Hawaii photographer
www.holladayphoto.com Hawaii Underwater Photography by Mark Holladay Lee of Holladay Photo. www.holladayweddings.com
What a beautiful couple. I had such a great time shooting these engagement photos with Lara and Chris on the North Shore of Oahu. They were adventurous, fun, and clearly in love. Everything seemed to work together really well, the sunlight, palm trees, wardrobe, and their joy. Congratulations Chris and Lara!
As I started to edit these photos of “The LIttle Mermaid”, My daughter looked over my shoulder and said “Oh daddy! Do you mean there are mermaids in this island? Were they nice? Oh they are so beautiful! I want to be a mermaid”. I never had the heart to tell her they weren’t real.
Children’s Theatre of Oahu (CTO) approached me about taking some underwater pictures of mermaids to advertise their production of “The Little Mermaid”. The video I included is a behind the scenes look at our underwater shoot. The girls did a great job in the water even though it wasn’t the calmest of conditions. The dancer playing Ariel had some serious diving skills, she would go down and then just calmly cruise along the ocean floor. Have to thank the Makeup artists Karlotta Carvalho,and Vasi Wolfgramm for the great job they did. Go support this fun production of CTO’s “The little Mermaid”. For more information here is a link to their site. www.ctotheatre.com
I asked Bree to write a little something for this post, and it ended up being a bit of a testimonial. Bree was a lot of fun to work with, she is able to pull off so many different looks. We were able to shoot all the different styles below in one morning.
“Working with Mark Lee was not only new to me but a leap of faith. As I was in search for someone to shoot me for my portfolio pictures, there is always that possibility that you will not connect with the photographer or in the worst case, the pictures will not turn out. I have worked with many photographers, and have gotten my fair share of horrible, and good. Mark was by far the best photographer I have worked with yet. Not only did I go into this photo shoot not knowing what to expect, but I barely knew him. He ended being much more creative than I had intended, and turning idea’s I had, into better and more powerful shots. Mark has so many new and original idea’s up his sleeve, I feel like we could of shot all day with all different looks. After receiving my final pictures, I have never been so pleased. This has been my strongest portfolio within the past three years, and my agent couldn’t be happier. Mark Lee is an outstanding photographer that I would recommend to anyone that needs portfolio shots, wedding shots, engagements, high fashion, or commercial. One of my favorite shots was the water, and underwater shots. He knows what he is doing, and will explain exactly what you as a model need to do and position yourself to get the right picture. Not only are his ideas fun and exciting, but he makes you feel comfortable the whole time. There is never a dull moment with Mark. He can do it all, and I promise you, you will be happy with your end results.”
-Bree
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.
This wedding brought two passions together, surfing and photography. I was of course excited when Malia contacted me and said she wanted to go surfing in her wedding dress. I have done a lot of trash the dress photography, but this was the first actual wedding where the bride and groom and the whole wedding party jumped in the water. Malia and Brad’s wedding was at Turtle Bay on the North Shore of Oahu Hawaii. This was the perfect wedding venue to have the wedding ceremony and then jump in the water. On top of the surf, they had a really amazing color scheme. Congratulations Malia and Brad, you guys ripped it up.
In our home I do most of the cooking. One cooking blog I love is www.kitchencorners.com. The author of the blog, Damaris Santos-Palmer, was visiting family in Hawaii over Christmas. While she was here we set up an underwater shoot. It was so much fun to arrange and photograph this scene of her cooking underwater. We rigged this together in under 15 minutes with the help of her husband Christian. You have to read her blog to get a sense of how much fun she is – you can probably see it in these photos too! Bon appetit!
Being a wedding photographer here in Hawaii I deal with a lot of different variables, especially when it comes to getting in the water for a trash the dress session. Being on an island we are often at the mercy of the wind, sun, waves, and all different elements. Dana and Jake’s “Trash the Dress session” almost didn’t happen. Jake sliced his foot open before their wedding and almost didn’t make it to the ceremony after spending most of the morning in the ER. The doctor told Jake to stay out of the water. A friend let us borrow the big blue boot to keep Jake’s foot dry, as seen below. Busted up foot or not Dana and Jake did a great job hiking over the coral on the North Shore, and getting in the water. The waves were a little big that day but we were able to find a safe location to get into the water. My two favorite pictures of this shoot are the 4th photo were Dana is running, and the last one. I think she looks so peaceful as she is gliding through the water.
This is one of the most stunning locations I have photographed for an engagement session. Marcus and Anela wanted to encompass the land and sea in their shoot. So we spent time in these gardens on the Windward side of Oahu and also in the ocean for some underwater engagement pictures. Marcus and Anela are truly some of the best people I know. Marcus is in medical school and Anela is an amazing teacher here in Hawaii, my kids just light up anytime she comes around.
Katie and Mike flew into Maui after their wedding in Atlanta, Georgia. I met them in Maui for a trash the dress session at Twin Falls. They were both very adventurous, especially Katie to hike in with her wedding dress. The water fall was flowing pretty good since we had a week of rain prior. Last time I was here I was working on the Arbonne catalog, and couldn’t help to think what a cool place it would be to photograph a bride. So I was very excited when Katie and Mike called me up to photograph their post wedding pictures. Congratulations guys- it was a lot of fun spending this time with you!
This last Halloween I went out to Waimea Bay with Devin Graham to capture about 20 people jumping off the rock in their costumes. Devin shot from the rock and I got the clips from the water. You can see more of Devin’s work Here. He is one of the most creative cinematographers I have seen for a long time, check him out.
I love photographing underwater portraits.
I had such a great time photographing Xyra and Enrique for their engagement pictures. A week after our shoot Enrique was deployed to Afghanistan for a year. This is his 3rd deployment. I don’t know how they do it being apart, but you can totally see the chemistry when they are together.
