Oahu Archives - Page 2 of 4 - Marco Garcia Photography

The blue-green “see” from a different angle.

After living in Hawaii for sometime, its easy to forget about the beauty that surrounds us. The blue-green sea, the white (eroding) sandy beaches, the food, the weather, the mountains…I can go on and on describing wonderful Hawaii. So its always a challenge when clients ask for something slightly different for as an opening shot.

At any moment, somewhere somehow is snapping a picture, whether it is a family shot or professional shot, around Waikiki. It is one of the most photographed pieces of real estate in the world. There are thousands of professional pictures available on line and clients can easily pick a beautiful stock shot for pennies over a custom shot (uhhhh….for pennies—I digress!) Why hire when there is so much available? Because a custom shot gets you a unique, dare I say signature, vision from a professional photographer that no other client will have.

The Los Angeles Times asked me to shoot a full page image of Waikiki for their travel story illustrating a budget friendly vacation in Honolulu. The editor sent along few images taken by the writer and wanted me to capture a similar feel. My only parameters were to shoot from above, keep it vertical, and ensure I had a killer image at the end of the day. Jobs like this really get me fired up because no amount of money really accounts for all the time and effort it takes in finding a shot as such. But the outcome is completely worth the input. I couldn’t imagine doing anything else as the challenge of my craft is not work, it is just an extension of my life.

The pictures taken by the writer were photographed from one of the better hotel balconies on the beach. All the elements lined up and and made a pretty different view of Waikiki. Oddly enough it seemed the picture wasn’t from one of the budget hotels in the story so my challenge was not to present my image as such. The art direction was to capture Waikiki, not illustrate the story.

Fabulous views command big money and hotels rates are based on the amount of ocean and beach seen from the room. I could easily have called up one of the beach front hotels and asked to shoot from a room but hotels tend not to help you unless the story relates directly to them. I don’t have the budget to shoot from a rented hotel room and a helicopter view was not the perspective the client was after.

After living here for some time, I learned it is possible to enjoy Hawaii without blowing too much diñero and having a great time along with tourist who are taping out their credit cards. I also know how to find the big dollar views without having to shell out big money for hotel rooms or fancy restaurants. Sometimes just wandering around a big hotel looking like a tourist can help you gain access to views you might not be able to if you wandered in full camera regalia and reeked of the decisive moment. Looking like a clueless tourist with a Best Buy camera bag will keep housekeepers and bell hops off your tail.

So without revealing too many tricks of my clandestine trade, I got into a hotel, shot down at the beach and made a marvellous shot. I won’t reveal my location but a Waikiki sleuth might be able to pick it out based on what is in front of them. Needless to say, the Times editor Tears for Fears (I’m feeling overly cheeky tonight!) over the images as she had a large variety to choose. In an email after the article published, she stated “everyone LOVED the photos.”

That kind of praise makes the hours and time put in completely worth it. Again, it doesn’t take much to sea…err…see things from a different perspective. I just awaken my paradise slumber and look around.

A slice of paradise.

Hawaii is a wonderful place to live. Near perfect weather 365 days a year, beaches, bikinis, mai tais. Just paradise, as some might say. But we’re cursed with limited land leading to sky high home prices and a general high cost of living. Yes, milk does cost $8.00 a gallon and the average cost of a single family home is well over half a million dollars. And with paradise, everyone wants a slice and people are willing to pay for it. Developers are trying to cover every inch of Oahu with suburban sprawl and swallow up the air with glass and steel towers. Currently, developers are planning to build up to seven high rises in the Kakaako area. The soothing sounds of rolling ocean waves and the rustle of palm trees have been replaced by the beep beep beeps of trucks backing up on the multiple construction sites around town. The old joke of the state bird being the Hawaiian (construction) crane is again, reality.

Progress can be a helluva thing! Not many of us want to see Hawaii change drastically but development means new jobs, spending, new homes, tax revenue, investment, and other “positive” changes. Many old neighborhoods in Honolulu are run down and well-planned development can bring new vitality to the slumping city. Yet developers only want to build luxury residences for those who can afford it. High labor and material costs, shipping, land value all force developers to think luxury rather than affordable. Many companies are lobbying the State and the land holders to rezone no longer used farm land so they can build homes. Where there was once pineapple and sugarcane, developers want to put miles and miles of cookie cutter homes…many which will be priced too high for the average working family in Hawaii. The union workers who will be hired to build of these condos and homes won’t be able to afford what they built. More than 85 percent of planned Ritz-Carlton luxury condo in Waikiki sold during a private weekend sale with prices ranging from $750,000 to $15 million. Brokers had clients in Tokyo, Shanghai, and Europe. I would assume very few locals, if any, were able to purchase even the lowest priced units. The American Dream for many born in Hawaii will never be realized in their homeland.

As Oahu struggles under the weight of all their construction, the outer islands have their own growth and development issues. Maui, Kauai, and the Big Island have mega resorts and ultra rich neighborhoods, isolated and vastly expensive. Some would argue the best of the outer islands has been swallowed by developers, gated and closed off to locals. Although State laws demands public access rights to any beach front area, many developers simply limited public parking or placed lots far away from any access points. Many claim the rich have privatized Hawaii’s beauty and indeed many projects have but they’ve also protected pristine areas from further construction as well. Some local residents have not always been the best stewards of the land. Tourist and rich land owners don’t often smash green Heineken bottles on the rocks, leave garbage strewn in the parks, nor off-road in 4×4’s all over the beach. Recently a young boy on Oahu severely burned his hands because someone improperly disposed of hot coals from a BBQ by burying them in the sand. “Malama ka a’nia,” as some would say, isn’t always practiced.

In July, I worked on a job with writer Jim Carlton and the Wall Street Journal on a controversial development project on a ridge overlooking Hanalei Bay on Kauai. The developer is eBay founder Pierre Omidyar and his investment firm wants to build 30 plus luxury homes on land already zoned for development on the Princeville ridge. The project would develop the homes which would sit across the river from popular Black Pot Beach. The community fears the new development would be an eyesore and some feel the rich might demand restrictions at the beach and land fronting the property. Many just don’t want any more development on their tranquil island paradise.

The ridge, once a Club Med in the late 1970’s, has foundation work built from a prior development plan but the project went bankrupt before any of the units were built. The ridge now sits undeveloped and overgrown with evasive species covering the area. Omidyar’s plans to also restore an ancient Hawaiian fish pond along with eradicating many of the evasive species and helping restore and protect the environment. The fish pond has been ignored and abandoned for decades and its a welcome sign Omidyar’s wants to help the community but the anti-development crowd feel its a band aid for a housing project many do not want.

The community on Kauai last fought the Hawaii Superferry, an inter-island ferry which transported people and vehicles. The protesters feared additional traffic and population on their already taxed communities and wanted to keep Kauai from being further spoiled. From the outside, it seemed many malahinis, or newcomers, were the most vocal as some local residents welcomed the Superferry as an alternative to the monopoly of the airlines and shipping companies.

Those who support the development see it as needed jobs for the community. Kauai’s isolation, the State of Hawaii’s strict business regulations, and powerful unions have kept many businesses away. Construction, service, and other related jobs can help ensure many Kauaians can afford to stay in the area. Omidyar’s project could employ many for generations. The State and local community also benefits as tax revenue will help improve the infrastructure and schools. Everyone could possibly benefit from his development project. However, the community remains divided as the development of Hanalei Bay will drive already high land prices higher leading to higher property taxes. Many old time residents have been forced to leave the area due to an ever growing tax burden.

But sadly, a new wave of newcomers, tourist and new residents, are already changing the idyllic nature of Hanalei. There’s more traffic, more construction, more noise. Those old time residents are slowly being uprooted by new faces more suited in Laguna Beach. This new wave of malahinis can afford to pay the higher taxes and cost of living. Plate lunch joints and cans of Bud are making way for tapa bars, bottles of merlot, and art galleries. There seems to be more dredlocked trust fund kids surfing the waves at Hanalei Bay than the locals who grew up in the area.

Change is inevitable. If something is good and it gets out, everyone wants to go there. Red Hook, Austin, Hanalei. And I think its human nature to want to shut the door behind you once you get in. Many pro development people in the area know the jobs will help but feel those against it are the same newcomers who are against anything that might spoil their slice of paradise. That crowd already secured their views, their properties, their way of live and now want to limit who can now come in. Ironically, many of those in the anti-development crowd forced change when they first arrived.

But when you experience Hawaii, whether it’s in Kauai or Oahu, you quickly see how wonderful a place the Islands can be. Everyone knows your name in Hanalei. People don’t lock their doors. Neighbors will help neighbors in that small town way. That’s the allure. Its an unspoiled paradise where the sunsets are magical every night. Yet every year I’ve gone to the area, I can’t help but to see more and more tourist, more and more new residents, more and more development. Everyone wants a slice.

The genie is out of the bottle and the land has gotten away from the locals.

We’d all like to keep all of Hawaii pristine but at what cost? Hawaii is paradise but its a prison if you can’t afford it. And its a beautiful prison to many locals who can’t. Too many malahinis show up with money who can afford it and force the change. The locals just can’t keep up. The anti development crowd can continue to fight changes and they might win this battle against Omidyar but there will be many more to come. It would be a paradise if many could live their lives growing, sharing, trusting, and enjoying a wonderful slice of Hawaii but everything has a price tag.

Los Angeles Times

The Los Angeles Times hired me a few weeks ago to spend some time with Hawaii ukulele legend Eddie Kamae as they were to feature him for an upcoming travel piece to Honolulu. As far as Hawaiian legends go, Eddie is on top of the list. He might not be as famous as Don Ho, Bruddah Iz or for that matter Elvis when it comes to that distinct Hawaiian sound, but Eddie, along with band mate Gabby Pahinui, introduced traditional Hawaiian music to the world via the post war tourists flooding the Hawaiian Isles. At the time, traditional Hawaiian music wasn’t played in the tourist districts as most local musicians catered to mainland musical tastes. But once their band The Sons of Hawaii took off, the music found commercial footing which opened the door for Hawaiian music to be heard world wide.

The duality of my job had me creating a portrait of Eddie and then turning around to document Eddie’s Honolulu and the places that helped create the Hawaiian legend. Development and time has erased some of the old town but lots remain such as the Hau Tree Lanai bar at the New Otani Kaimana Beach Hotel where he once played under the massive, century old tree in the 1970’s. Kamaka Ukulele, which made a few of his ‘ukes, still cranks out hand made and custom instruments since 1916, and time seems to have stood still in some areas of Chinatown, Eddie’s childhood stomping grown where he hustled newspapers and fish he caught in Nuuanu Stream.

Making of portrait of him proved to be the most difficult because Eddie isn’t well known to follow directions. He’s a legend. You don’t make him do much of anything as he’ll do what he wants when he wants. But with the prodding of his wife Myrna and their assistant, I got Eddie to the water’s edge at Waikiki Beach at sunset and made a magical shot of Eddie playing a few old standards on his “box.” I knew I had a few minutes to get this done before his mid 80’s patience would wear and I’d have to plan another time to get him in front of my camera.

After our quick photo shoot, we retired to one of his daily spots at the Hilton Hawaiian Village to enjoy a few Kona brews, some pupus and listen to the young musicians play music for the tourists. During our shoot, we had tourist coming around and listening to Eddie play. No one really knew who he was but people knew he was important. Eddie could still command a crowd as he crooned away. A young Japanese girl stood and watched from the beach and probably would never remember she saw a famous ukulele player on her first trip to Hawaii. Eddie doesn’t often play live any more so we got a rare and intimate concert.

Photographically speaking, I must point out a few tricks of the trade that I’ve gotten notice on. Negative space is positive. Shoot loose a photo editor once told me long ago and I took it to heart. If you shoot too close, you don’t give an editor or a page layout person space to work with. I knew to shoot Eddie with lots of space around him, especially head space on my verticals as there was a good chance it would be an opener. I thought about text and headline space and and my in-camera framing worked. Sometimes this approached is ignored as many photographers crop for themselves, not for the end product. You can always crop or shoot tight on your own frames but once you take away negative space, you image can quickly turn negative.

Below are the pdf files from the times. I have my opening shot on top mostly because the pdfs are so washed out. The editor assured me the images were wonderful in the newspaper and on line.

I hear that train a commin’…its rollin’ ’round the bend

This past September, Hyphen Magazine, an Asian-American publication out of California, called me out of the blue and asked me to do a portrait of an ex con who was on Oahu. The story focused on Native Hawaiians who were incarcerated and sent off-Island to serve their sentences due to State budget matters. The ex con was one of the first Native Hawaiians to be shipped off in the late 1970s. After finding out how much they actually wanted to pay, I turned them down stating it was way too much work for what they expected. The photo editor, Damien Maloney, who believed I would be the best candidate to capture this unique portrait, then told me the story of Delbert Wakinekona and I was sold.

Its not everyday you get to spend time with a man who broke out of Folsom Prison, the jail made famous by the man in black, Johnny Cash.

According to a legal record found on the web, in 1970, Wakinekona and a partner entered a local store to buy sashimi when the outing turned deadly as the shop owners were robbed and beaten with one later dying of his injuries. Wakinekona and his partner were “indicted for the crimes of first degree murder, first degree robbery (two counts) and aggravated assault.” Although he claims he was not part of the attempted robbery and/or the beating was unintentional, Wakinekona was given a life sentence for the murder. Wakinekona felt he was framed by the others testimony and flawed court system worked against him. He tried unsuccessfully to fight his conviction but lost.

After serving time in jail, and if I’m not mistaken, breaking out of the Halawa Correctional Center, Wakinekona was found to be a troublemaker and was sent off-Island to the mainland to serve the rest of his sentence. Wakinekona was part of the first wave of Hawaiian shipped off to the mainland thus breaking his family and cultural ties to Hawaii. He sued to remain in Hawaii, even having his case argued in the US Supreme Court, but eventually lost his case.

And I ain’t seen the sunshine,
Since, I don’t know when

So as I drove out to Waianae to meet Delbert Wakinekona and Lilian Harwood, his new wife who helped him get out of prison on a compassionate release due to Delbert’s declining health, I filled with dread and anticipation of dealing with a man who might be maladjusted to the outside world. But the few hours I spent with ex-con Delbert had me understand not just what life is like inside prison but understood was prison does to a man. I make no excuses for the crimes Delbert supposedly committed. He was no angel. However time does change people and injustice can make a person very bitter.

Delbert, who looks give him the appearance of a weathered Santa Claus, greeted me with a smile but his demeanor made me realize he was a tiger. He looked through me, intimidated me, and outplayed me instantly. I immediately knew I was dealing with someone who understood the nature of man and survival. Delbert lived within a silent world where life and death were separated by a glance, a sudden mood change, a split decision. There was no trust, no basis of friendship or loyalty in his mannerism. He was dangerous. But dangerous as a means of survival.

We began to chat, talk and getting to know each other. I felt every move I made was watched and anticipated. Like a wild dog, any movements towards him might have resulted in a snap, growl or worse. I could sense he struggled with PTSD as he had been in jail for most of his life. The outside world was different. He had no constraints yet knew no other way.

I’m stuck in Folsom Prison,
And time keeps draggin’ on,

We talked about his case. He asked about my ethnicity. I told him I was Hispanic and he relished time time spent with Mexican Americans in Folsom Prison. He told me once he was shipped off Hawaii, he entered a world in the late 70’s early 80’s where Hawaiians were only known through Elvis and aloha shirts. Hawaiians were virtually unknown on the mainland and invisible in prisons. He was neither white or black so the only people he could visually associate with were the Hispanics. In his first encounter with Hispanics in jail, they began to talk Spanish which he couldn’t understand. The Mexicans, finding his disrespect intriguing, demanded to know who or what he was. He told them he was Hawaiian and quickly the Hispanics found humor in calling him a pina, or pineapple in Spanish. According to Delbert, this slight was more sexual in nature and he quickly had to establish he was no “fruit” and quickly gained the respect of the Hispanics for his bold stance. Delbert was then referred to as Hawaiiano which he claims with pride.

He talked about his case, his life, his breakout of several jails including Folsom, and life being outside. He talked about some of the more infamous inmates he knew at Folsom including Charles Manson and others. He talked of legal battles with prison wardens, judges, and prison itself. He talked of life on the lam and shining the light on Native Hawaiian struggle as they are sent off Island. He mentioned the correspondence from other infamous prisoners he met along the way. Delbert was a walking history book of American crime figures and prisons.

But that train keeps a-rollin’,
On down to San Antone

As I finally felt he trusted me enough to pose, we went down to the beach near Yokohama Bay at sunset and I was able to snap some haunting images of this man who some might feel he still belongs in prison for the crimes he committed. It wasn’t hard to have him give me that prison stare as it seemed natural to him. I never posed him pretentiously or expected him to show me some deep emotion. I wanted to capture him like the man I saw in front of me.

At first he work a dark blue t-shirt with some type of fishing logo and I really wanted it to come off. I quickly realized his body was covered in “jail-house tats” and Delbert was more than willing to show me his history told on the folds of his now old skin. He had the names of his children, Hawaiian folklore icons, dragons, roses, and a half goat man hugging a naked woman. His crude tattoos told a story that no hipster skin could ever begin to tell. These were the stories of a man whose life turn a turn for the worst on a faraway night back in 1970.

Across his now flabby belly were the words “Hawaii No Ka Oi’,” or simply, “Hawaii…the best.”

Aside from the convicted murderer who stood in front of my lens, I found Delbert to be a tiger, but an older tiger who still had his teeth but losing his bite. He was granted a compassionate release from jail as he is currently suffering from advanced liver cancer. Whether a man like this deserves to be out of prison is up to debate but with cancer quickly advancing, he might not be around long enough to fight that battle.

At the end, Delbert was grateful for the attention and kindness I gave him and gave me a bear hug that clearly wasn’t toothless. It was kind and tender but quickly felt the power of man who survived prison life. I learned I wasn’t meant for prison but a young Delbert probably thought the same thing. We all have tigers inside of us, its just odd we have to be incarcerated to find it.

When I hear that whistle blowin’,
I hang my head and cry.

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.