Trip to the World Botanical Gardens..

This past weekend I went to the World Botanical Gardens in Hakalau on the Hamakua Coast of Hawai'i Island. It was a photo outing planned by the Kona Camera Club. We were also joined by two prominent photographers Ken and Kary Goodrich from Hilo. At first I wasn't looking forward to it due in part to it being on the Hilo side of the island and the Hilo side is very wet and has a higher potential for rain than the Kona side does. Also I hate mosquitoes but I digress. It was a beautiful sunny warm Hawaiian day and I had some really good anti-mosquito repellant spray so I had nothing to complain about.

After getting a slow start walking around the 26 acres property I started finding little gems to shoot. It's an amazing place filled with countless plants, trees, flowers, water falls etc... I thought that maybe I should follow one of the other photographers to get inspiration but the group quickly broke-up and fanned out in all directions so I started roaming around and, who knew, I started finding my own little gems that I started snapping.

I really wanted to go outside today but so far the rain is keeping me indoors. so here are a few photos from this weekend's garden shoot. Hopefully the rain will let up and I'll be able to bring you some big wave photos from Kona.

Enjoy!

My new Portrait Book

I just got my new portrait book in the mail. I ordered a 11X8 Little Black Book (Lustre - E-Surface) (20 Pages) from ArtisanState (www.artisanstate.com). They have a great way of building you a book that lays flat. The pages can be full bleed to the edges and you can create double truck 2 page spreads where the photo will be seamless across the 2 pages. They have a great web-based interface that allows you to upload your images, organize them how you want and to select the style of cover and materials you want for your book.

This book will be used to present my work to future clients.

Enjoy!

Love it when a plan comes together...

Today was the culmination of intense planning and quick thinking. On Saturday February 1st during a conversation with a photographer from the Hilo side of Hawai"i Island we agreed to get together on the Kona side for a day of shooting.

Since I wasn't familiar with what types of photography my friend would want to shoot I asked her a question: Would you like to shoot Places and Spaces or People and Things. She offered both would make good subjects. I started thinking of ways to bring together elements that would make for an interesting day of shooting. I came up with an idea of bring together models for a shoot that would focus on People and Spaces. sort of a hybrid of the original question. Specifically I wanted to shoot tourists on the beach of one of Kona's best known tourist destinations.

The start time was 9am but by the time everyone collected on the beach of the King Kamehameha Hotel the sun was in full bloom creating the kind of light that most photographers run from. Bright clear sunlight. Of course it was way too bright to shoot without the normally bright studio lights that I decided not to bring today. So quick thinking prevailed. We moved over to the shaded grassy area on the Luau grounds where they had already started cooking the nights meal.

With 3 Photographers, 3 models, 1 assistant and one young model to be we started capturing the following images before the real tourists out numbered our intrepid group.

Enjoy!!

Tiana

Chuck

Tiana & Kainoa

Tiana & Kainoa

Tiana & Chuck

 ,
Kainoa, Tiana, Emma & Chuck

Kainoa

19 and 9 1/2 years on the job in Kona

This past Friday marked the end of an era at Jack's Diving Locker. Andy and Angela Woerner both moved to the mainland to be nearer to their families and to let their son Grayer have the pleasure of growing up closer to his relatives. Oh yeah and after 9 1/2 years I retired from Jack's Diving Locker.

I've had the privilege of working with Andy and Angela for 9 1/2 years. It's been a lot of fun and hard work even for Hawaii. I've gotten to photograph Andy as he campaigned for a Senate seat, I snapped a few shots during his 40th birthday party, I've made Angela uncomfortable with my constant requests for her to pose and I've watched their son Grayer grow into a spunky 5 year old. I even made sure that I captured the family on their last full day in Kona at the shop.

Both Andy and Angela will continue to be a big part of Jack's Diving Locker working from the mainland but it won't be the same in the office without them or me.

Enjoy..

 Photos were taken for his Senate campaign fliers... I think they made it into his fliers.

 Happy 40th Andy! Who knew that they are such good dancers?

 I even did some Photoshop work for him adding Angela into a family photo.

 Their farewell party at Daylight Mind in Kona on Tues. Jan 28. 

The sunset was spectacular that night.

Farewell Grayer, Angela, Pua and Andy! A Hui Ho!

The importance of Composition

I was lucky enough to visit Maui last month to take a refresher class in photographic composition taught by one of the most accomplished photographers on Maui, Aubrey Hord.

There are many articles and tutorials available to the beginner and advanced photographer but in the final analysis composition is very simple. While more and more emphasis is being placed on how many mega pixels and how expensive cameras are now days the key spec that will make you a better photographer is having good photography skills.

There are a few simple rules that can help you do a better job of composing your scenes:

1. Basic Design
2. Compositional Formulas
3. Content
4. Framing your shot

Remembering things like where to place your subject and how to use color, texture, patterns, lines and vanishing points can make you a much better photographer.

It's not necessarily the camera that's going to make you a better photographer, it's knowing what to do with what's in your viewfinder that will make you a better photographer.