Tantalus Hike

A big thanks to Mr. A for this weekend hike up Tantalus! Short and sweet, it provided a great view of the Pali. We were blessed with some wonderful weather and blue skies. Thanks for looking!

The beautiful Panoramic view from the hike

One of the most interesting trees of the hike - BW conversion

I'm not sure why, but this log and tree really caught my eye.

A great teacher and an even better friend - thanks again Mr. A!

Morning Clouds

Composition is an element of photography that truly captivates one towards an image. Knowing what to use as your subject, knowing where to place that subject, and also what to complement your subject with is really an art. For me, I've always tried to learn what makes certain photographers so amazing, or what made some photographs 'pop' more than others - it's all in their composition. To me, although composition can be defined and spoken about at great lengths, it's only in the moment do you discover if you have it or you don't. Lighting set-ups can be mastered, metering can be read, but composition is something that can only be developed over time.

My latest craze, as you might have been able to tell, is clouds; cirrus clouds to be exact. Recently, we've been having a great showing of cirrus clouds due to some weather phenomena Guy Hagi tried to explain to me one time. When I first approached this shot, my initial idea was to simply create a panoramic view of the sky. But slowly as I took the scene in more and more, I decided I wanted to incorporate the elements of Makapu'u beach - namely Rabbit island and the parking lot. Rarely do I ever do vertical panoramas just because one, our eyes scan from left to right horizontally, and two, they're odd to hang, but once I saw the scene, I knew that a vertical composition would be a smart choice.

Naturally, the graffitied cement barrier would not have been an ideal object to complement the scene, but since I really wanted to express my surroundings, I decided to include it - and the blue shirt that you'll see if you look closely.

Dramatic Lighting

Models, brides, or cars may be the subjects for most of our work, but for photographers, the most difficult and important element in any shoot is lighting.

A few days ago, I was pretty unhappy that the sun didn't come out for my morning drive/swim. However, after noticing the unusual cloud formation, I waited around to see if my expectations would come through - they certainly did. Through the dark clouds of the morning came a stream of light from the heavens. In my opinion, it doesn't get much more dramatic than this - no speedlites needed. Happy Friday!

3rd Time's the Charm!

This was a relatively quick and simple engagement shoot for Stephanie and Kyle who are getting married in July. They both were great to work with and I totally loved Stephanie's infectious laugh!

The day started off with the intention to shoot at Sandy Beach, but due to the HSBA contest, we had to resort to Plan B. Plan B was a nice and isolate beach that I had done a few shoots at in Kahala. However, due the high tide and sporadic drops of rain, we decided that it probably wasn't the best way to go. Finally, we chose Plan C - a safe, but yet effective choice. I suppose we picked right after all! Enjoy!

The Great Run

Many a times, as I drive over the Hanauma Bay hill coming back from Sandys, I look at the beautiful view and tell myself, one day I'll have to get  shot of that! However, each time, I always found myself in a rush to get somewhere and I never did.

Just the other day as I was driving back for a dinner, I had an hour to kill when I saw this beautiful sunset. Quickly, I stopped by the scenic point and pulled out my camera with the other tourists. 'Scenic Point' sign and electrical wires mangled my view, and very unhappily, I trudged back towards my car. But wait! - there was a hill! Although there was no trail, I made up my mind that I was going to get this shot one way or another. So after trapping on my R-Strap (which I highly recommend) and grabbing my gear, I scaled a pretty sketchy rock wall next to the highway and ran up the mountain. Yes, I ran... I literally ran as fast as I could until I got to a nice vantage point, but man was it worth it!

This just goes to show that most times, the best picture is often not at eye-level. If you expect great things to come easily without any effort, well I guess you're just another tourist. Enjoy.

"Hidderr" (HDR)

A Panorama View

 

Slowly I'm getting over my cold and gearing up for the big weekend ahead of me! Driving back from the north shore yesterday, I was astounded to see solid +2 footers coming in at Sunset! If only I had my boards! Anyways, Saturday and Sunday will be the Hawaii State Bodysurfing Association's Sandy Beach Contest - I'm not saying you should necesarily check it out, but just be aware that they will be shutting down a section of the beach for the contest. That being said, I'm looking forward to a mid-day session of not getting dropped in on by the Wall's Crew or dodging buoys on the inside.

Sunday I'll be doing an engagement shoot so stay posted!

On a final note - I got my wedding portfolio book in the other day, so I'll be doing a review on the book and posting some shots of the final product. Aloha!

*PS, in case you get the urge to try it, if you're in a rush, don't try and swallow Alka-Seltzer. I'm pretty good and taking pills but this is the one exception. I was in a time crunch yesterday seeing patients and rashly decided to swallow it... ugh.