We are extremely excited to bring you another Negative Supply Spotlight. This time the incredible work of Aidan Klimenko! Check out our interview and his images below. And stay tunes for more Negative Supply Spotlights!
Hi Aidan! Introduce yourself to the Negative Supply community.
“Hi, I’m Aidan and I’m a 31 year old photographer and filmmaker focused on documenting the Americas. I’ve been living on the road, developing film and scanning out of an assortment of vintage vehicles over the last 6+ years, photographing all facets of life from Antarctica to Alaska.”
Q: How did you first discover your passion for photography?
“I grew up loving to make movies and studied filmmaking in school. Before enrolling though, I took a year off after high school to travel South America and bought my first still camera to photograph my travels. It was a Canon 30D. I didn’t know what I was doing. I shot the whole trip in JPEG. But I learned in time, slowly understanding the relationship between aperture, shutter speed and iso and experimenting with framing. When I did finally get to school after that year, I’d fallen in love with photography and added it as a major.”
Q: What do you enjoy most about shooting film?
“I work as an expedition wildlife photographer and filmmaker in the polar regions and the majority of that is digital. After interacting with digital cameras and files so intently for long periods of time I get a little burnt out and film provides me a different way to keep interacting and expressing through photography. I shoot and think completely differently when I’m photographing with film vs digital and it’s great to have both tools to lean on. The process of film is also somewhat meditative. I (generally) enjoy the time it takes to develop and scan my negatives. Doing it all myself feels good and makes me feel connected to my imagery in a unique and special way.”
Q: What are some of your favorite film stock?
“I love experimenting with expired films. It started from just being broke and not being able to afford non expired film but now, after bing a little more established, I still enjoy the roll of the dice. Cinestill’s BWXX is one of my favorites for its grain and contrast. Ilford HP5+ is another favorite for black and white. As far as color goes, Kodak Portra 160 NC (no longer available) is probably my favorite. But I shoot current Portra 160 and 400 more than anything else. I need to get back into slide film…”
Q: How has our Negative Supply tools helped your workflow?
“I’ve invested so much time over the last 10 years into experimenting with different scanning equipment and softwares and feel like I have a pretty good grasp on the current solutions for 35mm, 120 and 4x5. The idea of camera scanning was always intriguing to me for a few different reasons. I’ve never been a big fan of flatbed scanning 35mm because they never seemed to be able to resolve grain and seemed to be better solutions for larger formats. Keeping negatives flat was also a giant pain. On top of that, flatbeds are pretty big and somewhat delicate, which made them horrible to travel with in my vehicle (especially bouncing around dirt roads). 35mm dedicated scanners were great alternatives to the flatbeds but that meant carrying a second scanner that used antiquated software and still took forever. So the idea of repurposing equipment I was already carrying with me, like my digital camera, and not having to carry around scanners was what inspired me to look into camera scanning. After a few months of using a tripod and laying negatives directly on my light source, I knew I was onto something as I was getting much, much sharper images (across all formats) and had more control over color, but the process was still slow and without negative masks I was getting weird light artifacts. After discovering Negative Supply, all that changed. The riser makes adjusting camera height a breeze (which was the hardest part of my process pre riser) and the Pro Mount MK2 and 4x5 mask provides a perfect solution for controlling light when photographing my 4x5 negatives. Now I just have to save up for the 35mm and 120 holders! With both of those my digitizing setup will be perfect and I’ll finally be able to ditch my scanners once and for all.”
Q: What support or tool can Negative Supply provide to help improve your experience?
“I don’t think the Negative Supply support could get any better. It’s so cool to be curious about something new and have people like you guys who are willing to help explore that new thing. I had questions and you guys were happy to help me find answers. The next pieces I need are the 35mm and 120 holders, as mentioned above. With those, I think my digitizing setup would be pretty dialed for a long time. I think one of the coolest parts of camera scanning, aside from how much faster it is, is that it’s pretty future proof. Digital cameras will only get better, meaning our scans will too. It seems like so much wiser an investment than continuing to put money into overpriced, discontinued scanners that have no support and are only getting harder and harder to use and connect to as time goes on.”
We like to thank Aidan for letting us highlight his incredible work! And for using Negative Supply tools on his journey around the country. Make sure to follow him on his instagram: @Aidan.Klimenko. If you’re interested in being featured on our blog, please send us an email via contact@negativesupply.co We can’t wait to see and share work from more of the Negative Supply community! Click the links below to learn more about the tools Aidan used to scan his images.