Minoru Kaburagi Interview

Minoru Kaburagi (Me-nor-oo Kah-boo-rah-gi) is hard to forget. His style is one of a kind. Which is why he probably got to shoot Sean O’Pry for Bon Magazine Summer 2009. You may have seen his work for Contributing Editor. This guy deserves more limelight. He does some amazing black and whites. I just need to shout out loud. Minoru! If only we knew a bit more about him. That is very soon to change, my friends. Let’s get this party started.

Trey Taylor: Can you please fill this out?
Name:Minoru Kaburagi
Age: 34 years old
Occupation: Photographer
Currently Resides: New York, USA
Favourite Song: Some other time/ Bill Evans

Trey Taylor: Don’t be afraid of your terrible English. I don’t judge people. And learning another language is hard. So kudos for that. But can you explain your life shortly up to this moment in time?
Minoru Kaburagi: Thank you very much for your word. I have been an independent photographer for about a year. Before this, I was working for Nagi Sakai as a full time assistant. These days, I have a lot of projects that I’m working on. Some of them are editorial shoots, and some of them are personal projects, maybe for a future exibhition.

TT: What got you interested in fashion? And fashion photography more specifically?
MK: Since I was a kid, I was simply always interested in clothes and hair very much like the other boys. When I become junior hischool student, at age 12. My mom start let me buy the clothes that I liked little by little, and this is when I met a fashion magazine and a fashion photography. And I loved to imagine and to draw people who I think has a cool style. I really liked “cool style” whatever it looks like. So I kept discovering what I like and had become a hair stylist first at a very famous hair salon in Tokyo. 8 years after, I noticed that I would love to capture it from the outside-view better, not being a part of it. Like a picture of the “cool situation” that I used to draw it everyday. For me, fashion is what explains who one is, wheather one hopes to show oneyself or not, it shows automatically like a face or the eyes. And it shows a piriod, a time and a beautifull and melancholy moment. This is why I think that to take a photos for a magazine or a someone who wants to sell the clothes are pretty much close to documentaly photos I think. And this is so much fun!!

TT: So you’ve recently worked with Sean O’Pry. What was that like? Were you nervous?
MK: He was very easy to capture a good moment. He understood what we are like fast and was always very energetic to get higher quality images. So many times, he was front of the iPod and chose the music and we all actually loved his choice!! It was so much fun. And of course I was little nervous before the shoot, but it’s same as the other shoot and I always enjoy it!! At least, I knew that I didn’t have any difficulty to get great moment of him as such a great model.

TT: I would guess that you have a style. Could you describe what you do and how you do it to all those people who have never heard of you?
MK: Thank you very much. I just let everyone do whatever they want to do first. All the people who always works with me know about their field much better than me. Of course we spend a lot of time to get on the same page before the day of the shoot. But these days, I try more spend time with the make up area to talk with everyone about the direction with the clothes. I think a photo is like a mirror who reflects us as a team. So creating a good atmosphere and seeing same goals are very important. Then I don’t really have a tell a model what to do or not to do.

TT: Do you have any goals for the future?
MK: Yes, as I said, I have a lot of projects that I’m working on it. And accomplishment of these things successfully is my goal. And then next ones come up automatically from somewhere. In the general future, I would like to take a photos that nobody can take, like that nobody can be me. That is my goal for now.

TT: Anybody in particular you would like to work with?
MK: Yes, right now, I would love to work more with a great stylist Tom Van Dorpe who did an amazing styling for Sean O’s shoot and Tyler’s shoot. He is an amazing stylist and has a never ending inspiration that comes out from everywhere. I am very lucky to have met him. And I have a total adoration for Nicola Formichetti’s works. If I could work with him, that would be fantastic!

TT: What do you draw from for inspiration? I know, it’s lame. But we gotta know these things.
MK: No problem, but I must say it depends, you know. For the shoot, sometimes stylist or art director gives me a great inspiration that I want to follow. And we start to try getting as close as possible, talking everyday to build the base that makes unexpected great things happen on the day of shoot. And just for me, in many times it usually comes out when I do drawing a picture, or walking down the street, a park, a trees and a beach with my small camera. It comes up suddenly and I think “Oh, this is great idea! I’m genius!!” and take a note on my small notebook I always have in my wallet and start to put it into reality it by doing research from the magazines, the old photographs, talking about the idea to other people and drawing a pictures of course. Sometimes it doesn’t work but sometimes it does, and it’s a lot of fun anyway!!

TT: So far in the span of your life, what could you share with others that are trying to do what they love?
MK: A joy of the progress and accomplishment of what they do.

TT: Leave us with something you are grateful for.
MK: I’m grateful for that I met a first Nikon 7 years ago and I still can press a shutter button.

Thanks Minoru! I sure hope that the word spreads like wildfire and we’ll be seeing much more of you soon. g