Revelation, by Andrew Tischenko
"Ilford XP2 super 400. I fell in love with that film roll."
Tell us about yourself.
Hello my name is Andrew, I’m 26 years old. I from Ukraine living in Odessa. Now I’m working in photo and video production.
When and how did the film journey begin for you?
I started shooting film last year, when I bought my fist middle format camera. Before that I shot with my iPhone and I shot landscape.
What inspires you to continue shooting film?
The main inspiring thing for me in shooting film is that magic process. When you don’t now what you will get. That feeling of expectation, when you develop and scan your film roll. That is a magic expectation for me. One of my friends says that the thing that inspires him is that part when you realize shooting on film is physical, not a digital thing. When you're traveling you take with a little moment that you shot on film. I always think, when shooting on film portraits, that I take those moments and places with me.
What do you focus on when shooting film?
Shooting portraits is a communication with the person that I'm shooting, film for me is an addition to that moment, you don’t get distracted from that person to see the results, all of me is in that process and in the conversation with that person, even if even the conversation is without words.
How do you see improving your technique or what do you want to learn more regarding film?
Shooting film is always an experience. Every time, because you need to work with fixed ISO, if you work with natural light. You always need to think about what you will do, what kind of settings will you use. The skills of developing your own film are unknown for me. I want to learn this skill and have total control over all the steps, from the beginning til the end.
If you were to choose one roll of film that would be the last roll you would shoot, ever, what would it be and why?
I think my last film roll will be the one I used for the first time. It was Ilford XP2 super 400. I fell in love with that film roll, with those images. It has amazing contrast!
What do you think is the biggest misperception of other people when it comes to shooting film?
I think that the biggest misconception of people about shooting on film is about the quality and film grain. I also heard that shooting on film is for lazy people. That you take a photo, scan it and that's it. You don’t process the photo for hours, you justpush a button. For me that's is the biggest misconception that I've heard, because when shooting film you always need to think about light, about your camera settings, about the people that you're shooting, next is developing and scaning, I know little about that process but I now for sure it is a time-consuming process.
