Maui

Photo: Old Hawaii

A hula dancer posing against a palm tree at the Maui Photo Festival.

Back Story

This shot was taken during the ’11 Maui Photo Festival and their signature golden hour shoot: The Quintessential Hawaiian Photo Shoot — Hula on the Beach at Sunset, led by the very well known island photographer and artist, the Randy Jay Braun.

It was also the same sunset shoot back in ’09 that I first started to venture out of my comfort zone of landscape photography and make an attempt at shooting portraiture. Boy, how things have come full circle.

Now, this shoot has grown into perhaps the most popular session at the workshops, and the group shooting this year felt – at least to me – a lot larger than the one I shot with back in ’09. It seemed a little too crowded for my taste, so I met up with another photographer who was off shooting the unusually large waves hitting the shoreline nearby. Her name was Diane and she’s an accountant from Oahu attending the festival. I had a good time talking story while dodging the waves trying to get a nice curl shot of the water.

Anyway, I only shot the hula dancers for about 5 minutes, and I feel fortunate that I was able to get this image that I’m pretty proud of.

And although I chose a sepia-tone for this version of the image, I am rather fond of the colors of her dress and the lei she’s wearing. I did not have my Topaz plug-ins installed on my laptop at the time, but I wanted to throw a few different styles at this image once I got back home. Just a heads up that you may see one or more versions of this shot in the near future.

MPF ’11 Portfolio Review Photos

When I was planning which sessions I wanted to attend at the Maui Photo Festival this year, I knew the Portfolio Review – Classroom Style session was one I wanted to repeat from the ’09 event.

The instructor, Stacy Pearsall, gave some good pointers on things to fix in-camera and maybe touch up in post, but also gave good praise for these images as they were. That was a big confidence boost, as I’ve only been shooting portraits for about 3 months now. Plus, every time I show these images to friends or family, they main reaction is “Ahhh, he’s so cute,” so objective feedback on the photo itself wasn’t always a priority.

That said, here are the photos I shared during the review – plus one I had intended to include but had forgotten at the last minute.

If you’d like to leave your thoughts, please do.

Natural Light Portraits

Indoor Portraits with Strobes

The Forgotten Photo

Photo: Kahakuloa Point

Flyby of the Kahakuloa Point along Maui’s west coast.

Back Story

This photo was taken during the doors-off helicopter excursion through the ’11 Maui Photo Festival and Workshops. This was my second doors-off flight with the workshops, and the second time I was able to shoot this part of the island from the sky above.

The first time was back in ’09, when I got this shot. Aside from having newer gear this time, I liked the different perspective I was able to capture as we approached the peak from the side rather than they bay itself.

We also had great weather while we were up in the air this trip, so that’s always a big plus. I’ll be sharing more shots from the flight this week as well.

– Kris

Photo: Aerial Incline

Rising up over a mountain ridge over the west side of Maui.

Back Story

The winning aerial shot during the 2011 Maui Photo Festival and Workshops. It was such a thrill going up and flying doors off again!

Photo: Me, My Son, and the Milky Way

My son and I sitting by the ocean in Maui watching the Milky Way.

Back Story

The last time we were in Maui for the Maui Photo Festival in ’09, I spent the final night on the island shooting the stars one last time. In the process, I came up with the idea to shoot a self portrait of me and the Milky Way.

I thought it came out fairly nice.

Fast Forward

Now, well, I’m back here for the last night of the 2011 Maui Photo Festival, so I decided to re-shoot the self portrait, but only this time include our 9 month old son as well. Fortunately, I was able to try a few setups and get this shot off about 2 minutes before he woke up.

While I could have easily spent another hour out there getting shots and riding the creative ways, the shoot was called on the count of a screaming baby. I’m guessing the observatories on Haleakala and the Big Island don’t have these types of problems to contend with.