This work consists of 88 photos carefully selected from 18,590 shots taken from 2016 to 2023.
I shot in a street portrait style.

Let me tell you a little about Mr. S-Ken, the subject. He is a musician and a music producer who will turn 76 this year ( in 2023) and is affectionately known as “Punk Grandpa “. While in NY in the 1970s he experienced the rise of punk rock at CBGB and after his return to Japan he presided over “Tokyo Rockers”. He was a legendary rocker who laid the foundation for that scene in Japan. I have known of Mr. S-Ken since I was a teenager.

More than 30 years later in 2016 , I met musician Kan Takagi at my teacher’s 60th birthday party when I was a DJ. Mr. Takagi introduced me to Mr. S-Ken and that was our first encounter.
Around that time, Mr. S-Ken resumed his activities as an artist after a long absence, releasing a new album and writing a memoir.

I was just looking for a new subject after the release of my first photo book “The Blues of Monochrome “ in 2016 and when I saw Mr. S-Ken I instinctively knew that he was the one. I felt an overwhelming energy and a bottomless power coming from this man, who was about to turn 70 and was instantly drawn. He has a tremendous charm. I felt it.

The first shoot was in Shimokitazawa, which is typical of ROCK. Rhythm is the key to a street photo session, so if the groove doesn't match, it's going to be a mess. In that respect the two of us were in one mind and worked in harmony right from the start.

After a while, Mr. S-Ken's friend Yoshiyasu Katayama, a writer living in Asakusa, joined us as a navigator for this photo session, and since then we often went to downtown areas. I, who was born in Osaka and have lived around Shinjuku and Shibuya, and Mr. S-Ken, who was born in Omori, wandered around the East side of Tokyo like eager young boys , full of curiosity and took lots of pictures, resulting in the completion of this photo book.

I hope you to get big energy from this “punk grandpa”.

-Masanori Kamide

w23.6 x h26 cm
80 Pages
88 Images
Hard cover
b&w Offset
First edition
Published in 2023
ISBN 978-4-911112-03-8

SUPER LABO is an independent photography book publishing company founded in 2009 in Tokyo by Yasunori Hoki. They produce beautifully printed and designed books by some of the world’s most renowned and acclaimed artists working in the field of photography.