A snap in history is what Rolla High School junior Ivan Khilkevich hopes to leave. With Khilkevich’s unique equipment and a love for film photography, he shares his work to be published and enjoyed for the student body.
“I became interested in photography when I found out we had a Soviet Zenit camera that a friend of my parents gifted when he moved back to Russia,” said Khilkevich.
With an interest in the retro style that his specific camera brought to the table, he immediately started shooting.
“My dad and I bought film, and I got to shoot one or two rolls of film before it unfortunately broke, but since then, film photography has become both me and my dad’s shared hobby,” stated Khilkevich.
For the average phone or digital picture taker, the worry of “taking too many” doesn’t cross their mind but for Khilkevich, he has to make sure the shot counts.
“With film, I have to carefully consider whether a scene is worth taking in the first place, what the best angle is, if the shot will look good in black and white, etc. A bad shot is not as easily rectified, because I only have a limited amount of shots,” explained Khilkevich.
Khilkevich finds the challenge of the film camera interesting and compares the extra work that goes into a film camera rather than a digital camera to be enjoyable.
“Most digital cameras have an automatic mode, which sets the focus, aperture, and shutter speed automatically. While later film cameras have the same automatic modes, older cameras do not, and I have to manually set those variables. This may seem annoying to some, but I personally enjoy it,” said Khilkevich.
The pictures that Khilkevich produces are black and white, but not because it’s what he prefers, it’s just easier. To get physical copies of these pictures, he has to have them developed or he relies on his dad to develop them.
“The chemicals you need to develop color film have a very short shelf life, and are more expensive…I do like the aesthetic of black and white, but I would love to try out color film someday; I just haven’t gotten around to it,” said Khilkevich.
Khilkevich uses various cameras that differ in size, mechanics, etc.
“I use multiple different cameras, but a few favorites could include the Yashica Mat 124g, Canon A-1, and the Minolta Supreme Freedom Zoom and then I usually use Arista Edu Ultra 200 ISO or Kentmere (either 100 or 400 ISO) film,” explained Khilkevich.
Some hobbies are just little things that people do in their free time and don’t think much of, but Khilkevich connects his photography with parts of him such as his love for history. Film requires both skills of learning to use old things and documenting them to freeze them in time; he hopes to contribute his work to others who may see it in the future.
“I want to leave my own footprint in history, even if it is very small. It’s comforting to know that many years from now, someone, somewhere, somehow, might find the stuff I leave behind,” said Khilkevich.
