Take Monday Off!

Take Monday Off!

I’m not sure if you can, but according to the Wall St. Journal’s late December travel piece (shot by me of course) you can manage to see Oahu in three days!

See article here.

I’ve often thought travel to Hawaii is tough as we are a long way from “da mainland” so considering flight times, jet lag, Oahu traffic, etc, it seems like a tough path to follow.  However, the story lays out a great argument of what you can see and do on Oahu in a short period of time.

I had a helluva time shooting the job all considering it rained during the entire commissioned time to work. I had to dodge rain, clouds, and gloomy seas but I was able to produce wonderful telling images of Oahu.

The WSJ article produced a really nice video with all my images which can be seen on their website here… Take Monday Off

Of the wonderful Oahu spots, Iolani Palace is one of those places that lots of tourist seem to visit from the outside but hardly go in.  The interior shows the elegant side of Hawaii’s Royal Family with 18th-19th century imported indulgences giving the Royals that touch of European royal class.

Waimea Bay without waves can be boring as most tourist expect big waves and surfers but when the water is flat, its like swimming in a big lake.  Brilliant place to spend the afternoon and see the sunset…if you can park!

And of course the not well visited Doris Duke’s Islamic shrine, Shangri-La.  Duke, the trust funded daughter of a super rich tobacco tycoon, used her wealth to import only the best art, furniture, and artifacts from all over the Islamic World.  The home is now a museum with limited access.  The ocean side estate is a Pacific mecca of Islamic art and architect bringing scholars from around the world to study and conserve the many artifacts and pieces on the estate .  Although some may see controversy as Duke purchased priceless art and pieces throughout the Middle East, including having an entire room (floor to ceiling) imported from Turkey, she helped preserved parts of Islamic culture that might have been lost dude to neglect or theft, or sadly zealots.  Imperialism aside, Shangri-La is fantastic and well worth the time to visit the home.

New cover…yummy food.

Food…I eat it, I trained to shoot it, but I never do. Well, that isn’t exactly true as I did shoot lots of Honolulu restaurants for a national guide book yet the way I trained…8×10 or 4×5 camera, food stylist, props, etc…just don’t translate to shooting food the way I see it and the way my clients like it done…quickly.

Yet, food shooters like Ric Cohn and Dick Frank really knew their stuff and because of them, I do understand how food should shot.

The cover of Modern Luxury wasn’t my favorite shot of the series as I had a different vision…

but looking at how the art direction was done at the end of the day, I realize they had the right shot. It is dynamic and really does stand out. And like I said, for never really shooting food, I didn’t do too bad.

I also got to shoot a few chefs and Chef Kobayashi over at Cafe Miro was a fun quick shot. The shot was the opener in the recent Modern Luxury issue.