2009, a wrap up…

I survived! We survived. We did it and we did it with a mortgage.

I made as a photographer during the 2009 recession!

Things were tough mentally as a bit of income slipped away as certain clients stopped calling and the publishing industry had to readjust its self.

There were some tough moments…waking up in the morning to an empty email inbox and not hearing the phone ring for weeks at a time. But photographer Alex Brandon laid some of the best wisdom I will hear for a long time coming…

“Sometimes you’re the bug, sometimes you’re the windshield.”

Thank you Alex…life can’t be said any better.

Alas, our community lost some staff jobs and some good people this year and even last.

Goodbye Burly and Joaquin. Goodbye Ronen and aloha Lucy. Yet, we had to say hello Tanner several others looking to make a mark in the small money photo world of Hawaii. But we actually are doing much better than much of the photo market around the country. The Washington Times canned their entire photo staff and many staff members. The Advertiser and Star Bulletin had a round of lay offs. Everyone is feeling the pinch. Feels like photo is not the business to be in these days…but people keep snapping away making life much more interesting.

Irregardless…lets take a quick look back at 2009 from my eyes….

(funny, the years slip by but to go back and look at what I shot, its tough…just way too many images! I’ll give it a shot!)

This year I had a pretty tough moment as my father had a heart attack which forced him to go under the knife for a quad bypass. Inside I felt he wasn’t going to kick the bucket but it was tough to think it might be time to say goodbye.

I went down to Texas for a vacation to visit Mom and Dad and spent some time getting to know them, myself, and us a little better. Its best not to forget that time does slip by and its tough to get back to San Antonio being Hawaii is so far away.

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In San Antonio for that vacation, I had time to go through the old pictures and got to know a bit more about my history and family. Got to see family new and old and was taken back by a photo of my Mom’s Dad…as it was taken at a bar. Go figure I’d pick up that trait…

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I got a non related nephew this year from Diane and Doug. Aloha Danny!

Got to shoot a very cute girl in her bikini…

Got to hang out with Gloria…

Busted my eye…

Got to see and old friend…

Got to see one sweat…

Saw a few things on the beach…

Another girl in a bikini…

Conjunto and my peoples…

and finally, Terminal 2 Narita…

There is so much to mention but there is not enough time. Its party time…New Years is around the corner for Hawaii that is…and its time to welcome something new.

sunset

Sitting on the lanai this afternoon prompted me to quickly grab the Sony A900 w the 500mm F8 lens. Shot off a few images but didn’t see a green flash.

Nice lens. Not the same build as my Canon 400mm IS lens but not bad for about $800 bucks. Too bad this lens isn’t like an f4 or so. F8 can be tough.

out of focus

I wear glasses. I’ve worn them for most of my life and I guess it was around 8 years old when I started. Through the years, the different frames have defined my character. From those pink tinted jobs from like 7th grade to the Burberry frames I’ve worn recently. I still remember when I first wore a pair. I was shocked I could see as my life had been blurry. I didn’t know any better.

Well, I make life seem so tough without glasses but it was strange to “see the light” if you know what I mean. I guess all those years I didn’t wear glasses allowed me to see the world in a different cast, rather blur.

As I am shooting the Sony Open again for Sony Corporate, I’ve been given a kit of Sony cameras and lenses and one of the lenses I requested was their 500mm F8 reflex mirror job. I’ve never used one and was always curious about their ability. Historically, they are not known for the quality or usability as having a starting F-stop at 8 isn’t the easiest to use. However I found a whole different quality with this lens.

I actually shot this lens today at the beach and found its out of focus rendition to be surreal…as if I was looking at a painting defocus. Its almost as if I was looking at the world without my glasses. It seems so comfortable and yet so real. Its hard to explain. The telescopic aspect of the lens creates this unique blur as if two images were coming into focus.

I am surely going to experiment with this lens a bit more.

My workspace and a Bowl game

Ah! We made it. We finished another year of college football at Aloha Stadium. Last night’s Hawaii Bowl ends my long trips out to the “rust bowl” and sitting in the dark and dank dugout sending images away to AP via Clearwire.

The guys above, Dennis Oda, (l-r), Louis DeLuca–from the Dallas Morning News, Norm Shapiro, and Eugene Tanner, are just a few of the faces who I spent many a Saturday afternoon on that poorly lit artificial turf praying to get a shot or two to make the wire gods happy. With the exception of Louis being here to shoot SMU for the DMN, these guys are roughly my Saturday afternoon family.

My workspace consists of my laptop hooked up to various wires and cables. Ccameras and lenses strewn around the floor as if its showroom. Its really shameful that UH and the Stadium keeps the media in such bad conditions but we could easily keep our stuff up in the media center four stories above the field but we’d get no chance to run up there and file for deadline. So were stuck in the dugout. Not the best place to keep lenses and cameras clean. Funny how sometimes in the camaraderie with the guys (oh…can’t forget cute Lela) we pick up wrong cameras as they all start looking alike at times. I’ve estimated at times, the dugout equipment is worth over $50,000 with all the big glass, bodies, and laptops. Amazing we don’t take better care of that stuff. But any working pro will tell you, they are just tools…and for that matter, Ma used to say, if your Bible is brand new when you take it to church, you probably haven’t been reading it. My Mom’s bible is in shambles…tape, post it notes, tabs, and highlight and pen marks. It was well used…

Its nice to see I had the front page of ESPN for a bit. SMU did well under June Jones, Hawaii’s last coach. He did really well to put SMU back on the map. SMU was actually one of the first colleges to accept me. I don’t know if I would have liked living in Dallas though. Austin’s hard to beat.

Its good football is over. I’m tired of the bad food, the strange fans and that fat guy UH call’s a mascot. If UH ever needs a makeover, they should start with him.