Profile: Ta-ku

Regan Mathews, better known by his stage name Ta-ku, is an Australian musician, producer and photographer. AP’s Mike O’Connor sat down for a chat with the multi-talented creative ahead of his talk at Adobe’s MAX conference in Miami and online this month.

Australian Photography: You really are the definition of a multi-disciplinary artist across music, photography and design. How did this happen?

Ta-ku: I started in the music industry, as a bedroom producer while I was working a fulltime job selling health insurance. And then things did OK for me, I guess.

I took the leap into being a musician, signed a record deal and went on tour and did all that stuff. But then I just fell out of love with the industry to put it plainly.

And then I was like, ‘oh, what else can I do?’

I'd uncovered this creative passion for music, but before then I was a bit lost. I did a lot of messing around and putting my mum through strife before I realised I liked being creative.

And then from there, a combination of a short attention span and wanting to try different things has been the journey for the last decade or so. [In a way I’m] wanting to try as many things as I can before I kick the bucket.

AP: Let’s talk about your photography. I've read some older interviews with you where you said you felt you were at the beginning of your journey with photography, despite already having great success with it.

TK: At the start I really got into it and things did go well for me. I was picking up commercial jobs and shooting for brands and doing fashion photography, which is a whole other world.

It was also when Instagram was really popping. I was taking a lot of urbex stuff, and I also began taking photos of sneakers when sneaker photography was a genre onto itself back in 2010 to 2015.

I'd meet other photographers and collaborate with them and see how they worked. I dived head first into it thinking I wanted to be a photographer and then did a bunch of fashion photography.

[Looking back] I don't think fashion really spoke to me or was something I wanted to pursue, but it definitely helped create a career for myself as a photographer. I went on to form a creative agency (Pretty–Soon) and it became just one part of what we do.

AP: Now a few years down the track, what does it look like for you? Is it a big part of what you do today?

TK: Photography makes me feel really alive. Especially street photography, where it's just me and the camera. There isn't any client, and no objective or deliverable.

I'm not making a career out of it like I did before, but I’m so inspired by photography at this stage of my life and career. It’s nice because it’s back to what I enjoyed when I first started getting into it, and now it's kind of come full circle. It’s now quite a personal thing to me.

AP: One of the things I noticed about your work is that you shoot on all sorts of devices - smartphones, digital cameras, film as well. Why do you like to not be specific about what you use?

TK: Well I started on an iPhone, but it’s funny, as back then it felt like there was a bit of backlash on social media like ‘oh, he’s just another Instagram photographer.’

And then when I wanted to get into film there was a group of people saying, ‘oh, just another film photographer wanting to get into film because it's cool!’

I don't understand what the problem is. We all know the saying, ‘the best camera you is the one you have with you’, and I've always felt that way, you know?

At the same time, I love playing around with new tools and trying cameras just to see which ones work with the way I like to shoot.

AP: So if you were to go out for a shoot right now, what would you take?

TK: I'm in love with my Leica M6, I’ve had it for about 8 years. It's obviously very cliché to say it, but I love that camera and the way it feels to shoot. 

AP: What lens do you have on it?

TK: I have a Carl Zeiss 50mm at the moment, which is quite tight for street photography. But it can be fun to use if you see something happening across the street, or want to take a candid portrait.

AP: And you're using your smartphone a lot as well.

TK: I do, because sometimes I just don't feel like carrying a camera. And they’re great for video as well.

Really, what’s important to me is letting my audience know that you should use whatever you’ve got, and have fun with it and try and do something, as opposed to wanting to have the perfect setup before you start creating or being frozen because you don't have all the right equipment.

AP: On your website, you have great street photos, but you have a lot of portraits as well. What is it about photographing people?

TK: I love shooting people. I think it’s because you don’t know what the person you’re photographing is going or gone through, but your job is to see if you can capture something of them in their expressions or body language. I find that fascinating, that idea of trying to tell a story about this person, even though I may know nothing about them.

AP: I want to talk to you about your editing process. How do you take your captured photo through to the final version you share on social media?

TK: Well I'm actually colourblind, which makes editing difficult. I'm really bad at blues, greens, browns, reds, and purples.

In fact when there's a rainbow in the sky, I only see a blue sky and a yellow stripe. I’ll say to my wife, ‘What's the big deal? Why is everyone so hyped about these things!?’

When I first started editing in Lightroom I used to crunch the blacks quite a lot. I would also cool temperatures down because that's what I could see more of.

Now, I rarely change the temperature to anything but warmer, and deepen the blacks, but never crunch them.

One thing I really like to do is crop, and sometimes quite severely.

Say if I’m editing a series of images, I’ll try to leave one uncropped photo to show context, while I’ll try to present the rest as interesting crops that support that hero image.

AP: Do you use the generative AI tools that are in Lightroom and Photoshop as well?

TK: I do if I want to remove things, but where I really like to use the generative tools is when I want to take a body of work, or a bunch of photos and turn them into a multimedia experience, or a digital collage.

For social media and things like insta reels I’m quite passionate around presenting my work in mixed ways.

AP: Can you give me an example?

TK: Recently I’ve been doing a series called ‘Hopes & Dreams’ which explores the ambitions of people in different fields. One was on Yusuf Chothia, a Perth boxer who represented Australia in the Olympic Games this year.

I went to his gym and just went to town in there. I was there for an hour, and took maybe 3,000 photos, which I was able to turn into what I call a moving portrait - a digital collage and storytelling piece that uses Gen AI to add new elements. You can see it here.

With the piece on Yusuf I wanted it to be energetic, and a bit raw and rough and tough.

Another in the series was on my friend Becca Hatch, a singer and songwriter.

She's very delicate, and I wanted it to be more ethereal and dreamlike. You can see it here.

I’m keen for them all to have their own unique look and feel. I think of these pieces as an experiment - putting my photographs into a moving world and bringing them to life with new tools.

AP: You’re speaking at Adobe’s upcoming MAX conference in Miami, and I know you’re planning to touch on that idea of experimentation. Why do you think daily experimentation is important?

TK: It’s always been part of my approach from when I first started making music. Back then, I was younger and a bit of a loser! I didn't have anything going on, didn't have any responsibilities, so I could make 10 beats a day - and that was my goal.

I would force myself to see how long I could do it for. In a way, it started my music career for me.

Later, I did this project called ‘50 days for Dilla’, based on the productions of hip hop producer J Dilla. I’d upload something on my SoundCloud every day for 50 days. I didn't miss a day. People started following me, and even though there were times when it was to the wire, or late at night, I got it done.

It taught me so much about the things you do on a daily basis. Not everything [you create] is going to be great and that’s ok, but you're going to feel fulfilled because you're creating something and making yourself accountable as well.

I still do it today, I’ll spend 10 minutes on Adobe After Effects or Lightroom or playing with my film camera. As long as I'm trying something new each day, it really helps expand my horizons by trying new things.

At the same time, the more you can do that, the better idea you have of what kind of artist you want to be as well. That's all I preach in a way - just try it. What have you got to lose besides your ego?

AP: What are you looking forward to at Adobe MAX this year?

TK: I really love sneaks and I think Awkwafina is the sneaks co-host this year. I love that format of engineers coming on and showing the stuff they've worked on all these years, and then that comedian picking them apart. And also I hear T-Pain is playing as well – I’m a huge fan!

AP: Social media is obviously a huge part of how you market and promote what you do. What does it bring to your work and you know how do you manage it?

TK: At its core, social media is great for creatives. These days I use it more as a portfolio, and my Instagram is more up-to-date than my website. To touch back on that idea of experimentation, social media is where most of it happens for me now.

I've never been too concerned about the numbers, but I do believe the numbers come if you keep grinding away and telling a story in a unique way that's different to others. These days I try to produce something once a week. Not because people are patiently waiting for you to create something – no one is – but because it keeps you accountable.

The sharing part is the hard part for most people, I get that. I don’t think of myself as a perfectionist and sometimes I’ll put something out even if it’s not perfect, and move onto the next thing. You have to be able to do that – not with client work though!

AP: And what about the noise with social media? How do you manage the negative sides?

TK: I'm very good at time management, maybe better than I am as a creative!

What I’ve realised is life balance is so important as an artist. There will be times when you’re not feeling creative or wanting to be on social media, and that’s when you should take the day off and play basketball, or video games, or spend time with the family. You need that because when it's time to work on creative things you’ll be like ‘I’ve missed you!’.

As for all the other stuff around social media, you're always going to get weirdos and people who don’t help what you’re doing.

When I first started, especially with my music, when people would say [negative] things, my first thought would be ‘why do they feel that way?’

But I think the older you get, the more you realise you’re not going to make everyone in the world a fan of what you do, so why try?

I've gotten to the point where I either ignore or just block. It is what it is.

AP: Of all the photos you've taken, what's your most memorable?

TK: (long pause) Well, my wife is the one that encouraged me to get into film photography. In fact it was on our honeymoon in 2016 when I picked up my first film. That first roll was just me and her in Korea.

At the time, I remember thinking, ‘okay photography is a big part of who I am and how I express myself.’

That roll definitely means a lot and I still have the negatives in my room. It was also quite pure in a way - it was just me, my wife, and the camera. I wish I got into photography when I was in high school. I think it would have changed a lot of the ways I think about life.

Catch Ta-ku and 50+ sessions led by the world’s most inspiring creatives at Adobe MAX 2024. Register is set to speak at Adobe’s MAX conference on October 15. You can watch it live here.

Or register for Adobe MAX for free to explore other engaging sessions. Discover more here.