Far East and Far Out With Andi Sapey

Andi Sapey is one of Studio's regular collaborators and takes a great picture. And I'll tell you a secret; designers love working with photographers - as we sit chained to our macs, we envy them as they race around taking fabulous pictures, talking casually to models and generally recording a more glamourous world. And here is your exclusive preview of his recent second trip to Japan.



Andi was like an over stimulated child when he first returned from Tokyo. He absorbed its fluorescent and dizzy culture, seen its eccentric youth tribes which ram raid the 20th Century for inspiration. And he took a lot of pictures. Even the crowded street shots tell their own story, with the occasional face in the crowd disguised by a surgical mask - respectfully not spreading germs.



"While you're out there, take plenty of pictures of young people", I asked him before he left, "I want to see what they're wearing". I wanted to see its youth culture – and the Japanese appear to have borrowed much from the bored and disinterested of the west and ran with it. And created an identity strange and fascinating but still their own.



These guys are the Bōsōzoku, a 50's style motorcycle gang who look to have been cloned from Gene Vincent's DNA. Their exaggerated quiffs threaten the ozone layer and doorways alike. They hang around, rev their bikes and dance to a weird electronic rock and roll, stomping madly and binding their winklepickers with black tape so they don't fall apart.











BBC Four's recent 'Hidden Japan' season, featured the photographic work funded by Albert Khan, a wealthy retired banker who while travelling the world despatched a photographer to document his journey - and in colour too. He first visited Japan in 1908, and discovered a country on the cusp of change, their national identity still proudly routed in the past but about to be consumed by the wider world. It's weird to compare Khan's shots with Andi's – 101 years apart but still revealing an amazing culture. Japan still respects its traditions, but with a wicked sense of humour.



Here are the links: Andi's Flickr - Albert Khan on BBC Four. And Andi's main site.