The Dark Rooms of ...

Evgeny Bondarenko

An interview series

By Marcel Borgstijn

“The Dark Rooms of... is an interview series in which a photographer talks about his or her darkrooms, the digital and the mental, or technical and inspirational. What makes you click?”

Marcel Borgstijn

This interview has been previously published on Marcel’s site Darkrooms and is with Dutch photographer Evgeny Bondarenko.

See the original interview on Darkrooms

Marcel has given his permission for it to be republished in the RPS Benelux eJournal

By the way, if you haven’t read the previous four interviews in the Darkrooms series, you can find them here

Technical

Do you think technique is important?

I don’t think technique is important, but different kinds of cameras can reduce post-processing time.

What equipment do you use?

From 2007-2019 I used Olympus SP510-UZ with Marumi 0.5x wide (focal length 19mm), 2019-2022 - Ricoh GX100, 2022 - Nikon Coolpix S7000 + Ricoh GX100

And what software?

I only use Lightroom + 2 presets

How do you edit your photos?

It takes about 2-3 months from the time the photo is taken, to processing. I apply a “High Contrast” preset for all photos from the photo walk, then individually for each photo small adjustments or apply a second “Medium Contrast” preset if the first doesn’t work. The processing and selection process takes about another 1-2 months.

Inspirational

Where lies your heart?

This is some kind of lightness in photographs, ease of obtaining them, I don’t understand how other photographers do it, but this is what you need to strive for. Half-day reflections on photography led me to the following conclusion: the equipment, artistry and value are not important, the resulting photograph is not important - only the path...

Do you have your own style?

I don’t have my own style, I use the “are, bure, boke” style

[Editor: are, bure, boke - Japanese phrase meaning 'grainy, blurry and out of focus'. This refers to a photography style that became popular in Japan in the late 1960s, affiliated with the work of Daido Moriyama.]

Where do you get your inspiration from?

Reading articles about photography, watching YouTube videos, looking at photos on Instagram, browsing photo books in the library, talking to photographers. But there is still some constant desire to walk around and take pictures.

Where do you get your inspiration from?

I don’t take photos as part of any project, I usually take photos in my spare time at the weekend by myself or with another photographer, walking around the city without a specific purpose, where the road will take me.

I am currently involved in the ROZOU project, which was founded by Japanese street photographer Tadashi Onishi - I show my work and that of other street photographers in the city street using a projector.

Does your project start with an idea or with a loose image?

I have no plans to finish the ROZOU UKRAINE project, but maybe that will happen when I run out of photos and have nothing to show. You can check out previous ROZOU UKRAINE volumes via my instagram account.

What is your favorite photo and why?

I don’t have a favorite photo, I have a few that show the stages of my own development in photography

Future

What do you want to achieve?

I want street photography to develop in my country and increase the number of people who are passionate about it.