...ken nagahara......-->photo show

Recently our friend ken nagahara got a
call from a gallery in Japan. They wanted
him to do a photography show in his homeland.
Ken was more than stoked and agreed to do the
show......Of course there was major a problem,
Ken can't go back to Japan.

Coming from a family of Japanese loggers,
ken grew up the next in line. Just like his
great, great grandad did 100 years ago Ken
was supposed to join the family business.
Instead Ken was obsessed with skateboarding,
he packed a back pack and small amount of money
and headed for San Francisco.

A couple issues for a normal person might be
that he barely knew anybody in america,
didn't speak english, and only had enough
money for a couple weeks.
Ken charged the streets and made friends
with some local dirtbag skaters. Like skaters
often do for each other... they took Ken in like
a brother.

I once asked Ken "how'd you learn to speak
so well?"

He replied, "from watching Chappelle show"

The world was tuned into the Chappelle show
at the time. The skaters that had taken Ken
in were no different. Stoned to the bone with
his new comrades... he sat red eyed, sponging
up Chappelle. Learning how to say words and
making everyone laugh... hoping to figure
out the meaning of what he was saying sometime
in the near future.

Ken started taking photos of these same skaters
and was often seen around different skate
spots with his camera pressed to his face.
He seemed to have more of a knack for the
lifestyle shoots. The big magazines and
fancy photographers turned ken away claiming
his look to be not polished enough. Ken kept
at it... not changing his style and keeping
his eye up to the lens. raw and real.

Ken has had no easy time here in the bay.
Slept on the streets, begged for food,
robbed by thugs, hit by multiple cars, you
name it..... Ken goes through it all with a
smile on his face and his heart on his sleeve.






** so ken can't go back tp
japan because he has yet to meet
his american princess.
this being said he couldn't attend his
own show. our friend MAYA decided
with help from the missouri lounge
to hook ken up with a round eye version
of his show...


come down... cheap beer, good tunes.