MORGAN & TAYLOR : LAIE TEMPLE WEDDING

What a beautiful wedding.  Morgan and Taylor had their wedding ceremony at the Laie Hawaii Temple.  Their reception was held at the art courtyard at BYU-Hawaii.  This was the first wedding event I have photographed at BYU-Hawaii.  There were many fun details that went into decorating the courtyard, making it an intimate reception.  Our tropical summer weather brought some rain during the reception, but I’ve heard that wedding day rain brings extra good fortune to the couple and it certainly didn’t dampen the good feelings and energy of the event.  It was memorable to witness all of the Maori culture expressed through Morgan’s family and Taylor joined in the haka as well.    Congratulations Morgan and Taylor!  Mahalo for allowing me to be a part of your amazing day.

STACEY + DAVID : ENGAGEMENT PHOTOGRAPHY – NORTH SHORE HAWAII

I had a lot of fun taking Stacey and David’s engagement photos!  They were very out going and fun to photograph.  As we were coming in from shooting some underwater photos at Waimea Bay,  I almost stepped on a turtle, so of course we jumped back in and got some shots with it as it swam around.  Seeing and swimming with turtle’s never get’s old.  Best wishes Stacey and David!

ASHLYNNE + BEN : HAWAII ENGAGEMENT – NORTH SHORE OAHU

It definitely is feeling like summer time, and true to form, this last month a lot of my sessions have included water photography.  It was a lot of fun capturing Ashlynne and Ben’s engagement photos before they headed back to the mainland.  We started off the session at the Haleiwa bridge, and then headed to Pipeline on the North Shore where we did the underwater pictures.  Congratulations Ashlynne and Ben.

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SILVIA & MATT : TRASH THE DRESS – NORTH SHORE HAWAII

I photographed Silvia and Matt’s destination wedding last year on the big island of Hawaii, you can see their wedding pictures here. Stunning bride and groom.  I was so excited when they contacted me about doing a trash the dress session in the ocean. Both of them were fantastic in the water, and I love the way Silvia’s wedding dress flowed in the water for these dream like shots.

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DEETTE & SCOTT : HAWAII WEDDING – NORTH SHORE OAHU

DeEtte and Scott brought their family to the North Shore of Oahu for their Hawaii wedding.  It was a beautiful evening to have a wedding on the beach.  I loved DeEtte’s wedding dress, it was simple, beautiful and elegant.  It was perfect for a beach wedding in Hawaii.    After the wedding ceremony we had time to get some fun family pictures with that last 1/2 hour of sunlight on the north shore.

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TANYA + ADAM : HAWAII WEDDING – SUNSET RANCH

Tanya and Adam were married at Sunset Ranch overlooking the North Shore of Oahu Hawaii.  This is a stunning place to host a large wedding.  The view of the sun setting was incredible, and the food and decorations were excellent.    I photographed Tanya and Adam’s engagement pictures a few months back, they even did a few underwater shots, you can see those here.  Congratulations to this beautiful couple- Tanya and Adam!

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CARRIE + BEN : LAIE TEMPLE WEDDING – NORTH SHORE HAWAII

Prior to their wedding Carrie and Ben jumped right in as we did a trash the dress session on the north shore at Turtle Bay.   As a surfer Ben was very comfortable, and Carrie was quite brave to go out into the surf as big as it was. There are a few behind the scenes photos below where you can see wave size.   They were married a few day later at the Laie, Hawaii Temple, the same temple that Carrie’s parents were married in.  Their receptions was at a beach house on Laie Bay, one of my favorite places in the world.  They had so many fun things at their  reception: cotton candy,  a Ted’s Bakery cake and even fire knife dancing from Carrie’s dads college roommate,  Kap Te’o Tafiti.

WORLD FIRE KNIFE CHAMPIONSHIP : POLYNESIAN CULTURAL CENTER – HAWAII

Fire knife competitions are by far the most challenging thing for me to photograph.  During the competitions I am not allowed to use a flash, and the goal is to freeze the dancer but keep the shutter open long enough to get a full circle of fire.  For example I keep my shutter for 1/10th of second for the very fast start off and 1/8th to 1/6th when they slow down.  I consider how much gas is on the knife or how many knives the dancer is using since 1, 2 or 3 fire knives can quickly change the lighting.  The last variable is time, I only have a few minutes to capture each competitor.  After I fill up a card the images are taken and sent to the Asociated Press.  I don’t even have a chance to look at them, so there is very little room for error.

I staged the first 4 photos below that are going to be used for the 20th annual fire knife competition advertising for next year.  The last 5 are some of my favorites from this most recent competition.

MAY DAY 2011 : KE KULA KAIAPUNI – HAU’ULA HAWAII

My kids recently had their May Day (or Lei Day in Hawaii) celebration.  This is a big tradition here in Hawaii and the kids at elementary schools all around Hawaii have been working on their song and dance performances.  At our school, all of the kids in the Hawaiian language Immersion program performed two numbers- one was a Hawaiian song/chant written by their teacher, which was really good.  The second number was a dance to Jai Ho.  The kids all dressed in Indian costume and had so much fun performing.  Their teachers all dressed amazing too and you can see some shots of them in this video.

ROCHELLE + IVAN : WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY – NORTH SHORE HAWAII

Rochelle and Ivan came all the way from Alaska to have their destination wedding in Hawaii. The day turned out to be amazing even though we had a little rain that day on the North Shore. I really enjoyed photographing Rochelle and Ivan, they had a lot of fun energy, especially when we went to trash the dress.

I have to also give a shout out to Jennifer Jones, she was Rochelle’s makeup artists and did an amazing job.

NATALIE + AARON : UNDERWATER ENGAGEMENT PHOTOGRAPHY -NORTH SHORE HAWAII

Natalie and Aaron were a super cute couple to photograph.  They met at BYU-Hawaii, both playing soccer.  At the time of this shoot their engagement was on the downlow, but was made official after Natalie visited Aaron in England were Aaron is from.  I think the yellow fish really wanted to be part of their shoot, it kept coming by and swimming around us, and at one time I think it even stared me down.