Born and raised in Moscow, Vasily Agrenenko studied photography at the London College of Fashion. His work explores ideas of identity and insecurity as well as artistic playfulness. Through his fashion portfolios, Agrenenko attempts to bring personality to the clothes he photographs by experimenting with characters and observing the story.

When did you get your first camera?
Funnily enough, as a kid I never had much of an interest in the analogue cameras that my family had in the house. In 2005, my father bought me a 4-megapixel digicam as a present. The accessibility of it utterly blew my mind. After that, I went out constantly to take pictures of whatever so that I could mess with them in Photoshop and upload them to the internet.

What is your dream subject?
There is something disarming about this question. Perhaps my dream subject didn’t reveal itself to me yet, or maybe it doesn’t exist at all. But I sense it must be something extremely intangible, delicate, and ethereal. Something you wouldn’t even dare to say out loud.

What has been the hardest lesson you’ve learned as a photographer?
That there are no rules and everyone is just pretending. Took me way too long to realize that.

Aside from a camera, what is a photographer’s most valuable tool?
This might come across as an irony, but I believe it happens to be email these days. The art of a well-crafted email addressed to the right person can open many doors.