An Interview with Tak Kamihagi

Q: Tell me a little bit about yourself.

Tak: Well, my name is Tak. I’m a 23-year old videographer and photographer living in Costa Mesa, California. I originally grew up in a small town called Villa Park but recently moved to Costa Mesa about 2 or 3 years ago. Villa Park and Costa Mesa are pretty close to each other, but it’s been really nice moving out here since I’m a lot closer to the beach. I’m always hanging out in Laguna and the surrounding beaches almost every day when I’m home.

Q: How’d you get into photography and videography? Did you do it as a kid at all?

Tak: I always dabbled around with cameras but bought my first real camera right when I turned 20. So, I’ve actually been doing this for about 3 years now. Growing up I’d always ride BMX bikes and was always the one getting filmed. But once in awhile I would take the camera and film my friends doing tricks and all that. So I guess I first kind of got a feel for filming through BMX. Those BMX videos are heavily influenced by music, and I was always thinking of what songs we could use for the videos we were making at the time. I would later start picturing visuals that would go well with the music that weren’t BMX related. Later on, I was like, “Man, maybe I should get my own camera and start posting my own stuff.” That’s kind of how it all started. I’d be really in my head just listening to the deepest music by my self and picturing the craziest visuals to go with them. I really wanted to just show people what was going on in my head.

Q: Were you involved with the video edits at all growing up?

Tak: No, I wasn’t. I never edited anything. I was just the helping hand if someone needed to film an extra angle or something.

Q: Crazy, so photography and videography is pretty new for you then?

Tak: I would say so yeah. But, I feel like mentally I’ve always been taking photos and videos in my mind. I’d be listening to music and picture all these things that would go with the music. So, I haven’t been taking videos and photos for too long, but at the same time I feel like I have. I felt like I had a really good idea of what I wanted to capture even before I picked up a camera.

Q: Do you feel like it’s hard to translate what you have in your mind to what you see through the lens?

Tak: Ooo, that’s such a beautiful question haha. Sometimes it is because it’s hard to capture those moments on video or create those moments where you can truly show it all. Music is a big part of the creative process. Listening to music, a lot of times I’ll feel things, and then I’ll see things. It’s usually always a feeling that I want to be able to show in a visual way. It’s weird— you can kind of go in all of these different directions. How easy it is can just depend on how creative I’m feeling that day. For the most part though, I feel like it’s been somewhat achievable to show people what’s going on in my head, but I’m not sure if I’ll ever be able to fully show what goes on in my head.

Q: Describe your editing style in a few words.

Tak: It’s tough because I’m always changing, the work I did a few months ago is something I would never picture myself doing again. I’m not even really sure how I would call my style. I know it sounds cliché, saying, “Oh, I don’t wanna be labeled.” But to be honest, I love doing everything— cinematic videos, homemade videos on a VHS camera. I guess the best way to describe [my style] would be experimental, but I don’t know.

Q: You layer clips, mix DSLR footage with super8, etc. There’s a lot going on, but it comes together really beautifully and well-choreographed. What is your creative process like when you’re editing stuff?

Tak: I remember when I was in high school, I took Photoshop for a year. I would do a lot of stuff with overlays. Adding pictures over each other and adding effects could do so much with such little work. So, I took that over to the videos I made and thought it was cool to add film burns and other glitches over videos. I just started to expand from there and experiment and overlay all different kinds of things.

Q: You shoot a good amount of stuff on VHS, super8, or lenses from the 70’s. How does that tie in with the theme of nostalgia?

Tak: Yeah, I absolutely love shooting on film. With the Whethan projects I do, it’s entirely shot on film or mini DV tapes now which I think is really special. I’m obsessed with the look of film and the creative process behind it. When you shoot videos on film, it’s such a long process. It feels like you’re making art rather than creating content and the end result is a piece of work that actually means something to you. I really care about the videos I work on and want to make sure I can look back on each one with a smile on my face. Old projects you shot on film give it that extra feel of the past that I’m obsessed with.

Q: Where do you find all your old lenses and camera stuff?

Tak: I use to dig through so many thrift stores to find old cameras and have no luck haha. I later found out that Ebay has literally everything you could imagine so I’ve been buying a lot of my stuff from there.

Q: A little off-topic, but you have some following on Youtube of you filming your experiences sneaking into music festivals. What’s that like?

Tak: A week after I bought my first camera, me and my 3 friends snuck into Beyond Wonderland. At first, I didn’t want to go because I had just gotten my camera a week ago, but I decided to take the risk and go. We ended up sneaking in and filming the entire experience. I made a video from that entire day. We later snuck into Coachella, EDC, and Hard Summer and made videos of all of those festivals too. If I never decided to sneak into that first festival, I would have never gotten the opportunities to do what I’m doing now, so I’m glad I decided to take that risk because it snowballed into everything I’m doing now. I think about it from time to time and just trip out on how much that small decision affected my entire life.

Q: How’d you start shooting with Whethan?

Tak: Whethan was basically one of the first jobs I had. From those festival videos, Whethan’s manager, Dan Awad found me. He immediately tweeted at me after watching my videos so I messaged him, and he said he loved my work and wanted me to be a part of his team. I honestly owe him so much. He’s done so much for me and has had my back from the very beginning. My first year of working as a videographer, he put me on the best jobs and even got me on a 2-month bus tour with Whethan that absolutely changed my life.

Q: Is your career what you expected when you picked up a camera?

Tak: Absolutely not haha. I went from being broke sleeping in my car sneaking into festivals to being on a bus tour in a couple months. Growing up I had always done what felt right in my heart. And that’s exactly what I did when I picked up my first camera. Staying true to myself and doing what I genuinely loved naturally lead me to be able to do what I love for a living.

Q: Where do you see yourself 5 years from now?

Tak: I definitely see myself still working in music. I’ll always be involved in music somehow I think, but I’m thinking I’d like to get into music videos a lot more. I want to film a lot of nature too. I fantasize running away and car camping in Yellowstone filming all the beautiful scenery way too often haha. Other than that, I’m just going to keep pushing my self in all different aspects of photography and videography. I have a few solid plans for the future, but I don’t want to tell anyone about them yet.

Q: What do you hope people take away from your work?

Tak: If I can affect anyone in a positive way through my work even in the smallest way, then that’s good enough for me. I just want to show people how I see the world, and if I can inspire people by doing what I love then I’ll be happy.