This was probably the most eclectic day on Kona as we spent most all our time on the south of the island and ended at the volcano.
We saw the moon set minutes after the sunrise.
We were in jungles and on green sand and black sand beaches.
We took pictures of surfers, horses and windmills.
It was long… but fun.
Here’s the eclectic Mix
More highlights after the jump
Dustin wanted some pictures while we were traveling around in Hawaii.
One evening after sunset (twilight) I decided I could take a break and do some.
I laid the flash on a few rocks pointed it in a direction and told him to stand in front of it.
I walked around him shooting pictures and doing some different poses.
After a while I realized I didn’t have move at all… he stood in the same spot the whole time and I just moved around and adjusted my settings.
In fact the flash stayed in the same spot on the same settings the whole time.
I did have him jump in that spot so at the end he did move a little.
Just goes to show what you can do.
Here are some examples
To change it up I shot through things.
Shooting away from the sunset/twilight made things much darker background obviously.
This day we took it easy only leaving later in the day to pick up two more photographers from the airport and then shooting in two locations in town (Kailua Kona)
You can see the full gallery (of the recap) on SmugMug
Oh how I enjoy Wide angle (14-24 2.8) and having a flash to illuminate both spots was fun.
I have forgotten the name of this.
I did go snorkeling for about an hour earlier in the day.
The plan was go up the mountain… but they didn’t let us… so we went around.
They closed the mountain because of snow and ice, so we decided to take a small dirt road accessible by 4wd only.
This is the same road we played on, on a previous day. So thus we were back on the road.
Probably one of my favorite places on the island and for sure one of the least traveled areas of the island.
You’ll also see some pictures of the north east coast of the island where we went later in the day.
You’ll recognize it as the places with water, ocean, waterfalls etc.
Full gallery of this recap is available here
yes that’s snow… yes it’s hawaii
Let’s just say that a rental jeep can go more places than a regular jeep can go.
So what’s the deal with the loner cow?
This is the Nene, the state bird of Hawaii.
They don’t fly, well at least they didn’t feel like flying away from me.
This is my recap of the wedding pictures.
There were many many pictures taken that day, but I was able to skim through them and pick out some of my favorites so I could do a recap here.
It’s gonna be a long post because I have lots of pictures to share.
And also a few words about how to make every wedding this great.
Perfectly planned
I really had a great time doing this wedding.
Being in Hawaii certainly didn’t hurt.
They were also a great looking couple, had a great family, picked a wonderful place for the wedding and reception.
They had everything planned out very well and that makes my job so much easier and makes for better pictures.
So if a future bride is reading this.
Please note that it just doesn’t naturally happen with no effort.
What to do?
This bride seemed to almost plan the day around wonderful picture opportunities.
From the fans and the parisols the brides mades used to flying her stylist over from her island.
She seemed to pick the location based on her own estimation and advice from the hotels as to which one had the best photography spots.
And she picked well.
So therefore… pick a great place to get married or time to travel to a spot on that day.
She even organized the banquet/reception to end in time to have her be able to do photography at sunset.
Most people seem unwilling to do that sometimes planning a reception during sunset.
Perhaps it helped since she had a captive audience since 70 people flew from another island.
I can’t and won’t just pull you away from whatever you’re doing to get sunset pictures.
But I will be willing to do them if that desire comes from you.
I’ll do my best to take amazing pictures. But if you aren’t willing to go the extra mile with a smile… well… you understand.
She got tons of pictures during the reception that she will be using for several projects that would have not been possible unless she had 2 people helping organize those shots. I could have done them but not effeciently in the time that it needed to, because we had the help of others to cut down drastically on the time and have me simply doing the shots, what I do best.
Besides she planned a banquet/formal reception which allow for better pictures than a “lined” reception.
The program allowed for great pictures as well as the nice decorations.
Finally they were troopers.
I pride myself in making the shoots fun and creative.
But they were more than willing to make the pictures happen.
Those who are more interested in and excited about pictures will more often get the better pictures.
We photographers feed off of that energy.
They didn’t just wait for instructions (slowing the process down) but they put emotion into their pictures.
And they acted quickly to help utilize effectively the short time we had.
I’m not saying they were the best actors or characters I’ve photographed. In fact I did most of the ideas, but it just happened that I was on a roll. but I think their attitude played a big part and the way we interacted.
Never once did I hear… “But I’m not photogenic”, or “I don’t look good in pictures”
It’s our job to make good pictures and I’d like to think I do a good job and everyone is always pleased, so if you just trust us and just relax and have fun.
Remember we thrive with the emotion of the moment.
Having tons of time to shoot isn’t the key, it’s a team effort to act effectively with the time given.
(Above) Two poses they made happen entirely on their own. The prep dancing they didn’t even know about.
The photographer and those being photographed should both be creative together working to make things happen.
The emotion and feeling of the picture needs to flow from them.
I tend to put them in the poses that match the mood coming from them and from the light of the day.
Even though I scouted out the location in advance to see what could work, we still were open to any possibility that night.
We had to roll with the time and situation given to us.
Just exactly how the light would be hitting at the moment we passed by the location we were walking around.
And it all went down perfectly. And part of that perfection comes from moving fast and taking advantage of every picture we had time for. But not limiting ourselves to expectations of pictures and then not having time to make them happen.
Having wants and desires is great but we need to be able to roll with the flow and settle for the best pictures possible.
If she had wanted a picture that took 20 minutes to travel to or create then we would have missed out on soo much.
There was trust that I would do my job but it wasn’t a blind relience that it only depended on me and that the subject didn’t have to do anything nor did they even have to care.
Hawaii sure didn’t hurt, nor did their good looks of the bride and groom, nor Dustin assisting me that evening with lighting and bags.
And creating and inviting to more opportunities is very helpful.
But the moral of the story is…
It’s partnership of creativity, we all work together to make great pictures.
More pictures after the jump
or more pictures on smugmug
Continue reading about How to get great wedding pictures (Hawaii Wedding)
This day seemed like several days all rolled up into one!
I guess that happens when you get up at 4am to go shoot sunrise a ways away and then shoot all the way until sunset.
When you are taking pictures and think back to that previous day when you were shooting near the lighthouse… oh wait that was earlier today.
Or when at the end of the day you can barely remember the beginning of the day because it seems like you’ve done sooo much since then.
That’s when you know you were pretty effective with the scheduling of your day.
The First “day”
Sunrise on the north point.
It included quite few miles of driving along along the coast line on fun dirt roads.
This was the longest day and we were in a bunch of different towns all along the northern coast.
“Day” 2
This day came in two distinct parts, but felt like they should be combined.
We went snorkeling in a bay and then met up with the wedding family and friends for some lunch and fun on the beach.
Using my little G11 to take some fun underwater shots.
The final “day”
We scouted out the location for the wedding and did sunset shots.
I don’t usually go visit the location before hand to figure things out, but we usually look for a place to do sunset and this was a phenomenal location.
I enjoyed being able to spot the possible locations and possible routes for the sunset since it comes and goes quite suddenly.
Turns out that info came in very handy for the wedding day and being overly prepared helped move things along smoothly.
I was also glad the element of spontaneity was still very much there and the pre-visit didn’t spoil it at all.
Sunset at this beach is pretty crazy awesome, but I thought i’d highlight some late twilight pictures taken a while after sunset.
Tripod required for this long exposure.
Look at the bunch of other “Day 3″ sunset pictures later in this post.
See all the Recap pictures after the jump
(Above) Documenting the second half of thanksgiving day here are some Thanksgiving sunset pictures
As a sidenote this picture was a 10 second picture and to get low enough I took it off the tripod and propped it on the ground resting on my foot. 2.8 aperture. 250ISO
TIP: Wait about 15 minutes after sunset for the real lights show of twilight.
This thanksgiving I can be specially greatful to have the oportunity to spend 2 full weeks in Hawaii.
I’m also thankful to be able to have the ability to travel all around 2 islands with expensive camera equipment.
I’m thankful to have a Jeep… I would suggest to anyone coming to Kona (the big island) to rent a 4wd vehicle, unless you just plan on going to beaches.
If you plan on exploring at all… consider it a Must.
I’m thankful for sunsets, because they make everything look so much better.
I’m thankful for good company. It really has been very helpful, imagine getting up at 4am to go out to a sunset, one could be very tempted to keep sleeping but knowing I can’t let someone else down and knowing that I get to watch someone else suffer makes it so much easier.
I’m thankful for a great family that took us in for thanksgiving and fed us as much as we could fit.
Above – Guava Cheesecake
I’m thankful for the wonderful bride that decided it was better to have me fly from Utah to do the wedding pictures. I charged less for my travel fee than some Hawaiin photographers from her Island (oahu)
I’m thankful that even though I fell in the Ocean my camera did not go in with about 2-3 inches to spare.
I’m thankful that even though the GPS went in it worked again.
I’m thankful I have a nice computer to do these blog posts even with the very little time that I’m back at the condo and awake.
(More pictures after the jump – or see all the recap pictures on SmugMug)
Having just a bit of time to pump this out I’ve opted to split the posts.
It’ll work out great because this day was naturally divided because it felt like 2-3 days in one.
The second half was comprised of thanksgiving.
But for the first half we wondered on a dirt road for hours going partially around the big mountain on the big island.
We could have gone all the way around but it would have taken most of the day and we needed to be back at noon for thanksgiving meal.
I loved loved this road. I want to go back.
So in the middle of no where far from anywhere, and yet you’re on an island, so how far can you really be.
I was so happy to shoot turkeys on thanksgiving day.
These wild ones are too skinny to make us want to pull out real guns.
A camera will do.
(Above) We did some time lapse with the tripod sticking through the top of the roof aimed at the road ahead.
We were very crafty on the setup. (Tip superclamps don’t really fit anywhere on the jeep, need something with a bigger clamper)
In reality the passenger will often sit in this position as we drive the back roads.
see more after the jump
So here we are at day 2
And we begin the post with a nice end of the day shot.
These types of trips you plan on picking a great spot for sunrise and sunset.
Well I think we got ourselves a nice sunset location.
There are a lot of rocky beaches, but this one was a nice sandy beach and I made it work.
Here’s some more stuff from the story of the second day.
Check out the full gallery of 28 pictures from the day 2 recap go here
This was only a few of the 1200+ pictures taken on day 2 (yesterday)
Cresting over the mountain, the unofficial west island sunrise.
Sunrise on the west side has some nice light but no color like I suppose you’d see if you were actually seeing the sunrise earlier in the morning.
Mid-morning holds some surprises on secluded beaches you get to with your 4wd vehicle
Mid-afternoon can be fun when clouds start participating a bit more.
Clouds block the sun but they’re just about to release their captive prisoner the sun, for that little gap between heaven and earth.
Can you spot where the sun is about to drop down below the cloud level?
Get your butt down in that water, get the camera low, not for the faint of heart, but it’ll make the great pictures.
Ahh the reflections!
Dang it people don’t even think of walking in the path of my picture…
…oh wait… now that I think about it… walk right in front of me.
That’s right, hold hands,… that’s cute!
Thanks for playing.
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