Dell Hamby is the 77th Karate Master to be photographed for the Karate Masters Portrait Project. He is 6th dan Uechi-ryu Karate and 6th dan Ryukyu Kobudo Shimbukan. Originally from Switzerland, he now lives, teaches and trains in Okinawa. He studies Uechi-ryu under Yoshitsune Senaga (who we will be photographing in the coming weeks) and Ryukyu Kobudo under Hiroshi Akamine.  He was one of four masters who took part in the Okinawa World Tournament Promotion Tour earlier in the year, and  is one of the kobudo judges when the tournament is held next week.

It was a pleasure to photograph Dell, a real gentleman and a great ambassador for Okinawan karate.

The project has been on hold for the past year as we welcomed Jasmine to our family, but as things settle down we’ve been able to start things up again.  My goal is to release the second volume in the series in time for the Tokyo Olympics in the summer of 2020.

All images taken with the Pentax 645Z and the 90mm lens. Lighting from a Profoto B1 strobe with a white softlight reflector.

Jasmine showed Dell her own fighting techniques that involve distracting the opponent with her big eyes, then sucking on their fingers until they submit due to an overload of cuteness.