One Year Ago ...

One year ago today, Kahala Mall was the victim of a flood that engulfed 90% the mall. The theaters were severely damaged as part of the flood waters caused major cracks in a wall and put three of the eight screens underwater. The water moved quite quickly down the corridor toward the rest of the mall. Stores were shut down for up to a week to clean up the water and mud damage. Only recently, five of the eight screens have re-opened.

This shot was taken as the muddy waters flows out of the doorway. It was also the last shot my Canon A300 point-and-shoot digital camera captured before the sensor died.

Pondering

This surfer ponders about going out to ride more waves.

Flower In Flower

Kekiinani and I spent a few hours photographing flowers and plants at Foster Botanical Gardens on afternoon. We actually came across this little fuschia-coloured gem in the community garden outside, and saw those tiny yellow flowers in the center of the big flower. I know she a got a great shot of this same flower as well.

Moon Over Ala Wai Marina

A full moon rises over the Ala Wai Marina complete with reflection on the water. I was there to capture the Friday night fireworks display that the Hilton Hawaiian Village has, and some of the Kona wind flight arrivals.

Met a fellow photographer, Andrea who was also there getting shots of the moon and the fireworks show, and she got some great shots as well.

360 Degree Palm

I saw this type of palm tree as I was leaving the UH Mānoa campus after church service. It looks like the leaves form a cirlcle, and has the greyish-blue hue to it as well.

With the converging lines, this would be a good way to check the back focus on a camera lens.

Brown Bags To Stardom 2007

The high school talent competition called "Brown Bags To Stardom" is back from a hiatus. The 2007 finals was held this past Saturday at the Blaisdell Arena, and is scheduled to be broadcast on OC16 Saturday March 31st (check local listings). BBS is an island-wide comptetion among high school students, first within each school, then among schools. They had some pretty great performances by some talented kids.

Today's photo is a shot of the stage minutes before the show started. The camera in front of the stage was on a dolly. My camera is behind the guitar amp at center stage. There were two more cameras in the back of the house. I had the hand-held assignment for the entire show. Mahalo to the two Kamehameha students who assisted by pulling cable for me.

Quality Time

The best way to start the day ... studying God's word and a cup of hot coffee.

Force Of Nature

A wave from a rare winter south swell crashes and explodes against the breakers that protects the Magic Island lagoon at Ala Moana Park. It's amazing to see how much force a wave carries, especially when it hits an immovable object.

Gulfstream G550 - Part 2

Here is the interior view of N571GA, a Gulfstream G550 I had the privilege of touring when the Gulfstream sales team and this demonstrator jet made an overnight stop here before heading off to Singapore for an airshow there.

Look at those plush leather seats ... Talk about comfy ... Two-stage window shades, polished wood grain panelling, gold fixtures, sofa, and full galley and bathroom. On second thought, first class doesn't even come close. Like I said, if you've got an extra $50 million lying around, burning a hole in your pocket ... you might want check this ride out. This is lifestyle!

Streaks Of Light

One of the first experiments I did with long exposures. This is a night shot of the buildings in downtown from my lanai at eight seconds.

I-405 North

On my way to LAX from Carson in late morning traffic. I was going there to photograph airliners on final approach to LAX (see the March 15th post).

Notice the absence of light poles ... most of the freeways in southern California have no lights at night. It was a bit startling at first, but I got used to it. Oh yeah, the posted speed limit: 65 mph, though folks there really drive over 70.

As the Missing Persons song goes ... "Nobody Walks In L.A."

Squidward?

When I saw this flower, I could not stop thinking that it bears a resemblance to Squidward Tentacles, a character on the Spongebob Squarepants cartoon series. It's got a similar color to Squidward as well. Can you tell I'm a dad who has seen his share of today's cartoons?

Pool Fence

In keeping with the water theme, the shadow of the fence that surrounds our building's swimming pool, bends along the floor of the pool going from shallow to deep.

This photo is actually upside down, because of the way the fence is situated and the path of the sunlight. I shot it right side up, then flipped it over in Photoshop. Somehow, the original shot did not have the right feel.

Surfing 101

These Japanese tourist kids get their first surfing lesson outside the Hilton Hawaiian Village beach, bordering the Ala Wai Marina.

Top O' The Mornin'!

It's St. Patrick's Day! Well, I don't have any shots of shamrocks, so this ‘akia plant will have to do. At least it's green ...

Purple Dusk

Late summer afternoon at the Hilton Lagoon. I got the purple effect by changing the white balance to the fluorescent bulb setting.

Short Final at LAX

Two of my favorite things about Los Angeles are: In-N-Out Burger and planespotting outside LAX. What's even better? An In-N-Out to watch planes that are on final approach to LAX's north runways. On Sepulveda Blvd, just north of the Sepulveda / Lincoln Blvds split is an In-N-Out which has front row seats to the arriving traffic. The only challenge ... keeping one hand clean to shoot whilst eating my Double-Double, fries, and Coke, then having an airliner I want to get a shot of make its approach.

Now if there was a Krispy Kreme or El Pollo Loco nearby as well ...

This Cathay Pacific 747-400 is about 100 feet off the deck with about a quarter-mile before touching down after a long flight from Hong Kong. I got to spend the majority of a day getting shots of airliners ... especially ones I don't see at HNL. During some points of the day, the flights are spaced about 3 minutes apart. This location is quite popular among aviation photographers.

Wedding Cake

A close-up of a couple of the roses that adorned Kirk & Merilyn's multi-tiered wedding cake.

What do you do when the white balance is off, but still a good shot? Photoshop it! I converted it to a black & white shot, then hand-tinted the roses and fern.

The Conversation

Two friends share a quiet conversation.

Duckling

The Hilton Hawaiian Village has a pond inhabited with a few species of ducks that fronts the Ali‘i Tower. This duckling is taking a break under some shade. I got this shot, among others, during a break of a video shoot I was part of at the hotel.

End Of An Era

Kahala Mall's Star Market closed its doors yesterday for the last time. Star was one of the mall's original tenants since its opening in 1961, when it was an open-air mall, and known as the Wai‘alae Shopping Center. I do remember shopping at Star Kahala with my grandparents back in the day. For a while, my grandmother kept calling it Wai‘alae-Kahala ... old habits are hard to break.

Star's closing marked an end of an era, as one more original anchor tenant has gone by the wayside. Of the five original anchors: Long's Drug, Star Market, Liberty House, Woolworths, and JCPenney, only Long's remains. Macy's took over Liberty House, but it's not the same. The future of the store space remains unknown.

Tiny Flowers

These flowers measure a quarter-inch across at the most. I hoped that the lens would focus on this macro shot of these bright yet tiny flowers.

South Shore Sunset

Waves break in the foreground as the sun nears the horizon in a photo taken from Kaka‘ako Waterfront Park.

It Ain't No Handycam!

Handycam? No way! That's a toy ... When I shoot video, I go all out, and break out the 20-pound big gun. I was using this rig for the Japanese TV shoot back in January.

Fountain Blast

I was shooting a wedding video at Kawai‘ahao Church, and had my camera with me to get shots around this historic church. I wanted to get the fountain top with a high-speed shutter. I got a few shots in, then a big gust of wind came toward me, and hit the fountain causing this blast of droplets caught at 1/1000 secs coming toward me as well. Did I get wet? A little ... but it was worth it. I managed to turn away to protect my camera.

Self-Portait

I thought turning the camera lens on myself was too easy of a way to do a self-portait. I wanted to use a mirrored surface of some sort to get the shot. The first attempt was off the side of an airplane's bare aluminum skin ... it was okay. Then, I noticed these crosswalk signal buttons have a curved mirror finish, and thought I'd give it a try ... got this one while taking other photos in downtown.

Rings On Roses

I was shot a wedding video for Koji & Masako, in which the shoot began with the hair & make-up part for Masako in their room. I had my L3 with me, and got this shot after I got it on tape.

Heart Of Worship

This was one of the photos I submitted for Hope968's worship team CD called "Holy Dozen". I experimented with a few different types of effects before going with this treatment of the photo. The congregation was asked to move to the front so they could provide backing vocals for one of the songs being recorded for the CD.

In The Clouds

I took this photo somewhere between O‘ahu and Mau‘i, as the Hawaiian Air 717 was descending through the cloud layers.

Green Onion Flowers

When we see green onions in the produce section of a supermarket, this is something people don't get to see. For those who grow green onions in their gardens, these flowers on the tops of the stalks must be a common sight.

Play Ball!

Baseball season is upon us! The pros are in spring training, and the college level is in full swing. The high schools are also gearing up for their 2007 season. However, with Aloha Stadium being locked in the football configuration, there will be no more baseball played there. "Say it ain't so!", but 2006 was the final season for the ILH (Interscholastic League of Honolulu) schools.

In today's photo, the Kamehameha Warriors (blue) faced the ‘Iolani Raiders (red) in a game played on March 25th of last season. ‘Iolani won the game 1 - 0.