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Last week, I put a roll of color film into my camera and didn’t finish the roll before it got dark and kept the film in for next time. For that week the film lived in the camera, I was completely anxious and obsessed about seeing what I had shot. I did get about 14 images on the roll before it got too dark and left but I wanted to see it!

We’ve all forgotten (for good measure in many cases) the anticipation, and for some, the anxiety of having a half roll of film left in the camera. I didn’t want to take the film out and waist the unused half. Penny pinching is important at times and film isn’t cheap. Digital photography has taken away all this good (and bad) anticipation on waiting with excitement to see your images on the light table. You can see immediately your images on the back of the digital camera which in many ways has taken away the excitement of photography.

Imagine this…you take your film camera out, you see the shot of the day, you focus, snap, and smile. Now you got 35 more frames on that roll before it goes to the lab. Sadly, the sun goes down and you can’t shoot anymore today. Throughout the week, you take more pictures hopping to get to the end. 12 frames, 22, frames, 33, 34, 35…oh finally! The end. After six days, you finally take the film out of the camera. You pull it out, get to the lab…the lab’s machine is down until tomorrow morning. Argh! You drop it off while you curse under your breath and obsess about that first frame you shot…obsess all through the night. Its it sharp, was the exposure dead on, did she blink? On and on and on…

Next morning you get up thinking about frame one. After coffee and breakfast you are still obsessing. The lab doesn’t start their first processing till 8am. Your film won’t be ready till noon. Wait and watch the clock. Wait….wait…and finally, you get in the car and rush over to the lab. Pay your money and run home.

Rush inside, throw the film on the light table and bam! There it is…the shot!

This shot of the four teens on the wall at Waikiki struck me cause of the moment, time and place. Its really nothing special other than the moment in my eyes.

But the most important think about this image was the time waiting to see it. The simple anxiety of waiting to see your work that you took all so long ago. And like I said, looking at the back of my digital camera doesn’t offer the same fun.

Went down to Waikiki with the Leica, the 35mm, and a pocket full of film. Actually it was only three rolls of film.

I came across two women lounging in the sand when I spotted their tiny little baby wiggling on the blanket. His size, serenity and pale skin amazed me. All this stuff was going on around him and he dozed away as if nothing else mattered.

Seeing what I shot most often than not is beyond me. What I mean is sometimes, the mechanics of photography, the focus, composition, etc…just flow around me and disappear into the mist of my subconscious. Yes, yes…this sounds like a bit of bull but I can’t explain why I see and capture what I do. After getting film back from the lab and doing my edits, I find myself sometimes returning to this unique archetype of style that I see. I took an art class in University and the professor would remark at my graphical sense of composition. It was stuff I never understood or studied but opened my eyes to see what I saw.

Does that make sense?

Why I am struck by this picture of the kid crawling under the rails is not so much the starkness of the ocean, the emptiness of the beach, but the lines that all form and fall into place. I didn’t see it…it wasn’t as if I lined up the camera this way. It just happened. Something subconscious took place inside my head and I just pulled up the camera and snapped.

These two girls were watching the multitudes of swimmers swelling away in the surf near Queen’s Beach. It was a nice day and the light fell really nice on them.

Now this girl was classic…she was a bit of an odd ball and I have seen her around a few times…at least I think I have. She’s covered in a few tattoos and she was parading around in a very very tiny string bikini. Her front didn’t leave much to the imagination either. We came across her and I first thought she was completely naked. Nudity isn’t de rigueur on the beach nor are Brazilian bikinis. Most girls are a bit more modest if modesty counts on the beach and wear fairly fleshy suits but she really kicked it up a notch.

She was chatting with some guy entranced by her peep show. She must have known her g or string or what ever its called was slowly advancing to the point of no return. She couldn’t have cared less. Neither did he.

Fireworks at Ala Moana Park seen from my downtown digs…

Waikiki, 2008

Summer time in Hawaii brings the sweet sounds of Japanese folk singing and taiko drumming from the many Buddhist temples around town. The traditional obon dance is a Japanese Buddhist tradition honoring departed ancestors and the Japanese community comes together for this special event.

I walked down to the Honpa Hongwanji Hawaii Betsuin temple with a digital camera and the Leica. I participated in an Obon dance when I stayed in Yokohama many years ago and found the dance a bit odd. The dance is very regimental and has limited moves where you more or less dance around a yagura or bandstand. The dance moves, practiced before hand, consist of slight hand movements and waves along with the waving of a fan or snapping of wooden “candy cane” sticks.

Most of the participants wear very colorful kimonos or yukatas and everyone is having lots of fun. The temple sold hamburgers, shaved ice, and lots of local Japanese fare.

These three ladies eating a quick bite ended up being dance instructors at the dance. They were quite important and were not all to keen with me snapping their photos.

The dance brings together the old and the young and lots of kids participate in the dance. Usual kimono wear doesn’t really mandate black Converse but rebellion will always sneak into tradition among the young.

The dance was enjoyed by all. These kids laughed the entire time. It wasn’t hard to snap good photos of these two.

Even those who might be a bit shy…