Q&A: Mark "thecobrasnake" Hunter

Unless you've been living under an internet-less rock, the name Cobrasnake will ring a few bells. The alias of Mark Hunter, Cobrasnake's rise to fame is an unusual one. He started by tagging along with his friends who were in a band to LA's hippest parties and snapping pictures of beautiful people. These pictures made him a pop culture phenomenon, with everyone in LA begging him to take their picture. Now, he's traveling the world and doing what he does best - photographing people and putting it up on his site, www.thecobrasnake.com. Fanboy Kevin Yeoh got to speak to him when he was in KL.

You got named Best Party Photographer by Paper Magazine recently. What did you win?
They gave me a plaque for my wall and a really nice watch from Diesel. It wasn't even about what they gave me, but the fact that they acknowledge me as the best of the nightlife photographers.

How do you feel about that?
It's pretty cool because a lot who were up for nominations, I inspired and started the site for them. It's cool that I got recognised for being the originators of this new party phenomenon.

How would you describe yourself to a perfect stranger?
I'm a hairy Jewish man from Los Angeles and I take photos everyday and put them on my website called thecobrasnake. You can see photos from parties, concerts, art shows, my travels around the world, and I make t-shirts every month and do other funny things.

Do people call you 'thecobrasnake'?
Yeah! It's the strangest thing even in foreign countries like Japan. I'd be walking down the street in Harajuku and a girl will yell, "Cobrasnake!" Even at the hotel earlier, someone came up to me and say, "Hello Mark Hunter" and the other guy was calling me "thecobrasnake". So it's sort of both.

You started off with Polaroid Scene. I googled for it today and it's still online. Weren't you sued by Polaroid before?
Polaroid Scene was my original website and after a year, they sued me for using the name and made me surrender the name to them, but they never took the website down. If you're smart, you can still find the photos.

Why are most of your photos horizontally shot?
It just comes naturally and a lot of people like that. It's funny because I do a lot of fashion photography, but I still do it horizontally. For a fashion photographer you should be shooting vertically to get the outfit and the shoes, but I still do horizontal.

How's Cory Kennedy doing?
Amazing. We just spent a week in Japan and everywhere I go, people asked about her. But yeah, we went to Japan and Mexico City together. She went to Singapore not too long ago and had a good time. So, hopefully she can come back to Asia. She's doing good and is in a lot a magazines.

How's travelling with Steve Aoki like and how did you guys start?
Steve and I started a party in Los Angeles like 4 years ago called Cinespace, We're celebrating our 4 year anniversary when we go back on Tuesday. We're both into the same music, fashion and whatever, so we're really good friends who travel a lot. We've been everywhere. Australia, Canada, New York, Japan, Malaysia. So it's cool. It's great because his energy when he's a DJ is amazing and my energy when I take photos is amazing. That's why we get along very well.

Do you ever get tired of travelling?
Tired of travelling and working. It's hard. It looks very glamourous, but there's a lot that goes into it. Me and Steve had some very bad weather conditions when we were trying to get to Cancun for a party. We missed the party, lost a lot of money, it was really annoying. We were at the airport for a whole day. So, stuff like that happens, y'know... Not sleeping. Lots goes into it.

Do you get invited to these parties or do you crash them?
Half and half. There are a lot of times when I find out about some really fancy things like the Marc Jacobs afterparty or something, and I want to go so, I'd sneak in or find a way to get in. Other times I am invited. It's working out both ways.

Have you gotten into trouble for that?
Hmm. Not too much. I'm a nice guy. If somebody tells me no, I will respect them.

How do you feel about thecobrasnake imitators?
It's cool. It's pretty exciting that I have inspired people to take photos. If they are passionate about it and do a good job, good for them.

How exactly did you get to be where you are right now? I mean, how different are you from say, the paparazzi?
I think I started by making by own rules. I never really focused on the celebrity culture. I don't really care about Paris Hilton or anything. So you go to my website to look at what I want to photograph and you're excited about my world. That was what it was based on. I'm really honoured so many people care about what I'm doing. They wanna see, "Oh where's Mark now?" or "What is he doing this week?". So that's really cool. Yeah, it took a lot of work. It wasn't always as fun. That's why I am losing my hair!!

You're getting it back! Slowly...
Yeah yeah it's growing back! It's a lot thinner than it used to be.

What's your ultimate dream.
That's a good question. To experience life and do things on my own terms. Learn and grow everyday. To constantly be inspired and changing. These international trips are really cool when you get to learn and meet a lot of cool people, so everyday I'm like "alright this is how I'm gonna do something when I get home" or "this is what I'm gonna do now!" It's a constant evolution.

Do you like it here in KL so far?
Yeah! The hotels are nice, the people are nice, food is nice, weather was crazy today. Super tropical! Beautiful greenery everywhere. I could get used to this.

Text Kevin Yeoh Photo Shermen Mukhtar