry the camera on set like a phone. Since this is my first film project, all the processes are new to me. For example, I have a series of photos I called "Adventures of a Sound Engineer". In these shots, he moves around the set with a plastic chair, from scene to scene. Sometimes he ends up in very strange places: on the stairwell, between trash bins, near the restroom, and I capture it all.
Does your family share your passion for photography?
Yes! At first, I bought an analog camera for my daughter as a toy. Now we share it. Una is 3 years and 6 months old, and her child’s perspective sometimes produces very unexpected things. At KAMA, we teach creativity, and creativity is another point of view. A child’s perspective is one of them. I peek into her world and get inspired.
Great! We also saw Polaroids on Instagram where you and Anya (Serhiy’s wife) are together. Did Una take those?
Yes, when we came to you to develop film, she saw a green Instax in the window, and we gave it to her as a birthday present. Now we have two, and Una snaps photos with both hers and her mom’s. The pictures are scattered all over the house! But that’s cool. On the phone, you’re always in a stream of new information, so you rarely scroll through the entire gallery. But here, bam! You grab your keys, and some photo just happens to pop up.
Do you use film for any professional purposes?
I recently photographed a new musician on our label. He came with polished studio photos, and I shot him on film. Now my shot is his avatar on Apple Music — it’s how the whole world sees him. For the band Hidden Element, I came up with a concept: in the frame, they are always two together with some object between them. So the focus shifts from them to that item. I also shoot their live shows and behind the scenes on film; they use these photos on all social media, and they really like them. I enjoy communicating with the guys through the camera. I lead them with conversation into different states so they can express those in the photos.
Do you shoot behind-the-scenes photos of the series just for fun or also for professional purposes?
My official position on the project is music supervisor, but on the radio, it says "assistant for fun". My mission is to inspire the guys so that it’s visible in the photos what a cool thing they are doing.
