Sammi & Jack

Sammi & Jack were already married, however because of their busy lives they've never had the chance to go on a honeymoon. When Sammi told me they were coming to Hawaii, and wanted to schedule a portrait session, I was more then happy to be their photographer.  Both, Sammi and Jack were easy, and fun to work which made the entire session relaxing, I had a great time taking their photos.

Lenses used: Sigma EX DG HSM 50mm F1.4, Nikon AFS 10-24mm F3.5, processed using Nikon CNX2 & PSCS3.  2nd time using CTR301P's decided to try it and see how they work, no miss fires in daylight, well as far as I know.

Strobist:  2 SB600's on my custom Dual light stand, camera right.  F7.1, 1/60 sec, ISO 100 @ 1/4 power bare

Pauahi & Scot

I was lucky enough to have been apart of Pauahi & Scot's wedding day here in Kailua Kona, it turned out to be a very exciting day not just for the Bride & Groom but for myself as a photographer, so many exciting things to photograph! Not to mention the 18+ wedding party that took a litte time to set up but I think things turned out pretty good.

Lenses Used: Nikon AFS 24-70mm f2.8, Nikon AFS 50mm f1.4

Brenden

Brenden La'akea Okuna, was born on April 14th 2010 @ 8:08am, this lightweight weighed in at 6lbs. 14oz. and is skilled in the art of Brazillian Jiu Jitsu, well according to my wife it's what he was doing to the interior of his home for the past 9 months.  He was delivered by Dr. Michelle Shimizu @ the North Hawaii Community Hospital. A lot of people talk about the care from this hospital, and let me tell you they are right, everyone here at this hospital is so helpful and kind.  Our son had a case of jaundice, and so we had to stay at the hospital and have our son on light therapy and during that time everyone who worked in the birthing unit was great! The quality of care is A++

New Cards!

I finally got some business cards made!! People would always ask me for cards, and I'd always have to say that I'd give them my email, or website address after the event, or tell them that I just dont have business cards right now.  That was then and this is now folks!  I honestly couldn't afford anything fancy so decided to stick with the basics, and I think they came out pretty good. Also, I've decided to eventually move my blog over to wordpress and get a real high quality photography blog going since I've been having so much problems displaying images here on blogger! In the mean time I'm giving the blogger site a small face lift, so if things look a little off you'll know why.

Ashley, Madison, & Peytyn

After Peytyn's 1st birthday party, the family wanted to do a quick family portrait here in Kailua Kona. Claire had invited me along and since I actually had some free time, I joined her.

I really need to remind myself find a new place to host my blog, the image compression from desizing makes my images look so pixelated, unsaturated, and not so sharp yuck.

Lenses used:  Nikon AFS 50mm f1.4

Kanani & Koa

Kanai, and Koa had both their wedding and ceremony at Mauna Lani's Canoe House, and Terrace.  Claire and I are off to waikaloa. It's always fun to see how happy the bride and groom get when they realize what they've accomplished. Here are a few images of their day.

Adam & Leah

Adam & Leah, got married not too far from where my wife and I had our special day. That morning it was a perfect day, not a cloud in the sky! It's good to see that even though the economy is bad, people learn to appreciate the little things that really matter, a simple wedding that will provide for a life time of memories!


Lenses used: Nikon AFS 50mm f1.4, AFS 18-200 VR, AFS 70-200 f2.8 VRII (first time using this new lens, it's sharp, and heavy! would probably balance nicely with a D700 or D3x but I wouldn't know) My SB600's have always been more then sufficient enough for the work that I do, and I have been surprised with what I have been able to get away with using them. This was the first time where I was using my strobes @ full power for every shot (off camera) Some shots, I think I barley had enough power to overcome ambient, they were pushed to the limit. At least now I know the limits of the SB600, I may need to upgrade... anyone selling a pair of SB800's?

ISO 100, f11, 1/80 sec, single sb600 camera left @ full power

SB600 camera left, sun above & behind subject, ISO 100, f14, 1/200 sec @ full power

Keala

Keala, has a big 1st birthday party coming up, and I was asked to take some photo's that could be used on the invitation. We headed down to the nearest park, and let him do his thing!

Lenses used: Nikon AFS 50mm f1.4

Sunset Portrait

I had contacted Debbie & Andy asking them if they had wanted to do a "free" sunset portrait session. The reason being, I really wanted to do something more for them since the weather and location wasn't able to do them justice during their recently past event (if that makes any sense) you could say I felt bad and it was eating away at me. Honestly I love doing the strobist thing every chance I get, so it's down to a secluded spot in Kona for another sunset shoot!

Strobist info noted. Lenses used: Nikon AFS 24-70 f2.8, & AFS 50mm f1.4, processed with Nikon Capture NX2 & Photoshop CS3

ISO 200, f13, 1/160 sec, SB600 camera right  @ 1/2 power

ISO 200, f13, 1/125 sec, bare SB600 camera right (between subject and background)

ISO 200, f13, 1/125 sec, bare SB600 camera left @ full power

You know, I dont know why my photos that I post start to look blurry when viewed, must be the way that I'm uploading or resizing the images, perhaps I should be uploading tiff files instead of jpg? Either way the original files dont look like that, and it seems to be a common problem with blogger, perhaps I picked the wrong blog to display my images, I'm too poor to get the fancy version of wordpress, I gottah figure this one out.

Debbie & Andy

We had booked a small family affair at the "Keahou Hideaway" this was the first time I had been to this location, and proved to be the most difficult weddings I've had to shoot. We started off at 4:00pm with a wedding ceremony at 5:00, followed by the sunset which was scheduled to set at about 5:30. Combined with all sorts of mixed lighting, half-lit interiors and exteriors, busy backgrounds and a lack of time, I was a little worried how things would turn out. I think the most difficult thing I had to deal with was the confined space of the wedding ceremony itself. It was hard trying to frame shots with such busy backgrounds. Following the ceremony the bride and groom elected to do the group shots, I had set up my strobes for some sunset family shots only to find a huge kukui nut tree blocking the entire sunset (and a slightly overcast sunset it was) There were a lot of complications, that I found difficult but more so dissapointing. As a photographer you always wish for good lighting... I've learned to deal with bad lighting situations, and expect bad lighting rather then good and have learned to over come this. But this was the first time I had to deal with backgrounds I felt were less than ideal, and my DSLR didn't have the "terrible background compensation button" to bail me out. I know that the Bride and Groom were okay with it, but it was bugging me and it still is. We ended up staying an hour longer then contracted, and I had also offered to do a free sunset portrait of the bride and groom at a later date. Through no fault of mine, I just felt bad things were less than idea (in my honest opinion) Would it have been better if I had known before hand what this location had in store for me? Probably not, what could I have done if I had known... give them the cold shoulder? Even though it seems like I was worried (which I was) I think things turned out pretty good, and I think they'll be happy!

 
Strobist: I used a SB600 shooting through a umbrella camera left, and/or a bare sb600 camera right bouncing off of a high reflector for some of the group shots. which I havent posted which makes it pointless for me to even be talking about it. Lenses used, Nikon 24-70 f2.8, Nikon 50mm f1.4. Processed with Capture NX2 & Photoshop CS3

shoot through umbrella camera left ISO 200, f5.6, 1/40 sec

on camera flash diffused with small softbox