Ordinary to Extraordinary / Kitchen Minoru, Photographer
by Hiroki Yanagisawa on March 6, 2010 11:50 PM
It's an ordinary meeting room in an office. Kitchen Minoru, a photographer (not a chef), is about to phtoo-shoot Stuart Braithwaite and John Cummings from Mogwai, a post-rock band from Scotland. After taking a glance of them and next -- the entire room, Kitchen Minoru finds a telephone on the floor.
Here's Kitchen Minoru's actions come into play.
Here's Kitchen Minoru's actions come into play.
Kitchen Minoru asks them to hold a handset of a telephone, as if two were talking each other. Barry and John giggle, and they seem like that they're enjoying this "temporary acting session". After the shoot, they're with a big grin, "We've never experienced a photo-shoot like this before."
Kitchen Minoru is a photographer, who maximizes the use of the given environment to capture images that can only be taken at this particular setup. With a work of Kitchen Minoru, an ordinary meeting room becomes a perfect environment for a photo-shoot.
His "Tamagawa People" series is one of the great examples to show his ability. Tamagawa is a river that runs the southern part of Tokyo and that's where he spent a lot of time when he was a teen.
"I used to live really close to the river and back in the elementary school days, I used to play baseball right next to the river. Also the river was a great fishing spot back then. When I was in a high school, I and my friends used to have conversations while staring at the sunset. I grew up with Tamagawa and I decided to capture Tamagawa and people in Tamagawa."
All the shots are so unique that they make the viewers wonder if all the people on the images are Kitchen Minoru's friends. "No. I don't know anyone of them. The thing is, when you approach people, asking to take a picture, you've got to approach right up in the front, talking face-to-face with confidence. If he/she's busy and tell you to wait, you wait. If you try to converse with the right way and right attitude, many people are willing to be taken happily."
This Tamagawa series was exhibited in an exhibition, "tokyo no shashin (images from Tokyo)" in Paris in 2008.
"Though what I produce is a still image, a capture of one moment, I want each viewer to move the story of an image with your imaginations and past experiences." Kitchen Minoru adds.
One more thing -- about his name and background. Kitchen Minoru was born in Fort Worth, Texas, but was raised in Tokyo Japan for the most of his life. His first job was a real state agent and he was one of the best agents -- he even successfully sold an apartment during his training period. After a year of agent life to repay his scholarship, he turned himself to be what he wanted to be, a photographer.
His name, Kitchen Minoru, came from the time when he was an university student. He was about to exhibit his work in an exhibition and he was looking for a nickname to present. He was thinking about it at a diner in Tokyo, Kitchen Wataru. "Since my first name is Minoru, I simply combined my name and the name of the diner."
Now, after getting acquainted to the world of Kitchen Minoru, don't you think you want to know more about him? Then, visit to his website for more detail on this mysterious figure, Kitchen Minoru, as well as his magnificent works.
NAME: Kitchen Minoru (キッチンミノル)
EXPERTISE: Photography
BASED: Tokyo
If you wish to contact Kitchen Minoru for project opportunities, please contact via edgyjapan.jp.
Kitchen Minoru is a photographer, who maximizes the use of the given environment to capture images that can only be taken at this particular setup. With a work of Kitchen Minoru, an ordinary meeting room becomes a perfect environment for a photo-shoot.
His "Tamagawa People" series is one of the great examples to show his ability. Tamagawa is a river that runs the southern part of Tokyo and that's where he spent a lot of time when he was a teen.
"I used to live really close to the river and back in the elementary school days, I used to play baseball right next to the river. Also the river was a great fishing spot back then. When I was in a high school, I and my friends used to have conversations while staring at the sunset. I grew up with Tamagawa and I decided to capture Tamagawa and people in Tamagawa."
All the shots are so unique that they make the viewers wonder if all the people on the images are Kitchen Minoru's friends. "No. I don't know anyone of them. The thing is, when you approach people, asking to take a picture, you've got to approach right up in the front, talking face-to-face with confidence. If he/she's busy and tell you to wait, you wait. If you try to converse with the right way and right attitude, many people are willing to be taken happily."
This Tamagawa series was exhibited in an exhibition, "tokyo no shashin (images from Tokyo)" in Paris in 2008.
"Though what I produce is a still image, a capture of one moment, I want each viewer to move the story of an image with your imaginations and past experiences." Kitchen Minoru adds.
One more thing -- about his name and background. Kitchen Minoru was born in Fort Worth, Texas, but was raised in Tokyo Japan for the most of his life. His first job was a real state agent and he was one of the best agents -- he even successfully sold an apartment during his training period. After a year of agent life to repay his scholarship, he turned himself to be what he wanted to be, a photographer.
His name, Kitchen Minoru, came from the time when he was an university student. He was about to exhibit his work in an exhibition and he was looking for a nickname to present. He was thinking about it at a diner in Tokyo, Kitchen Wataru. "Since my first name is Minoru, I simply combined my name and the name of the diner."
Now, after getting acquainted to the world of Kitchen Minoru, don't you think you want to know more about him? Then, visit to his website for more detail on this mysterious figure, Kitchen Minoru, as well as his magnificent works.
Kitchen Minoru, chilling at a house where he was raised and lived in Fort Worth, Texas. He decided to revisit the house a couple of years ago to follow his origin.
NAME: Kitchen Minoru (キッチンミノル)
EXPERTISE: Photography
BASED: Tokyo
If you wish to contact Kitchen Minoru for project opportunities, please contact via edgyjapan.jp.
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