Hawaii photographer
www.holladayphoto.com Hawaii Family Photography by Mark Holladay Lee of Holladay Photo. www.holladayweddings.com
This summer I was invited to document the first Lawai’a camp in Kahana. It was a five day camp centered around lawai’a (fishing). There were so many fun activities to help us understand proper fishing here in Hawai’i and to learn how to not over fish. Some of my favorites were picking up net at sunrise, building the dry box, and torching at night. Mahalo for every one who put this camp together and all the ‘ohana that participated. Best Camp ever!
What a fun shoot! This was a family of 15, his, hers, theirs, spouses and girlfriends. This was their last day of vacation here in Hawaii. With a group this large I decided to take them to a little hidden beach on the North Shore that would give us a lot of different backdrops. After shooting the family portraits they asked if we could do some underwater pictures. This was totally not planned, no one even had swimsuits or towels. Of coarse I said yes, I will take any excuse to get in the water. At first a few of the family members were a little hesitant, but once we started getting in the water it was just all fun.
I recently got back from a two week vacation to visit family in California. We had a great time and our kids loved every minute of it too. During the down time I worked on a video project with Ruby. She came up with and laid out a story line, pushing all of the pieces she cut out into position. Together we made a stop motion film by taking a picture of every position change of her pieces to tell the story. I put the pictures together to create the video. She was very patient with the process and I could tell she loved it. She has creative talent, her teacher at school says she takes her time and puts her whole effort into any coloring or craft project. It seems that time is going too fast with our kids. Pretty much everyday Patria comes to find me to tell me about a funny or charming interaction that just happened with the kids. After the kids go to bed we love to exchange stories of the cute things they did or the conversations we had with them.
The video is very short but pretty sweet. I also included a photo of Ruby holding one of Grandma and Grandpa’s chickens and a photo of the kids with Patria and one of Ruby and some friends in the lo`i. 
It has been a very fun and busy summer for our family here in Hawaii. In previous posts you have seen some of my work, but I have not had much time to blog as I have been balancing work and family time. So I thought I would throw up a few shots from our summer fun with a few of our friends and family. We started the summer with the kids surfing in the T&C grom surf contest in town. My parents came in July for a couple weeks and we went to the west side and stayed in a little beach cottage. The kids had a great time surfing and Atticus even got behind the camera and snapped a few shots. I also got my mom and the kids to help me sew a new board bag for my new long board I shaped. Patria and the kids got me a foam blank for Fathers Day, you can see some of the shaping photos below. We also celebrated our 13 year anniversary in town without the kids, thanks to my mom and dad for watching over them. Finished up the summer with a week of camping, some sailing, and we even laid net and got about 10 fish. By the end I was definitely ready for school to start so I could get some rest. Can’t wait till next summer.
Congratulations to Kristen and William, welcoming their fifth beautiful child! I included links to three previous photo shoots I have done when their family was just four, then grew to five, then six and now a family of seven! They are family to us. They have been one of my favorite families to document over the years. It has been fun to see Grandma Susi over the years as well and I’m glad we got some great photos with her. As you can see they are all so photogenic. And as Patria always says, Kristen is one hot mama! But it’s their genuine love and kindness with all those incredible personalities that makes them stand out in a crowd.
This is where my heart is and will always be. I love a lot of things. I love the ocean, I love where we live, I love all the good people we are around every day, I love to surf and I love to take pictures. But there is nothing I love more than Ruby, and Atticus. They bring me the greatest joy and happiness.
I haven”t had much time to post my most recent shoots. Here are a few pictures from one of my last family photo shoots. We started at the Laie temple and then headed to the North Shore for a few family beach photos.
I don’t remember where I first saw it, but someone had a slide show made by Pummelvision. They just take a bunch of your photos and make a fast slide show in a few minutes. Instead of trying to make a slide show with all the photography from this last year, like the weddings, family, and commercial photos; I decided to just use the local underwater photography. It was kind of a fun thing to see.
Love the Kennedy family. This year we headed over to the skate park on the North Shore for their Christmas photos. It was Curran’s birthday, he is the 10 year old below ripping. I wish I could’ve skated like that when I was 10.
The Orgills were married in Hawaii, and this is the first time they have been back with all the kids. We started off taking some family pictures on the beach and at the end they decided to jump in the water for some underwater family pictures.
After being married 7 years Dave surprised his wife on their anniversary with a fun morning at the beach on the North Shore, and a family photo shoot that evening. I had a great time documenting their kayaking and cruising on the stand up paddle board (SUP). I posted one of the pictures a few weeks back here. I met them back on the North Shore later that evening for family pictures on the beach. The light was perfect and we scored a beautiful Hawaii sunset.
It was fun photographing the Drewery family again while they were back here on vacation. I shot maternity pictures of Michelle when they were last here. It is hard to tell from these pictures but she is expecting again. At the end of our shoot Michelle jumped in the water for a few underwater portraits. She looks so graceful and I love the dress she chose to wear.
The Laie Hawaii Temple is having an open house before it is rededicated. It is not often that general public can go inside a LDS Temple, so this is a great opportunity to check it out if your are going to be in Hawaii. The open house starts on October 22 and runes through November 13th. To learn more about the Laie Temple open house click here. From October 22 through November 21 I will be running a special on my Family photo sessions. I will be announcing the details later next week.
