Maui Sunsets- hard to say goodbye

Leaving is always the hardest thing to do...and leaving Maui is never easy. My last night there before leaving on my flight I went down to the beach and got these shots of the sunset at Lahaina beach. Hawaii is a photographers paradise which is why I love going there so often. I plan on my next trip to Hawaii including Kauai so I can add some pics from that island. Kauai is so beautiful and I plan on getting there this year.

The shot of the surfers on the beach was done by overexposing the photo when it was taken and then bringing down the exposure in Lightroom...it's a great technique if you like that look. Let me know what you think!

Molokai- an inside visitors guide

I've put up quite a few posts and pictures from the Hawaiian islands lately....covering three islands, Maui, Oahu, and the Big Island. I took a day trip to Molokai and it was fantastic. Molokai is the least developed of the five Hawaiian islands, and has the highest percentage of native Hawaiians on the island. I decided to shoot pictures and put up a post as if it were a visual travel brochure....just to change things up a little bit. Please read below.I took a ride on a ferry from Lahaina, Maui that took us over an hour to get to Molokai. Upon first leaving the harbor I noticed a capsized sailboat just sitting in the water....no hope for rescue.

We passed some surfers which was great because it enabled me to get an upclose shot from the side of a surfer. I was fortunate that he was a good surfer.

Looking back on the island of Maui. It's a beautiful island that has so much to offer.

We passed a whale that was far off in the distance. This shot was taken with a 500mm lens and cropped in....but it was still neat to see whales. Whale season ends in May as they leave for Alaska. During the season you can see them all over the place.

The first thing I noticed as we came to the harbor at Molokai was two fishermen fishing literally 1/2 mile off shore....standing in the water. Molokai is very unique in that it is 38 miles in length...and has 28 miles of coral reef...which enables people to literally walk out into the ocean.

I rented a car and took off on a drive. There is only 1 stop light on the whole island, 1 block for downtown, 1 gas station, and no fast food. There are two main roads that run from East to West and from North to South. I first headed West towards Molokai Ranch. The first thing I noticed was the unfettered access to beaches. This shot was taken through my windshield...you can drive right into the ocean if you were crazy enough to do it!

While driving I saw this amazing tree right on the sand with an amazing background. I just had to stop and take the shot.

I passed a campground where the inhabitants just made a home for themselves. No permit needed....I doubt anyone in the world knows where they are. Molokai is the perfect place...if you just want to disappear.

I passed the Molokai Ranch. It was the only commercial hotel operations still running on the island...and now the Ranch and the Cinema has closed down due to lack of business. Molokai isn't the place to party....so don't go if you're looking for Los Angeles on an island..(Oahu).

I traveled back to the middle of the island to hit the road going north to Kalaupapa. This is the famous peninsula where a minister named Father Damien ministered to a Leper colony in the late 1800's. They were placed on this peninsula for isolation purposes. You have to take a mule down 36 switchbacks to get down there....I didn't feel like riding a donkey for that long. So I got this shot from above.

Next to the Kalaupapa monument is the legendary Phallic Rock where ancient Hawaiian chiefs would travel to..to summon ancient powers. It took about 15 minutes to walk there...and it was definitely a sight. See below.

I left the Kalaupapa National Monument and went back down to the East-West highway (450) and started down towards Halawa Park. I couldn't help but take a picture of a horse tied up to a brick...just on the side of their only highway.

While the beaches are beautiful in Molokai....it's vastly different than Waikiki or Maui beaches where there are sunbathers everywhere. This is the ONLY person I ever saw on any beach....and I passed every beach on the island that you can drive to.

I had to take a picture of a bird sitting on a horse. It reminded me the birds that sit on the backs of rhinos in Africa.

At about the 20 mile marker down the 450 the road shrinks to 1 lane...and you're driving along this for the next 15 miles.

The road gets so narrow and windy that you are traveling at 5mph in a lot of areas. You have to honk at some curves to alert oncoming drivers...because there is no way you can see them.

A shot of the curvy, narrow, windy...but very beautiful road.

A shot of Halawa beach....isn't the beach just beautiful? It amazes me this place hasn't been found by developers yet...or if it has...the island isn't allowing development.

There are abandoned homes and settlements everywhere..I love it. I want to bring a bride or model here to do a shoot...it would be amazing.

I loved this shot. If you look to the bottom left corner of the shack you will see in red writing "Bus Stop." This is obviously a remnant of years past.

I turned around...Halawa beach is the end of the road. I got this shot of the water...it is so beautiful and untouched. This is why they call Molokai the most Hawaiian of the Hawaiian islands.

Shot of the beach coming back. They have a mix of sand and rock beaches.

I headed back to the ferry after returning the car and caught this rainbow as we headed back towards Maui.

There are two levels on the ferry...and with the wind and wave swell there was a ton of spray coming up. They kept telling me to not shoot on the 2nd deck (where this shot was taken) because I would ruin my equipment. But I just had to get some shots...and of course I shoot with a Nikon...so why worry?

Another rainbow with Maui in the background as we headed back to Lahaina. If you have a half day to spend in Molokai...I highly recommend it. For the roundtrip ferry, breakfast, and rental car it cost $215....money well worth spending if you like going back in time.

Sunrise back in Maui

I'm back in Maui for business and had an opportunity to grab an amazing sunrise on the East side of the island. Maui is such an interesting island because you definitely can find big resorts, shopping etc...but there are also some very remote parts of the island as well. I love the fact that for this sunrise the sun was hiding behind the clouds which gave it such a dramatic feel. It was pretty incredible and I look forward to finding other shots while I'm here!

Ruby Tuesdays

There's a chain of restaurants named Ruby's with a location on the pier in Oceanside, CA. We have made it a family tradition to go to Ruby's every Tuesday with the boys. We try to limit their weekly sugar intake but we always get the boys an ice cream when we go to Ruby's. J.J. had a chocolate banana, Kevin had chocolate peanut butter, Michael had strawberry, and Kara and I shared a brownie sundae.

It helps to have traditions that you keep to...especially when my job takes me on the road. I'm back in Hawaii again...so even looking at these pictures makes me miss my boys and wife SO MUCH! In order of pictures, JJ is on top, Michael in the middle, and Kevin on the bottom. I'll make sure to post pictures from Hawaii later on!

"No, Officer, I haven't been drinking."

The pictures below are from a photo shoot I did with a beautiful bride named Kara Boudreaux almost three weeks ago. We went to the Santa Monica Pier and had a great shoot on the lifeguard station on the beach. A cop drove by on the beach and we were sure I would get chased away...typical for one of my shoots....but we weren't!!! We got there a little late so when we parked I didn't pay...we just ran to catch the sunset as seen in the first shots below. So while walking back to the car we were sure that I would have a ticket...but we didn't!!!

We then went to the Disney Concert Hall in L.A. While shooting the shots in front of the curved building two cops rode by on bikes and asked if we were professionals. Kara immediately answered, "No," and they just kept going! This was really strange for me not to get harrassed. We had a great shoot and the reflections and angle of the building were just amazing!!!! The shoot lasted for over 4 hours and we finished close to 11:30pm. I dropped Kara off and started home.

I got on the phone with my wife and tried to follow the GPS at the same time. I was admittedly distracted and totally ran a red light....right in front of a cop. I got pulled over and thought...how ironic I've escaped the cops all night and here I get nailed for a red light. The cop comes up to the car and asks how I'm doing. By this point it's after midnight. I laugh and say, "Not very good." He asks me why and I reply, "Well, I just ran a red and I'm going to get a ticket."

He laughs and says, "Have you been drinking?" I laugh again and say, "I've never had a drink in my life." He then laughs and decides to give me a sobriety test!!!!!! Having truly never had a drink in my life....I found this amazingly hilarious and couldn't stop from laughing. He smelled my breath and said, "Well, no signs of drinking there." He then asked me to follow his finger from left to right. After a time or two I asked while laughing...how many times do I have to follow your finger correctly to pass?" He then laughed and said, "You're not drunk, you're just funny." I then responded with, "I totally deserve a ticket, but if you could give me a warning that would be great." To top it off I was driving a rental car and didn't have the registration or rental agreement. He returned to the car ten minutes later with a verbal warning and told me to have a great night. I told him if he ever needed a photographer to give me a call. He was the coolest officer I've ever met....and it topped off a great shoot. Thanks to Kara for making it so great!!!

Photography Tip #1- Additional Night Lighting

I'm often asked how I take certain pictures...how I light the area (subject), what I look for etc. I thought I'd throw up some pictures from a recent shoot and just shed some light (no pun intended) on what I did to get the shot. Lighting is the blood necessary to run the body of good photography....and the difference between a good and great shot depends on the right lighting. I took these pictures at a nature reserve in Utah and it was beautiful. I added some shots below but the pictures I'm referring to for the tips are the top two. If you look at the second picture that is a good example of taking the picture under normal lighting. The light is in the front of the picture from my Nikon SB800 external flash on top of the camera. It lights the picture, and I'm able to bring out the background because of the slow shutter speed on the camera. The first picture is the exact same picture from a composition standpoint, but the lighting is much different. I used the following steps to take this picture:

Shooting with the Nikon D2XS:

1. Set the camera on a tripod


2. Set the camera on timer mode (as if you're going to take a picture of yourself)


3. Set the camera to 30 second exposure
   
4. Set aperture to 4.5f to allow the most light the lens could handle. Go lower if your lens can.
   
5. Set ISO to 320....if I set it higher it would have made the picture brighter, but also more grainy. I wouldn't recommend going above 1200 ISO for this type of a shot.


6. Set white balance to camera preset of "cloudy" mode...to allow for richer color.


7. Shot in RAW.


8. Focal length- 11m


9. Focus- used manual focus....use a flashlight and shine it on the shack....you can then focus with the lens now that you can clearly see the shack.


10. What I did:


11. I pressed the trigger and ran into the shack while the 10-second self timer was counting down.


12. Once the camera shutter opened I used my external flash SB800 and starting strobing the inside of the barn. This is what gave me the light coming out of the door and the wooden slats in the roof of the shack.

I could have done more but I ran out of time. Going back I would use video lights to on the back and sides of the shack to add additional elements to the picture as well as still done the inside lighting. I hope this is helpful to any photographer or enthusiast out there! Let me know and I'll continue to post tips on a weekly basis.

Robert and Jessica

Below are pictures from a recent engagement shoot for Robert and Jessica shot by my lead photographer Don Atherton. He also had some great assistance from second shooter Karen Chapman. Robert and Jessica are getting married next month and they were such a great couple to work with. As you can tell they are very photogenic and they just radiate a very tangible "in love" feeling. The pictures were taken in Riverside, CA. Congrats on your engagement and marriage next month, we look forward to capturing your special day!

Donny Angel....aka "Chief Firewalker"

Below is a picture taken of Don Atherton, my lead photographer for Jason Lanier Productions. Through the course of working innumerable events together a great bond has been established...and of course guys bond by cracking jokes and coming up with nicknames. While driving with the team down to a shoot in San Diego, a commercial played the song, "Johnny Angel," the oldies hit. Don was talking smack and I quickly dubbed him, "Donny Angel" which he then morphed into a Godfather type persona. This persona has stuck, and while he is the most pleasant person you will ever meet...and the bride and groom always love him....the team knows to watch their step with Donny Angel....all joking of course.

Well, I received a call from Donny Angel last week that he wants his name changed to Chief Firewalker. He sent me a photo taken by a local photographer in Boston of Don walking across hot coals at an event. He even has blisters to prove he did it! I told him the name of Donny Angel will always stick, but that we may now add Chief Firewalker to his resume. If Don happens to shoot your event....call him by his nicknames....and I'm sure he'll give you something extra....that's the Firewalker way.

Back to D.C.

I'm headed back out to Washington D.C. for the next four days to do some work for some clients out there. I love D.C. and I hope I get the chance to get out and take some landscape shots. I also hope the weather is better considering the last time I was in D.C. I fell down the steps of the Lincoln Memorial due to ice! Below is a picture I took about 10 years ago on film. Hope to share some pics over the next couple days...then it's back for a wedding in California this Saturday for a great couple named Jon and Julie.

Arboretum Bridal

Below are pictures from a bridal shoot we did last month. The bride's name is Julie and she's getting married next weekend in California. I have been so busy I haven't had the chance to get these up on the blog but I definitely wanted to do so now.

I had Don Atherton shooting second shooter with me and Chris helping out with the light. We shot at the LA Arboretum and had a great time. We even found a group of people doing an exercise boot camp and they were kind enough to let our bride exercise with them! It was a great time and we're looking forward to a wonderful wedding next Saturday. Thanks to Don and Chris!

Lava Tubes

This was one of the funnest shoots I've ever done in my life. We convinced a bride to do a bridal shoot in the Lava Tubes in the Volcano National Park on the big island in Hawaii. She did a fantastic job and the funnest part about it was watching the thousands of visitors walk past us oohing, aahing, asking, "What are you doing?"...Is she a model?" etc.

Many of the observers starting taking pictures of the bride, and one of the funniest comments was after a man took a picture of the bride his wife said to him, "Now you can go home and tell people you got to take a picture of a supermodel." One of the tubes (caves carved out by lava 300 years ago) we went down required major flashlights just so you could enter. We shut the lights off quickly and it's amazing how pitch black really is PITCH BLACK when your in a cave.

The reason they assumed it was a model was because the bride is beautiful....and who in the world shoots a bridal session in a lava tube unless it's for a fashion magazine? It was a great experience, and believe it or not the dress wasn't that dirty at all! The posted pictures are from behind because the bride doesn't want me to use her name or face in case her groom sneaks a peek on the blog. So after the wedding with their permission I'll post some beautiful face shots as well.

As featured on Lifetime TV and Getmarried.com!!

I mentioned a number of weeks ago that we were going to be featured on Lifetime TV for photography that I did for Jobyna's Bridals. The spot aired today on Lifetime at 7:30 (EST). The spot will run another three to four times and is currently featured on the Getmarried.com home page. Click on the link below to be directed to the Jobyna's clip. I'm very grateful for the opportunity and thank Jobyna's, Getmarried, and Lifetime for the opportunity!

Click to see the TV spot here!!

Big Island Lava Flow

These images are from the Lava Flow from the active volcano on the Big Island. Kara and I arrived at the Lava Flow waiting area to view the flow and had to wait 1 hour just to drive to a parking lot close enough to allow us to walk to the lava flow. It was pitch black out there...quite a remarkable memory for the two of us to have.

We bought some personal headlights just to light our path. The picture I took of her below shows how dark it was....I shot it with my 50mm at 1.4 with a high ISO and still only got the light as seen in the picture. The park rangers have an area blocked off where you can view the lava....and you aren't allowed to cross it. The images below are shot with a 500mm lens...so the funniest thing was having people keep asking me to view the images I was taking through my camera so they could get a closer view. The lava flows down into the ocean which is what causes the smoke and sparks that you see below.

The neatest thing was when a large group of Hawaiians starting singing traditional Hawaiian songs while we watched the lava. It was beautiful and made you think what it would have been like centuries ago to watch the lava flow while the Hawaiians sang....it was an unforgettable experience. I love all of the Hawaiian islands but the Big Island is my favorite. Not only are there incredible areas of great beauty but they also have the Volcanoes which the other islands don't have. It was AWESOME!

Thruster

We went to the Big Island and had a photo shoot with a great surfer and skater named Bradley Young. He skates for Thruster USA and really is a great talent. I met up with him and his Uncle named Blaine Alconera. Blaine is a fun and crazy guy who strapped me to the back of an open bed pickup truck while Bradley skated behind me going quickly down a hill.

The funniest thing was when a police officer passed us doing this and I thought we were screwed. Instead he waved and passed us which made me laugh out loud. In California they probably would have ticketed both me and Blaine and towed the car to boot. They really are a talented family and Blaine has also done a lot of work in photography. It was a great pleasure to meet them and make some wonderful new local friends on the big island.

Peacock Flats

The first day we met Dan and his wife Eveline they took us to a place only locals know called Peacock Flats. We had to park our cars and take a long steep walk up a road that lead to a beautiful area where we conducted the photo shoot. He had some friends up there that decided to ride their boards down "louge" style (on their backs). They went by so fast and didn't come back up. We later learned that one of them fell off the board and got messed up pretty bad.

After the shoot was over the sun had gone down by that point. Kara and I started the 45 minute walk back to the car in almost complete darkness. We had my video light to use to show the way....and it was a romantic and great way to start our first night together on the island.

Dan Moore

While in Oahu I had the great opportunity of meeting and shooting Dan Moore www.outereef.com a great surfer on the North Shore of Oahu. We did two shoots over two days of both surfing and skating which were a ton of fun. We went out to the beach and shot Dan kite surfing because of the great wind that was out that day.

Dan has a major motion picture coming out later this year called "Finding Aloha" which is all about his journey of surfing, living, and finding the Aloha spirit in life. We got to watch the first 10 minutes of the movie and it's fantastic. I can't wait to see the movie....and I've already told Dan to call me when he surfs Jaws in Maui next year. It was a ton of fun and I'll be posting more skating pictures in another post. Let me know what you think!

Morning in Oahu

Here are some shots taken from a bridal shoot done in Oahu last week. It was an absolutely amazing sunrise as you can tell. I just love Hawaii and have so many pictures to share...the hard part is just getting through them all to be able to share. It started to rain during the shoot while the sun was coming up and we just kept shooting. If you haven't been to Hawaii...GO!! It's an amazing place.

Aloha from Maui

I spent the last 4 days on the beautiful island of Maui. I was there with my buddies Gary and Michael. We were there working with some of the local hotels on some cool projects and didn't have time to screw around but we did manage to get out later in the evening and do some sightseeing around the island. We found this awesome tropical rain forest where the trees looked like they came straight out of a Hollywood movie set. We then went down to the water and I positioned myself for one of the shots of the water crashing on the rocks and became completely soaked when the wave slash continued over me. I managed to wake up and get some early morning sunrise shots as well. It was a blast.

Gary and Michael flew home while I've continued on to Oahu to do a shoot with a great surfer out here. My wife flew in to meet me in Oahu so she can be with me for the duration of my time here....plus this is where we had our honeymoon 9 years ago....so it's very special to be with her again. I'll make sure to post more shots as I take them!

Myrtle Beach Matrimony

I have been so busy recently having traveled to more than 10 states in the past 10 days. I wanted to post these pictures of this great wedding that I shot for Jeff and Christine in Myrtle Beach, SC. It was a beautiful day and we shot the ceremony on the beach in front of the Seawatch Resort where there were a ton of seagulls that we used to our advantage. I'm in Hawaii right now for some shoots and will be here for another week. Thanks to the bride and groom for the great time at the wedding!!

Recruiting Police Officers

After an emotional week helping my brother with the death of his little girl I headed to WPPI and WOW was it good. I will post on it later....but I wanted to post these pics of a groom I shot in North Carolina almost two weeks ago. I did both bridal and groom portraits...but I promised not to post any of those so they wouldn't see each other. But after he took off the tux he asked if I could do a photo of him in his police officer's uniform. I happily obliged and had such a great time. I love finding places like we found where it's in the middle of nowhere.

I'm sure glad I know him....because being out that late with him being so built....some of the shots were looking like I was taking pictures of the Terminator....and it was freaking me out a little. He got a kick out of it and it was a great shoot. Let me know what you think!