Another Trip to Chinatown

8/365

My friend, Jackie, and I decided to make another trip to Chinatown today.  We got there pretty early while it was still cool and not too crowded.  We both did a lot of random shooting.  It surprises me that every time we go there, we manage to find something interesting to shoot, but I think that's pretty true of any street photography--things are different minute by minute and all you have to do is keep your eyes open and be aware of what's going on around you.  

We found a couple of very colorful doors.  We just stood on the street across from the doors and waited for people to walk by.  I've only posted a selection of the ones I took of this green doorway because I didn't want to overload you with such similar images.

After making our usual stop at our favorite Starbucks we drove over Magic Island just to see if there would be anything interesting.  Usually there isn't in the middle of the day, but we took a chance.  There were 4 different bride/groom couples having their photos taken.  This couple was really fun, but I think it was partly to do with the photographer--he kept giving them suggestions for fun things to do.  

Lesson Day

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It's been a while.  A long while.  I'd have a difficult time saying why I haven't posted, but it seems like the time just gets away from me.

I found out about halfway through the day today that the grandkids were scheduled for a horseback riding lesson.  The girl was taking lessons last Fall and she started again this spring with her brother, but this is the first one I heard about so I jumped at the chance to be there and get a few photos.

They both did so well.  Even though their expressions are very somber because of all the concentrating they were doing, they really had fun.

After horseback riding lesson, soccer.  I was glad to get home tonight, it was a busy day.

Coffee Break

12/365

I decided to bake some cookies this morning for two reasons: 1) I haven't done much baking lately and 2) I needed a subject for some still-life photos.  The other day I found a recipe for Shrewsbury Biscuits (English cookies) and they looked so yummy.

They're similar to shortbread cookies, but they don't have as much butter.  

So, so, so good.

After baking them and taking the photos I treated myself to a couple as a reward for my efforts. Don't let the second image fool you, I really only ate two...

I'm discovering that the tricky part of photographing food is trying not to eat it before taking the photos, especially when hungry.  So I guess I have to use the same strategy as when I go grocery shopping.  Eat first, then shop, or shoot.

Everything is a learning process.  So fun!~!

Practice

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I've been reading a book about food photography, so today I finally decided to do some practice.  The book has some great suggestions that have enabled me to work without having to schlep all the equipment and props outside, only to deal with wind/bugs/uneven light.

It was fun.  Now I just have to get motivated to do some cooking so I can have some subjects to photograph.  That will be the hardest part!

Honolulu

10/365

I finally got the chance to get into Honolulu to photograph some architecture.  This first photo is of the building that is used for police headquarters on Hawaii Five-O.  It isn't really police headquarters, but it is a court building and it's beautiful both outside and inside.

In the same general area as the above building is a Mission Museum with a small cemetery.  

All three of these images were put through photomatix.

It was a beautiful day and the "icing on the cake" was that there was a hot dog vendor selling Sabrett's hot dogs at lunch time.  Yum!

Photo Shoot

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It was supposed to be sunny and beautiful that day.  Even the weather announcer on the radio seemed a little surprised that the clouds weren't cooperating by going away.  I was relieved though.  

Clouds mean the lighting is even (sometimes a little too even to be a little flat). They mean there's no need to squint. They mean slightly cooler temps.  They mean the photos can be taken in any direction.  So even though the lighting is not as creative as when the sun is shining, it makes the session a little more pleasant.

It turned out pretty well and everyone seems happy with the results.

Beautiful Morning at the Beach

8/365

I decided to finally get going to a beach this morning.  I only have about 30 more mornings to do that before I head back to NY, where my toes will not touch sand for the next 9 months when/if I return to Hawaii next year.  Insert sad face.

My beach of choice was Ko Olina.  It's close, it's beautiful, and the weather there is usually wonderful even when it's pretty stinky elsewhere on the island.  I packed a book, my camera, a snack and a drink...

Ko Olina is home to Aulani--the Disney Resort.  After grabbing some rays and then walking around to get some photos, I took a walk through the grounds of Aulani.  It's one of my favorite places to be.  I know it's a tourist trap, I know it's crowded, I know it's not what you think of when you imagine Hawaii, but I love it anyway.  

It was designed with an Hawaiian cultural advisor on staff  and it's so NOT hokey.  I lucked out again and saw one of the characters, Stitch, wandering around looking for photo ops with the children.

I.   WANT.   TO.   WORK.   THERE!!

It will never happen, but it tugs at my heart every time I'm there.

Anyway, after several hours at the beach, I packed up, drove to the Y and swam my laps.

It was a really good day, praise God.

A Day in Haleiwa

8/365

My friend and I spent the day in Haleiwa.  I wasn't too excited about it when she suggested it, but I agreed because I haven't been out shooting much lately and I needed the diversion.  Once we got there, I decided to put some effort into it.

It was hot and I'm not a big fan of hot-weather photography.  But unlike hot weather in the northeast, there are always chances to cool off by getting into the shade or when the trade winds blow, so it was fairly tolerable for me today.

I'm pretty happy with some of the images I brought home.  

So I give thanks to my friend, Jackie, for giving me the impetus to get out there, for the stimulating conversations we had and for the great ideas for some creative uses for my images.  

Bellows Beach

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Last Saturday we went to Bellows Beach for the first time since I arrived in Hawaii.  It's one of THE most beautiful beaches on the island.  When driving down the road on the approach to the beach, there's a spot where, when you see the beach, you want to sing the Hallelujah chorus.  It's that glorious!

Anyway, we took Betty's grandson with us, and once there's a toddler in my viewfinder I'm a goner.  So, of the 150 shots I took, probably 100 of them were of the baby.  But, reason prevailed and I cut it down to a reasonable number for the photos I'm giving Betty....

....and even cut it down to my absolute favorite of the entire bunch for this blog. 

Some More Photoshop Playing

6/365

I mentioned that I was taking an online photoshop elements course for digital scrapbooking.    This is one of the composites I created using one of my images of the Pow! Wow! event, gradients, frames, layers, and the different text functions.

Very fun.

Practice in Layers

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I'm taking an online Scrapbooking Course in order to learn more about layers and the capabilities of Photoshop Elements.  This is one of my first creations.  Very fun.

Waikiki in Black & White

5/365

The other day my friend and I went to Waikiki with the intention of doing some street photography only in black & white.  We both LOVE black & white and I remember back in the day when the only  way to shoot b&w was to insert an entire roll of b&w film into the camera.

If you decided you wanted to switch to color halfway through the roll, you either had to stick it out and finish the roll or remove it which was pretty tricky to do.

Now....with digital, it's just a matter of switching functions. 

But shooting b&w is a different animal than shooting color.  You have to "see" differently and anticipate what will look good and what won't.  Sometimes it's easier to shoot in color and then convert to b&w on the computer.  Part of me thinks that's cheating.  Part of me thinks that's cool.

Shooting in a b&w function forces you to be more discerning--you know that the image has to stand on the merits of composition and contrast without the impact of beautiful color to grab the viewer's attention.  Of course, the digital darkroom can really enhance any image, as did the wet darkroom, so some images can be salvaged.

So we set our cameras on b&w and began shooting.

After we finished at the beach, we headed over to our favorite Starbucks.  We did a little practice with panning and slow shutter speed.  I didn't have my tripod and I was just trying to teach my friend how to do these techniques, so I really didn't anticipate having any keepers.  Most of the images I shot were deleted, but these next three appealed to me.  

(Although the camera was hand-held, I was resting the camera on a newspaper box)

POW! WOW! Again

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I finally got back downtown after the artists were done with their creations.  Some of the work was kind of creepy and some of it didn't make sense to me, but it is what it is. 

 I didn't get there during the week for any of the events, but when I did go it was great because there were hardly any people around, so I could photograph to my heart's content with hardly any interference.  

This artwork will stay on the buildings until next year when the artists return to do new work.

POW!  WOW!

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"Centered around a week-long event in Hawaii, POW! WOW! has grown into a global network of artists and organizes gallery shows, lecture series, schools for art and music, mural projects, a large creative space named Lana Lane Studios, concerts, and live art installation across the globe.  The central event takes place during Valentine's Day week in February in the Kaka'ako district of Honolulu, and brings over a hundred international and local artists together to create murals and other forms of art." (copied from the website)

Today I took a walk around downtown to find some of these artists.  It was a very cool experience.  Most of them began painting on Monday, and since it is only Wednesday, they were only part-way through their projects.  It was interesting to see how they were creating works of this size.  Many of them were using pictures on their phones as reference.