I confess that I’m pretty much in love with all things Japanese. My garden is designed with a loose Japanese feel and I keep koi and bonsai. So it was inevitable that eventually I’d want to create a body of photographic work centred around an oriental aesthetic.

This Kendo shoot is the start of a project that I feel will last for many months as I try to create images that communicate how I feel about the look and feel of the orient. To me it’s mysterious and uber stylish and if there’s one sport that encapsulates that, it’s Kendo. Just to look at these guys sends a shiver up your spine and trust me, when you see them in full fight mode it really is something else. This is ritualised, highly controlled violence - but of course a Kendo aficionado would never say that!

Over the next few weeks you’ll be able to make your own mind up because we’ll release the video of our shoot with the Gaku Shi Juku Kendo Kai club in Leicestershire. But in the meantime here’s a few worked up images to give you an idea… it was an epic shoot!