The Story Behind It

It was a pretty boring day, devoid of any exciting photo ops--until the time for the tattoo photo session this afternoon. This was another two-for-one day, but I'm only showing this one. Although not as ornate or colorful as many I've seen and photographed, the story behind it is very poignant. Enlarge the photo and check out the dates.

The child was this girl's nephew. She had spent much time babysitting him during his short life and she felt very close to him. I got more of the story, but will save that for my book. Suffice it to say that I had a hard time speaking for a few minutes after looking closely at the dates.

Posted at 9 pm on Monday, March 30, 2009

Faces at Church

I'm posting early today because I'm headed out the door soon and I don't know when I'll be back home and if I'll even feel like posting late tonight. I had my camera at church today (is that a surprise?), and I managed to capture these portraits. This post is mostly for Leah's sake, but it reminds me how much I like to photograph people, especially children.

This little one was born 6 weeks early, and it's the first time since then that the family has been in church. It was so good to have them back and to finally see their new addition.

Then there's Tyson, Mr. Island Boy. He looked so cute today, and his little sandals cracked me up.

These two are so cute. Yuji doesn't give me any trouble when I point the camera at him, but his sister usually runs for the hills. So this is especially precious because she was so cooperative. Great smiles, huh?
Posted at 2 pm on Sunday, March 29, 2009

Bellows Beach

An awesome couple from church (not that there's anyone from church that isn't awesome!) took me to Bellows Beach today. On the windward side of the island, it's a public/military beach which means that the first part of it, as you drive along the road, is open to the public (but only on weekends), and the second part of it is restricted to military. Because Britt is military, I was able to accompany them to this very beautiful beach for the first time ever.

When I see nature like this that looks so surreal, I wonder how evolutionists can explain the complex beauty. What accident could result in these wondrous sights?

It was cool, very windy and as you can see, somewhat hazy, but we marveled at the allure of the beach and we sat there for several hours enjoying each other's company and appreciating the blessing of just being there for the afternoon. We even saw a small wedding taking place.

I spent some time walking along the beach looking for tattoos and whatever else looked photogenic.

I finally found a tattoo. There weren't many in sight today, but the weather didn't encourage the crowds and bare arms that are normally at this beach, so I hear.

Posted at 9:45 on Saturday, March 28, 2009

Getting Ready

Not much time left...beginning to think about packing and shipping things back to NY. Sigh!

Posted at noon on Friday, March 27, 2009

PS, if it's any consolation to my fellow mvpers, in just 5 short days we will have completed 1/2 of the assignment of posting at least one photo a day for a year.

Congratulations to all of you!

Signs of the Past

Plan A--crash and burn! On to Plan B. This shadow box contains a variety of pharmaceutical products from about the 1930s or so. I wanted to remove the glass, but there was a time crunch, so I shot it like this. Not a great image, but the shadow box and its contents are very interesting.

I tried a sepia tone to give it a more aged look.

Another tattoo for my project.

Late post for Thursday, March 26, 2009

Wednesday

Today I went to the windward side of the island. It was really beautiful. Just some scenes from the day.

The image below shows the beach that was made famous by the beach scene in "From Here to Eternity". It's usually referred to as Eternity Beach.

Check out the house on the cliff.

I came across this sign as we were walking to the above locations. It was an empty lot--there is just a slab where a house used to be, but the lot overlooks the ocean. Enlarge the photo and maybe you can see the $$$ for the land. $99/sq. foot, or a mere 3 million, 750 thousand dollars. Okay, who wants to go in on this with me?

Posted at 9:20 pm on Wed, March 25, 2009

Tuesday

I was on turtle duty today. The first time in a long time. When I got there, there were no turtles on the beach and the other volunteer said there hadn't been any all day.

There were, however, 5 of them playing in the surf, teasing all the tourists. They were coming in very close, frolicking, then turning back out to sea and swimming a little bit away. Then they happily repeated the scenario.

About 45 minutes after I got there, this one, lone turtle made his/her way up the beach. It's a juvenile, so the gender isn't determined.

As the sun got lower in the sky, I wanted to include the turtle with the stream of sun on the water. Problem: too contrasty, so I started playing around with exposure times. I wound up with this next image. Just a little high key, but I really, really liked it.

Posted at 8:30 on Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Not Much of a Story

As the title says, there's not much story behind these images. I was out today, came across these scenes, liked them, and now you see them too. The beginning of the day looked pretty dismal, but by mid-morning things had improved considerably as you can see.

Posted at 3:15 pm on Monday, March 23, 2009

Late Post for Sunday (mystery underline again)

Last night, as I was getting ready to turn off the light and go to sleep, I suddenly remembered I hadn't taken a photo for the day's blog post.

I'm working on another crocheted baby blanket--so here it is. Still in the running for the trophey!

Posted on Monday, for Sunday, March 22, 2009

The Day of Infamy

A friend of mine arrived on Oahu last summer. Her husband is military. Their home is on Ford Island which contains military housing.

A little before 8:00 am, Hawaiian time, Sunday, December 7, 2008, she was getting her children ready for church. While finding wayward shoes, stacking breakfast dishes in the sink, putting water in the dog's dishes, she was thinking, "another beautiful day", when she heard something that sounded very out of place. She paused. Planes? Ford Island is not near the airport.... "There shouldn't be any planes flying near here!" The sound got louder....

It was a fly-by in honor of Pearl Harbor Day. It occurred to her that on Dec. 7, 1941, families on Ford Island and all around Pearl Harbor had begun their day exactly as she had, but for them,
8 am signaled the end of the world as they new it, actually the end of the world as any of us knew it. The Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor!

Ford Island, today, contains several landmarks from that horrific event. I was privileged to be there this morning with Chelsea and Jackie to photograph some of those landmarks. This is the original tower that was in operation on that day (and the one seen in "Pearl Harbor").

This is the other side of the building at the base of the tower.

Original bullet holes in the glass of this hangar.

The USS Missouri. The ship on which the surrender of Japan, and the end of WW II took place. There is even a plaque in the wooden deck of the ship indicating exactly where the table stood on which the surrender was signed. (The ship was in Tokyo Bay at the time of the signing)

Another photo day where there are way too many images to post.

P.S.--check yesterday's post--I added some text.

Posted at 6 pm on Sat., March 21, 2008

Honolulu

Spent the day in Honolulu. Don't have time to write more now, check back later today to see if I've added more info. It was beautiful and it was great to be out today. Sun ALL DAY, yahoo!

(text newly added)

I took so many photos today that I had a very hard time deciding which ones to post to give the best representation of the day. I'm not sure I succeeded because we spent some time at the marina (not pictured), at Starbuck's (not pictured), we photographed several very small weddings happening at Magic Island (not pictured), and we had the pleasure of watching/photographing what seemed like a fleet of sailboats return to harbor just before sunset (also not pictured).

But according to the feedback I've been getting, it's scenes of warm Hawaii that interest you, my "adoring" public, the most. So that's what you've gotten in this post.

Magic Island, along with Ala Moana Beach, is one of my most favorite places to be on the island, with the North Shore being the first. There are very beautiful beaches and sights on the windward side, but it's a long drive so I don't get there too often. Magic Island is a beehive of activity almost all the time and while I'm invigorated when I'm there, it soothes my spirits at the same time.

For anyone who might not already know, every Friday night at 7:30, the Hawaiian Hilton puts on a fireworks display--it lasts only about 5-7 minutes, but it's fun and I'm learning how to shoot fireworks by attending these "mini-lessons" frequently, better than by attending one blowout event like July 4th just once a year.

Posted 9:40 pm on Friday, March 20, 2009

Thursday

Didn't do the Thursday assignment. Couldn't figure out how to capture it in images. I'm not sleeping well and am tired, and am very, very tired of being tired. Hard to think or process concepts when this tired and discouraged. Haven't seen the sun in quite a few days... It's 3:20 and I'm going to bed as soon as I finish this lame post.

Lunch at Cholo's.

Flavorings for Shave Ice.

There! Done!
Posted at 3:20 on Thursday, March 19, 2009

Dinner

Had dinner at Chelsea's tonight. Good food and good company.

Posted at 8:45 on Wed, March 18, 2009

Late Post for Tuesday, March 17

Yesterday wasn't much of a photo op day. But I figured I could show you what I did at Starbuck's. I enjoyed a scone!

Posted on Wed, for Tuesday, March 17, 2009

The Front and Back of It

Today Jackie and I went to Waiemea Falls. It's about a 3/4 mile walk back through some really beautiful botanical garden type environments.

On the way in we stopped regularly to take photos, but on the way out we were tired and hot, so we pretty much just walked along--with me, hoping against hope, that we'd see the parking lot in each next instant.

Instead, when we got just about to the exit, we saw this...

Oh My Gosh!!! We dropped our tripods and got over there as quickly as possible. There were two males courting a female. I've never had the opportunity to photograph a peacock with its feathers open like this. Just beautiful.

They kept turning around and around, and then I realized how beautiful the back side of the bird is.

So there you have it, the front and back of it.

Posted at 8 pm on Monday, March 16, 2009

A Game Revisited

When I was in Junior High School, I had two girlfriends (twins) whose mother played Mah Jong regularly with her friends. My girlfriends taught me how to play, and although I don't remember the first thing about the game, I do remember that we enjoyed it and spent many hours playing it together. (I have no remembrance of whether I was any good at it or not)

I was recently talking with my friend, Betty, and mentioned that little story to her. She asked her mother to send one of her games to her. She received the game in the mail, so in a couple of days we're going to teach ourselves how to play it.

Hmmmm, this should be interesting!

Posted (that blue font with the underline is random--not my intention--help~!! doesn't ANYONE know how to control this site???--okay, got the letters to go black, but the blue underline is still there, and now there's no underline. I'm confused.
Anyway, posted at 10:15 on Sunday, March 15, 2009

Integrity?? What's That?

This is a terrible photo. But this post is more about the story, than the photo itself for a change. (It's dark and when I used the flash, it was worse than this, so I tried to used ambient light, and this is the best I could get.)

Anyway, I finally had some of my photos printed so I could use them as postcards to send to my friends/family in NY. (not that I waited too long to do this--I might be back in NY before the postcards get there).

I had them done at Walmart---you know, instant gratification and all that. When I went to pick them up tonight, the salesgirl wouldn't give them to me until I verified that I took the photos myself. She had me sign a model release to keep on file and then asked for a business card.

Well, two things went through my mind--

1)Wow, I LOVE this store for protecting my copyrighted images,

and

2)Wow, they think they're good enough to have been done by a professional. That rocks!!
It was just the boost my sagging self-image needed right now.

The point being, that there's someone/something/some business that has some integrity. I don't care how they came by that standard (it is, after all, a law that a professional's photography can't be reproduced without direct permission, otherwise it's considered stolen), it's just a breath of fresh air to know that there are some standards left and that somewhere in this world, they are being upheld.

So there! Got that off my chest.

Posted at 8 pm on Sat., March 14, 2009

Abandoned Building and Such

While driving along the North Shore, a little farther than I normally do, we came upon this abandoned building, which was originally a Convalescent Home. Apparently there had been a fire.

Driving back, we saw this sight. The surf was exceptionally high today, and it was fun watching these waves soar into the air.

Back in Haleiwa, we passed this shop that sells glass figures, and the glass blower just happened to be "doing his thing".

Some of the items for sale in the shop.

Posted at 6:45 on Friday, March 13, 2009

Seeing Through A Glass Darkly

In my friend's house, there is a panel of these wavy thick panes of glass alongside their front door. I thought of it the minute I heard what the special assignment was for Thursday. So these are a few of the images I made with that great glass.

That was all I was going to post. But my friend Jackie is taking hula lessons and she asked me to come to her class and video one of the junior instructors as she was leading the class during one of the dances. The tallest girl in the back with the blond hair is the one I videoed. She was really amazing.

As I was getting ready to leave, I saw the class get together for this group shot. I grabbed my camera and got it going as quickly as I could. I didn't want to use flash, so it's at 1600 asa, and still isn't very sharp, but it got the shot. How cute are they?

I tried for a second shot, but they were too quick for me.

Here the girls are sitting listening to the closing instructions.

Posted at 7:40 pm on Thurs, March 12, 2009