Anton Novikov

Interview with the Russian photographer, Anton Novikov a.k.a ‘endlesstrains’.

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What’s the background of this image? [see above]

I think this is an unnamed lake, we have a lot of them.
It was a summer day, My brother, our friend and I rode on the back of our van near the city.
Actually, sleep like that in the North, is not so comfortable.
I purposely use overexposed film and the glass when photographing- this provides an interesting lo-fi effect.

Where and when were you born and where are you right now?

I was born in 1987 in Murmansk, Russia. I still live there now.

Where do you wander to shoot?

All my pictures are made on the Kola Peninsula.
This is the place where I spent my entire life, and don’t see myself in a different place.
Mountains, tundra, rivers, lakes, forests, sea., we have everything for happy life.

What do you try to capture with your photos?

To pay tribute to his birth in this beautiful land, show this region to others.
Bring a little bit of the magic of the already magical place. Inspire yourself and friends.

Give us 1 movie and 1 book you like at the moment.

Book and Film Alone in the Wilderness (Dick Proenneke)

What camera(s) do you use?

I shoot on a canon ae-1 and praktica mtl 5, with the standard lenses.

What do you do for a living?

After the army I got into the fire service, and worked there for the past 6 years, I changed few posts. I specialized in the repair of means of communication in the fire service
I’m happy to have a job associated with saving people’s lives, I don’t have to think about it, everything happens by itself. For myself, I just try to live how I want.

You also produce dreamy songs on endlesstrains.bandcamp.com–
Can you tell us more about this project and the way you create those tracks?

I want to say that music pushed me to create analogue photos, I’m doing it a little longer.
These melodies are very close to me, they compose themselves.
This project will live and perhaps there will be other musical projects.
I also use field recording in some of the tracks. A great way of capturing the places I visited – to introduce them to the song.

Why do you choose the name ‘endlesstrains’ ?

The phrase endless trains is quite poetic and easy to memorize. I now realize that. In general, when it occurred to me I have often thought about trains, I love trains. many of the first photographs were taken from the train window on the move.

What are you going to do just after having answered to this final question?

Drink more tea )

Thank you Anton!

+ flickr.com/photos/endlesstrains
+ endlesstrains.bandcamp.com