ADFEST, Tokyo (20-23rd July)

I just returned from a week in Tokyo as Editor of ADFESTbuzz and Lotus News atADFEST (Asia Pacific Advertising Festival).

ADFEST is an award show that’s passionate about nurturing creativity in the Asia Pacific. One of my favorite interviewees was Kazuyoshi Hayakawa, director at Camp KAZ Productions.

Not only is Kazuyoshi hugely talented (his commercials are famous in Japan and Thailand), but he’s the smiliest person I’ve ever met, and he has one of those wonderfully expressive faces that you never tire of looking at.

We had to speak via his translator, which is never the same as interviewing someone directly, but our conversations gave me a small taste of his philosophy and talent.

Hawaiian tattoo design

In the 1985 film 'Weird Science' two nerdy boys create the perfect woman, who is played by Kelly LeBrock. It's a terrible movie but for the sake of argument, let's imagine what the perfect male might have looked like if the two nerdy boys were replaced by two adolescent girls. I think I know the answer. He would have looked like a Hawaiian surfer.

I just returned from Hawaii where I interviewed Kala Alexander, one of the most notorious founders of the surf tribe, Wolfpak, and spent the week surrounded by young, taut, virile young men. It was awful.

I was struck by their masculine perfection, and by the beauty of Hawaiian tattoos, which are territorial, warrior-like and designed to intimidate. Etched in black ink, the tattoos depict maps of Hawaii, cursive letters or Polynesian symbols, and although my story was all about surf gangs (not tattoo design), I did get a rare glimpse into how tattoo art has become an emblem of Hawaiian identity.

(Left: Kala Alexander, as photographed by Cory Lum in Oahu, Hawaii. My interviews with Kala appeared in Sunday Magazine & Tracks magazine).

Feet

I travel a lot for work, and I photograph my feet to prove I was there.