Vlad Solovov
Vlad Solovov (he/him), better known as "Solovov" is a 29-year-old photographer based in Antwerp. He's been playing around with visuals, video, and photo cameras since he was a child. Originally dreaming of becoming a director, he was able to break through as one of Belgium's most known nightlife photo/videographers. For more than 12 years he covered a bigger part of Europe's electronic music scene while having residencies in Belgium's top techno clubs like Fuse, Labyrinth, Ampere, and Café d'Anvers. Solovov is nominated multiple times as "Best Belgian Nightlife Photographer" at the Red Bull Elektropedia Awards, not winning didn't stop him from developing and evolving a signature style that many might consider "unorthodox" in terms of classic event photography. Currently, Vlad is focusing on personal work and collaborates on a regular basis with music artists he personally cares about.
What inspired you to get into photography and the arts?
“Cinema was always a big inspiration to me. As a kid, I used to steal my father's VHS cam just to bike around with my friends shooting some parody of a movie we saw or even come up with something ourselves. Then drive back home "before it gets dark outside", pop a pizza in the oven, and spend an entire night editing that on Windows Movie Maker. The next morning we'd make a big movie premiere and proudly show off our creation to our parents. I grew up poor and didn't have the opportunity to join an actual film school like I wanted to. Photography faculty in my hometown seemed close enough and had the least hours of math per week, so I considered that a double win and made the choice.”
Did you have any queer role models? (if so, who?)
“I do have role models, icons, and people I look up to and especially the work that represents them. Lots of my role models probably don't know it, but I often work with them. I love energetic people, they inspire me to find more energy within myself. But If I'd have to pick a queer role model within my industry I guess that would be Nachtschaduw. You know that incredibly loud and amazing and fabulous photographer you see dancing on the DJ booth, 72 hours without sleep and still with that incredible smile and world-conquering energy? We go way back to being shy little photographer boys trying to carve our way into the world of nightlife. It's just truly beautiful and inspiring to see him be so free, so himself and enjoying every second of it.”
What is your creative process and what are the most important things you keep in mind when beginning a new project?
“Not sure if I would call it a "creative process" what I do, but I guess there's a certain pattern in my productions. It's important to me to surround myself with talented or just "interesting" people, that are just as obsessed with the final result as I am. I often get good ideas, but it's not a one-way thing. I need some "ping-pong" to make the real magic happen and that often happens in the most unpredictable ways. I crave these moments of team effort and joy. If I had any advice for younger creatives - Don't try to control everything. You can't. Just make sure that you're together on the boat with people you can trust and that want to take the ride with you until the end. If that's waterproof then anything in between will become a true journey of a creative adventure.”
What do you hope that the public takes away from your work?
“I don't necessarily try to create a message in everything I do. My work is very spontaneous and often just a moment I capture. With editing and colors I try to recreate an emotion or feel that would match what It must have been like standing there at 4 AM in the middle of a 2000-people crowd with 115dB pounding music. If in people's interpretation there's more than just a feeling, that makes it even more special. Because then we're communicating on an even higher level, which is probably even beyond my conscious reach of understanding of how I've done it.”
Are there any recurring themes/issues you like to address within your work?
“My work doesn't always mirror reality. In fact, it rarely does. It's a reality I create myself and while not every event promoter agrees with that, well that's just what I do - I'm not an objective "journalist" and I do like to "spice up" or "magic up" a moment that might've felt too plain or realistic for me.”
Are there upcoming events/appearances that you would like to bring attention to?
“There's definitely a few more highlights coming up this summer. I'll be covering Possession Festival Paris on August 26th & 27th with my favorite video team and I think this is an enormous opportunity for us to paint the video of this iconic queer event in a way that hasn't been done before.”
