Interview with VLADIMIR ILIĆ, SERBIA

Why film is better than digital? It helps you to be a more patient photographer.

Before anything else. Please tell us something about yourself , Vladimir, and your journey into film photography?

Vladimir: This actually might sound unusual. Despite having a background in documentary filmmaking and videography, I never did show a true interest in photography. All changed when I had to make a sudden trip and a friend offered me an old Zenit. While the first results were mixed, the experience felt great so soon I bought an old Nikon F601.

What type of film do you use and what camera do you use it with? Why do you prefer these?

Vladimir: Such difficult questions for me. Regarding film, I need to experiment always and try to find something new. The downside of that is that something like HP5+ got neglected. The films I truly like were Ferrania Solaris 100 and Efke 50 yet we all know their fate. From the currently available I could say the favourites could be Fuji Superia 200 & Portra 160 among the colour ones. Black and white maybe ILFORD Delta 100. For a long time I used a lot of Kodak Tri-X 400 because of the raves it got and being a legendary film. It is great, yet it was another reason ILFORD`s HP5+ got neglected, completely undeservedly.

About the cameras, one could say I love all my children more or less. There is some seasonality though. For a period I stick to one camera quite often. Different reasons. Let`s say the past winter the Konica S2 Auto got used the most. Right now it`s a Minolta X-500. Liking the colours of the 55mm Rokkor lens, definitely it gets fed with colour film. The said Konica got different types of film as I was keen to see what they look like when shot with this brilliant camera. I said I love all of my children more or less. With the Lubitel 166 is a love and hate relationship, the photos produced are fantastic, something which can`t be said about the user experience. So difficult to focus for me. The other one which doesn't get much love is the Nikon F75. The viewfinder compared to both my F601 & F80 is inferior and just doesn`t feel comfortable. Other than that it is a quite a nice camera.

What do you think film has that digital doesn't have?


Vladimir: I was afraid when I bought the DSLR it could separate me from film. It just couldn`t happen and the reason is the texture. Digital just doesn`t have that kind of texture. For evening and low light, digital is really great, yet for whenever there is enough light for film, for me at least, there is no reason to use it. Some people create brilliant photos with digital as they like to spend a lot of time editing them in post-production. Film photos can also be tweaked with software as we all know. When scanned, film also gets processed and that part is really critical, so easily a bad lab can ruin everything.

Do you print your own photographs or are you comfortable having them printed in a lab?

Vladimir: I did print a few times, but it is completely ok if a lab prints them.

What motivates you to continue making photographs with film?


Vladimir: The texture mentioned above does.  

Are there any photographers that influenced your way of making pictures?

Vladimir: Rather filmmakers than photographers would be an appropriate answer in this case.

Do you see any value or merit shooting with film? 

Vladimir: I see. Sadly the market in my country for photography is almost nil, so one can only earn money taking photos of events and weddings. That is done digitally of course. A few manage sometimes to shoot something on film and sell.

What do you think is the future of film photography?


Vladimir: Difficult question. It would be good if some decent new cameras would be made. Japan Camera Hunter seems he could pull that off. Black and white for sure will stay, Fuji discontinuing film so often does scare me about colour film`s survival.

Would you like to offer some good words to those who want to try film photography for the first time? What must they learn before venturing into this format?


Vladimir: They should be more patient than with digital. To take a moment and read about exposure and how to get it right maybe. The result in the end will be much more rewarding.

Excellent job, Vladimir. Let's do catch up in Belgrade soon!

Well there you have it, folks. Follow Vladimir's on Instagram (vladilic977) and be amazed by his body of work there.

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Be considerate. All photographs shown on this page are the sole property of Vladimir Ilić. He devoted his time and worked hard on these photographs. You are not allowed to copy, download, reproduce, reprint, modify, distribute, publicly display, license, transfer or sell content retrieved from this page in any way, for any public or commercial use or to any commercial source, including other websites, without prior written permission of Vladimir Ilić. You don’t want to go to jail, do you?

Well now, if you are a passionate film photographer and would like to be interviewed? I’d love to hear from you. Send me an email at mapamelvin@gmail.com with the subject, "Interview me", and share your story, thoughts, and work related to film photography. I’ll get back to you as soon as I receive your request for an interview.

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Cheers!

Mel