Artem Trofemenko Explores the Camera Collection

Ihad an early acquaintance with analogue photography, I was raised by my grandfather, who was an excellent storyteller and we spent a lot of time watching the world. When I picked up my first Kiev 4, I was already on my way to Ireland. The lens was perpetually fixed to my eye, perhaps first as a way to protect myself, but then to explore the unknown. I always had an appreciation for the broken things - lost to their context, they must be rediscovered. Gradually, I fell in love with the peculiarities of the process; collective f. project. That was the year Hermann passed away and Jess lent a collection of his cameras to Cork Film Centre. In the summer of 2019 we would meet at Gunpowder Mills and explore the collection. It was extremely fascinating and stimulating to work with such an extensive range of analogue cameras, something I would not have had the chance to do otherwise. the element of serendipity at the mercy of the technical error, looking for new ways to connect and to be surprised.

What I love about analogue is that it must be rediscovered, like anything worthwhile, and to me no technique is final. For me love is a space where we might be able to hold our misunderstandings and marvel at them in awe at how much we do not know. Due to the experimental nature of this work, you develop a relationship with chance. Many things may go wrong when you use old equipment but I enjoy the process and the possibility of falling in love with what first might seem as a mistake. While I never had the chance to meet Hermann, through working with his cameras, that all require a particular approach, sometimes I feel I must have traced an akin trail. Sometimes I feel our fascination with analogue photography would stem from the same source.

Tarkovsky would refer to cinema as sculpting in time, for me to engage with film photography is often about removing time, to connect to a gesture, ephemeral yet objective, a light made visible, a transient encounter that does not discriminate but signals towards an emanation beyond time.

I was first introduced to the camera collection in 2018. I had just graduated and no longer had access to dark room or analogue equipment, but I was very lucky to have met Chris Hurley from Cork Film Centre and as a result of regular photography meetups, we would set up our photography

The cameras one has to struggle with have been my favourite, a challenge has a greater potential for surprise. I had the chance to borrow Voigtlander Bessa 66, a pocket medium format camera, along with my work in Loop Head. Due to its small size, it was the best 120mm camera for the occasion. I most enjoyed using the Bell & Howell 127mm camera that I had to adapt to 35mm film. I was pleasantly surprised by the potential of this combination, 35mm on backing paper would come out warped and dreamy in unpredictable ways, often tarnished in a way that made the subject merge with the landscape yet a glow of some discrete element could be distinguished. When engaging with film photography on an experimental level you will often lose images, the camera becomes only a prop that colours the quality of your attention to a moment, so the process is no longer about the end result but a dialogue with what makes you pull the shutter in the first place.

Working with the collection allowed me to refine my relationship with analogue processes. I had the opportunity to meet many wonderful people, working in the community. Having become acquainted with the camera as an artist, it was great to have the opportunity to engage with people aged 55+ to share the potential and possibilities of working with the collection. We explored various new ways of looking at images and with great enthusiasm, the participants explored the possibilities of making visible rich stories in plain sight of Hollyhill Library. The language of images is universal and film photography, given the paradox of its immediacy and great slowness, allows us to engage in the act of looking with care. The act of looking is what connects us no matter our age and I believe it is possible to express inexpressible things as we sharpen our gaze.

Artem Trofemenko is an artist photographer who has been experimenting with the cameras from The Slow Camera Exchange collection for the last three years. In 2018, the Cork Film Centre became the home of the collection, while we were exploring how to set up a system to make the cameras accessible for people to borrow. Artem and a group of graduates from MTU Crawford College of Art and Design formed an analogue photography collective after graduating. Alongside Artem, they have been using cameras from the collection within their arts practice. Artem describes his relationship to photography and to the camera collection, his journey from exploring and using the cameras himself to introducing them to the 55+ photography group at the Hollyhill Library.

- Artem Trofemenko