Randy Jay Braun - Hawaii's Photographer

Randy Jay Braun first arrived in Hawaii as a student-intern at the Kamehameha Schools in 1982. It was there that he began to photograph the children of Hawaii. "I loved the cultural diversity of the islands. I grew up in a rather homogeneous town in Kansas and for the first time in my life I found myself in the minority; a fun and interesting reversal."

Braun graduated from Occidental College, in Los Angeles, with a degrees in Anthropology & Documentary Film. Since then, his 24 year journey as a professional photographer has taken him from the tension-filled operating rooms of world-renowned heart surgeons to the back stages of Hollywoods studios, and back to the beauty of the Pacific Islands.

His in-depth "portraiture" of Hawaii's ancient hula has been internationally received with numerous awards and a host of corporate clients. Primarily working with sepia-toned, hand-colored photography for the past 15 years, Randy's unique work graces numerous hotels, restaurants, and other public venues. He has completed nearly 20 music CD covers, including a recent one for National Geographic.

Braun constantly strives for cultural authenticity in his work, often consulting kupuna (elders), kumu hula (hula masters) , and language experts from around Hawaii.

With camera in hand, Braun still searches for the "face of Hawaii". "I celebrate our ethnic melting-pot. Each generation, it seems to me, becomes more beautiful!"

Okay.....That was my "formal artist's statement". In the art world we call it our "blurb". But now I will disclose the real me:

I am a fortysix-year-old boy. I was never good at math, or the hard sciences in college. Despite flunking my photography merit-badge test as a Boy Scout, I squeeked my way into a photography career because I was gifted with an eye for composition.

I am the luckiest person on Earth. The harder I work, the luckier I get. I work hard, but my work is my passion and therefore, I am on a never-ending vacation.

I stopped wearing a watch about a decade ago, and my appointment book went into the trash a few years back. My briefcase is a priority mail box, and I will only wear shoes and socks about 3 times per year. My favorite breakfast is steamed broccoli. My love for the wilderness continues to grow with age. I was a true expert in the traditional darkroom; and I am an over-excited novice to the digital darkroom.

I love to skinny-dip in cold mountain streams, and swim laps in the county pool to clear my head. My kayak is my preferred method of travel, and my tent is my mansion. My laptop connects me to the outside world, whenever I need to connect, but mostly I prefer to live a simple life in this island paradise. I want to create images that are culturally and historically significant as my hero Edward S. Curtis did with the American Indian tribes a century ago, so that my photographs live in perpetuity, as a historical record of the Hawaiian people.

There.... more than you ever cared to know about me! Oh, my current blog is here too.

Randy's Blog