Okay. I have to admit. I get ZERO credit for any Tako caught today. Zero. Zilch. Nada. (note Bamboo the dog eagerly hoping I will drop one of these…)

My son Jay gets partial credit for “tickling” one of these octopus out of it’s home by massaging it with his spear, and then grabbing on to it as it tried to escape in an ink-spewing, suction-cup-clinging battle.

Our mentor, Brady Borge bagged a total of 5 tako, all keepers. Brady has the eye to see these creatures a mile away, while one might be suctioned to my bald head and I’d never even know it. Brady can sense a “tako house” in his sleep. I am so thankful for the time he has spent teaching us.

For dinner tonight I made two styles of Tako poke — one is my new secret recipe.  It is killer.

Oh, geeze, I have plenty of work to do….  More soon, I hope.

Aloha from the most beautiful Island on Earth.

~r

I love summer in Hawaii. Maui becomes a giant playground. My teenaged kids are finally starting to see what the surrounding ocean has to offer, rather than viewing it at an obstical to traveling. Yesterday both kids learned how to stand-up paddleboard. They got to ride a jetski with a lifeguard a couple days back. Last week Jay and I went fishing with spears under the guidance of an experienced local, and brought home three Tako (Octopus) which we promptly ate as poke salad using a Sam Choy  recipe.

I saw some nice moist clouds setting up for a good sunset recently, and ran out the door with my camera to re-shoot a favorite location UpCountry. Love these summer sunsets!

Next Friday is known as “Lahaina Sun” in the Hawaiian calendar. It is the one day where a person in Lahaina at noon will have no shadow because the sun is exactly overhead. This happens a day earlier in Kahului, Maui. This is the tidbit of the day.

The Maui Photo festival is in September. Check out www.MauiPhotoFestival.com. I’ll be offering an HDR class on how to make an image like this one.

Appropriately, I selected a photo of one of America’s heros to post for this Independence Day. I have followed Willie Nelson for about 30 years now.

I tell my kids that I have been in professional baseball and football stadiums - sold out - in major cities, just to hear his message and his sweet voice. My kids don’t believe me.  He lives more than half the year on Maui, so Willie has become a familiar sight to local folks, who treat and trust him as a friend. Because he is a neighbor to all Mauians, I have had the pleasure, in recent years, of witnessing live concerts in tiny gatherings, and seeing him in restaurants, and on the golf course. Last week at the Maui FIlm Festival I thanked him for all he has done for America, looking him straight in the eye. Then I had a few minutes to photograph him up close and personal. It was one of the greatest moments in my life.

Willie Nelson is not a “pop culture” icon. He is so much more for the good people of this great country.

Happy Independence Day. Relax, Enjoy.

(more…)

Yesterday I was in Lahaina making my normal rounds of deliveries to the Front Street retail stores. There is a stand of coconut trees which have alwave captured my curiosity over the years, but I never really took the time to get my camera out and make an effort to photograph them.  Typically, Lahaina is too hot and sticky for me to actually walk with my camera bag, and set up a tripod. Yesterday I made the time and, yes, ended up sweating profusely. The image is cool, though. Sort of avant garde. Any thoughts?
~r

For the third time already this summer, Maui has received a perfect south swell shooting up from Tahiti. I normally find surf photography to be a bit unproductive — you see, I can’t compete with the full-time surf-shooters and their 800-1600mm lenses (plus, a perfectly good lens gets totally gunked-up with a layer of salt). But it was different this time for a couple of reasons; mainly my own son was in the biggest break of his life, and secondly we were at the breakwall at Ma`alaea Harbor where a spectator can sit very close to the action.

This first image was my favorite of the day. What a fantastic look on his face at the moment of realization that was not going to pull out of this tube. I grabbed this kid’s email address and sent him a copy, much to his surprise.

The second image is of my little 13-year-old Jay, who is finally getting a good feel for the waves, and realizing what a gift it is to have an ocean in his backyard. In fact, last week Jay brought home a 1.5 lb. Tako (speared with his three-prong) which we make into the best Tako Poke ever tasted!

For these images, I used my new Nikon D700 with a 70-200 f2.8 lens. I was using a 2X Nikor extender to bring my focal length to 400. I managed to stay high and dry, unlike a few of the other spectators on the wall.

Yesterday was one of the most beautiful days I have ever seen in Hawaii. From my deck I could see Moloka’i, and Lana’i crystal clear.

I drove up into `Iao for a few minutes just to breath the freash air. On the way out I stopped to make a photograph that I had been thinking about creating for many years. This church is always so beautiful. The day was incredible. I headed to the pool for my daily mind-clearing swim, and all way fabulous.

Everybody knows that UpCountry Maui is famoud for the color purple during the month of May. Here we go again! The Jacarandas are exploding into color from Makawao to Kula to Ulupalakua. Come see for yourself.

Oh, by the way, I am handing out free avacados for the next couple weeks at the gallery. Enjoy!

Boy, there was a really long recovery period for me after Merrie Monarch hula festival this year. The event itself is totally draining — emotionally, I mean. There are 4 days of constant ups and down, and deadines, and meetings, and appointments, and …

During Merrie Monarch Hula Festival you see so many old friends, and make many new, as well. It is an experience that can bond people for life. This was my sixth straight year to photograph the event, and my tenth year overall to attend. Man, this one drained me.

Following the week in Hilo, I headed to Hana. I go to Hana frequently to re-charge my soul and get my feet back on the ground. In Hana, I hung with dozens of people whom are my friends, my hanai ohana, and my cultural kumus. Whew, the energy out there was strong — something I rarely say, or think, but it was.

I spent a night in my timy tent in Oheo.  How wonderfully freeing that can be to wake up in a lightweight tent that is little more than a mosquito net; next to the crashing waves, with the sun gently rising directly from the ocean between the cliffs of Kipahulu and the Big Island.

I have fallen way behind with my normal daily tasks such as attending to my retail stores, and writing blogs, and sending newsletters. My mind is becoming more occupied with a few books I hope to publish. I finally met with one of my card publishers (Island Heritage, and the Madden Corporation) and had a great meeting about the prospects of making my first jump into authoring. This is really exciting for me,  I have to admit.

Also, I am gearing up to present 3 or 4 classes at the first annual Maui Photo Festival in September. i am already starting  to work on my class outlines and can’t wait for this event. So much is happening. Oh, if you are interested in more information about this event, just go to www.mauiphotofestival.com.

Wow, summer is nearly upon us. The gallery has survived the down period (April & May) and we are looking forward to a fantastic summer vacation period on Maui. The airline prices are at an all-time low, at least what I see on Travelocity.com, so try to take a break and come visit us in person!

Also this month, a very important family on Maui — the Kaina ‘Ohana — had to say farewell to soon to Hokulani, their beautiful, young, shining star. Not to be forgotten.

I cringe when journalists call the Merrie Monarch Hula Festival the Olympics of Hula. However, I would consider this festival to be top top level of competition in the world for this dance.

This year, the competition was fierce, and as usual every in the stadium was ‘ohana — yup, it was a fierce dance competition between family and friends. That is why I return year-after-year. In that stadium are many of the finest people I have ever known; friends for life.

Check out this link to see my SLIDE SHOW! Hmmm… Creative choice for music, huh?

Seems like I have been out traveling inter-island for weeks on end. Life is good, but I feel tired and just want a month to lock myself up so I can write a book, or at least write the outline…

Speaking of outlines, I am currently creating outlines for my classes at the upcoming Maui Film Festival, in September. It seems that I will be co-teaching a class with the infamous Dr. Russell Brown. Together we hope to have out students create a Hollywood-style movie poster from scratch.  Shortly after the Maui event, we will attampt to teach the same class to a more demanding audience at the Adobe Max conference in L.A,

I have been jumping around the islands quite a bit during the past few weeks. Finally, I got my butt back onto Kaua’i’s famous Na Pali Trail into the breath taking Kalalau Valley. I backpacked into the wilderness there for 4 nights and loved every minute of it — except for the scorpion sting which left me in great pain during one night.

I was able to bring my digital cameras into the Valley for the first time. Previously, I was shooting with my panorama film camera, and lugged along many rolls of 120 Velvia. I was playing with some fun techniques, and caught a handfull of winners, despite the wintry weather.  …okay, wintry is a relative term here — it was drizzling and 70ish degrees in the early mornings…

I made this first image by stitching and stacking about 24 exposures. I think the hardest part about making this image is that you have to first hike 11 very strenuous miles in to this location with a heavy pack, and then at sunset, hike two more miles back up a hill from the campsite, when all you feel like doing is laying flat on the ground.

The next image is about 50 images thown together into a “Ben Willmore-esque” panolage.

Shortly after returning home to Maui, I headed back out the door to Oahu, where I had the big pleasure of attending a workshop taught by Kevin Kubota. This was a two-day “efficiency” workshop, which seemed to be very effective with most of the other students — however, it is not in my genetic code to be efficient. Here is a photo of Kevin’s workshop experts (Jed Taufer, Kevin Kubota, Vicki Taufer, and Clare Kubota).

I highly recommend Kevin’s workshops. By the way, the Willow’s Restaurant in Honolulu is INCREDIBLE! It is a perfect place for a seminar like this, and the Hawaiian food is amongst the best I have ever eaten!

In a couple of days I will head to Hilo Town on the Big Island for my annual visit to the Mecca of Hula — The Merrie Monarch Hula Festival. I will be photographing for two prominant hula halau; my hanai kumu hula Napua Greig, and also for the dancers under Keali’i Reichel.

I traveled somewhere else in-between, but have completely forgotten where!

By the way, the new Maui Photo Festival is in late September. It is coming together quite smoothly, and I am looking forward to teaching a couple of classes. Visit the website if you are at all interested in photography! Fun times will be had for all. One of Kevin Kubota’s tidbits of advice was to “travel and attend seminars” to shake up your creative juices….