As I was looking for information about dogs on the internet a few years ago, I discovered Synchrodogs. A Ukrainian couple, photographers, named Tania Shcheglova and Roman Noven. From minute 1 of their career, their surrealist images in full nature attracted the interest of the worlds of art and international fashion. Now they don’t stop. We were able to interview them the day before they went on vacation. “The last time we went on vacation was 2 years ago, to Sri Lanka, and it was the best time of our lives. It’s time to re-charge our batteries after a year full of projects.”
What have your most relevant projects of the year been? The Dallas Contemporary Museum commissioned us to organize a solo exhibition for September, so during 2015 we worked especially on this project, called Supernatural. At the same time, during the year, we also did shootings for Bimba and Lola, Swarovski, Shiseido, Vogue, Citizen k… We always try to keep a healthy balance between what is our own personal work and the projects that we are commissioned to do, since for us they are 2 completely different paths.
How did you meet? We met on the internet. We lived in different cities, 8 hours separated us by train.
What is your training? Both of us graduated from technical universities. Roman studied Automotive and Robotics, which has done well for him, not only in his work, but also in his life. Tania studied Records Management, which helped to better understand English and all its specific technical words that we now read in contracts and agreements we sign. Basically neither of us received any artistic training, and that’s the best part.
Have either of you worked as assistants for other photographers? Never, we have always been very confident about what we wanted to do and how we wanted to do it. So we only have someone who assists us.
Have any other photographers been a reference for you? We have always been more interested in nature that in humans, since for us it was always something mysterious, still wild. That’s what inspired us to work in our own direction.
What did you see in each other in order to create Synchrodogs together? When we met 8 years ago, we began to get together and to take pictures, we felt very good doing it. And we still have that same feeling. We got used to existing as one entity and we haven’t separated since. Of course we can argue about certain details (we are people, not only Synchrodogs), but those arguments always drive us to achieve the best results, it’s never irrational.
Where does Synchrodogs come from? Dogs are man’s best friends, and that’s exactly what we are. We’d rather ride a motorcycle through endless fields than stay and sit in an apartment. We’re both very similar in terms of tastes and perceptions. And then there’s the prefix “SYNCRO” (from the Greek synchronos, simultaneity, with the same frequency, always together).
Do you have children? We don’t have any children yet, but we will later on, when we are both physically, mentally and economically prepared. It’s a very serious step, and we are responsible people.
Have you used any strategies to achieve professional recognition at an international level? Yes, we have a strategy, but that wasn’t always the case. When we started with photography, we never thought that our work would be so popular on the internet. Our photos began to come up in blogs, then in fanzines, magazines… and we finally ended up working with galleries and brands. Everything happened little by little. It’s a process that is still happening because for now we are only on our way, we haven’t reached our final target. Within our current strategy, for example, we are very demanding when it comes to accepting a project, very rarely do we do so if we don’t believe that it’s in the line of our art direction. We also believe that it’s best to take on fewer jobs, so that those we do are all very powerful. We have big ambitions, but only because we know each other and we know that we can make it all possible.
You seem like 2 very free spirits, how do you adjust to the demands of a commercial job? Customers who call us don’t expect us to do conventional sessions. They expect high quality and fresh ideas, and that is exactly what they get.
Have you rejected any work so as not to identify yourself with the brand or the media? Sure, sometimes. We take everything that affects our career very seriously, and generally we agree to work only with established brands and magazines, since we value our ideas and our energy more than the opportunity to make as much money as possible.
Are you interested in the world of fashion? Where do you feel more comfortable, in the fashion world or the art world? Making fashion is interesting. Plus, as a result, it gives us the chance to create our own projects. Actually, we feel comfortable in life in general. We like to do art, photos on assignment, make videos, play the piano together… Yes, this year we bought a piano. We do a lot of things, it all feels natural to us and are equally important for our inner harmony. We’ve also developed a charity project for which Tania makes unique pieces of jewelry.
What is your work process? The most important thing is always the idea. We gather ideas during our lives, and when the time comes to work on a project, we begin to shape those ideas to make them as good as possible. We investigate, we sketch, we create accessories, we look for locations… whatever it takes. We use our dreams at night as our main source of inspiration. We experiment with our own technique of meditation before trying to go back to sleep, which helps us get many ideas during the night. Also, the natural environment is something that has had a great impact on us, it influences our art immensely, as well as our souls.
You’ve applied these meditation exercises to series like Reverie Sleep. Aren’t you afraid to have bad visions during these exercises? We meditate while we try to go back to sleep. We’ve never had any kind of negative vision. We only receive images that are pretty static, something that happens, like an episode from a movie, and you only see it a few seconds so you have to wake up and write everything down. If you keep watching, you end up relaxing and entering into an ever more profound sleep. Sometimes you can’t capture your own vision. Night dreams are different, they’re basically uncontrollable, and are long and unpredictable. But we often still remember the following morning. Good dreams give energy, and there are some dreams that are so powerful that we will always remember them.
Apart from the 2 of you, is there anyone else on the team? When it comes to personal projects there are only 2 people who work like 10: we plan the session, we create accessories, we answer emails, we work in exhibitions with the commissioners, we produce photographic prints, deal with the publications… In the commissioned projects it’s a different story since there is always a great team that is part of the pack of the bigger photo sessions. It’s fantastic because you can concentrate on the photography issues and let the other professionals do the rest.
Do you have an agent to help you with the commercial work? Your question is very timely because right now we’re actually looking for a good agency to represent us in the United States. For us it is very important to have good rapport. Generally they contact us directly because we participate in many projects and we publish regularly in different media and in this way customers can get to know our work. Sometimes we work with our agency in London who we’re working with on a sort of trial period.
What about in the world of art? We have a great art gallery that represents us in Texas called Gallery Urbane. And we also have another one that represents us in Holland called Bright Side Gallery, (previously known as Walls Gallery). The situation regarding galleries and agencies is the same. We would like to have a gallery representing us in New York, Los Angeles, Paris, Berlin and London, cities that are the center of the world. We’ve rejected many offers because we’re looking for something with international recognition. If we sign a contract that means that it is going to be for a long time, and we have to be 100% sure that we make the correct decision regarding issues that have to do with our future.
Are you good at public relations with your work? We are good. Long live the internet! We organize many things via email. Sometimes answering letters seems endless.
Are you still living in the Ukraine? I imagine you living in the countryside, but maybe you actually live in an apartment… We live in the Ukraine, but we travel so much that we sometimes make jokes and say that we live in airplane or on a train. Tomorrow, for example, we need to catch a train and then a plane. But actually, we live in an apartment in front of a lake with mountains behind it. It is the top floor and we have a very nice view of the city.
Has the economic crisis in the Ukraine affected you? We haven’t felt the dramatic effect of the crisis, but everyone with a normal office job suffers a lot because of the devaluation of the currency, the Ukrainian grivna. It’s also quite depressing to live in a country where there is a war in the east.
What Ukrainian cities can you recommend visiting? We would recommend flying to Kiev and walking along the Dnipro River. From there, enjoy the botanical garden, visit the Pinchuk Art Center, and go to clubs like Closer. You should also visit cities like Odessa with its Black Sea, or Lviv with its narrow streets and its ethnic atmosphere.
Have you thought about moving to another capital city a bit more international? We are aware that we should move to another great city in the future for some time, since all the important things happen in these megalopolis where everything is moving so fast.
What would you say has been the height of your career to date? Up until now we have done a lot of exhibitions in so many cities and countries, but this year we had our first solo show in a museum. It took us on a 4,000 mile road trip to create a project for the Dallas Contemporary. The project took a year of our lives and we are very happy with the results, which is really important because it is very difficult to satisfy 2 perfectionists. We are now planning our next individual exhibition in Amsterdam, and we will also participate in a great photography festival in Canada this Spring.
How do you think that your work will evolve over the next 10 years? In 10 years we should be working with new technologies and new means to create and expose art.
Apart from taking photos and playing the piano, Roman is fond of sliding sports, what types of boards do you like? In reality I love them all: longboard, surfboard, snowboard… Everything depends on what is on the other side of the window: asphalt, water or snow.
And Tania collects and designs jewelry, can you describe your designs for us? Jewelry has always been my passion. While traveling the world I collect lots of vintage necklaces and interesting pieces of jewelry. So, I finally started to start up my own line. It’s called Crystaltania. They’re unique pieces that are made with the elements that I have been picking up for years. They all cost 77 euros and 100% of the earnings go to charitable purposes. We send a postcard to each purchaser explaining exactly how your money has been spent on, so that they can feel proud to have helped the world. Visit our shop on Etsy called Crystaltania: https://www.etsy.com/shop/CrystalTania
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http://www.synchrodogs.com
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