Let's start with the trip out to Hawaii. Took our time because we had lots of flight ops to do for training before we got here. While I was out to sea, I got some editing catchup done. I also finished the rough draft of the text for my first book. That's right, if all goes well I will soon be the proud author of my first e-book. A while back I wrote a longer post on shooting aerial performers for another blog, which didn't wind up using it as far as I could find. I was kinda bummed, but after a bit of looking around on line and at book stores, I realized there was a niche I could fill if I adapted the post. I couldn't find anything targeted at parents who were trying to take their cameras and shoot their children's school plays, dance recitals, and the like. So I decided to re-work and expand the post into something a parent with a DSLR, but not much photography knowledge, could use to take better pictures of their kids shows. Figure if I can crack the marketing mystery there should be a good niche for it to fill, and since I have nothing but time while I am sailing circles in the water, it really doesn't cost me anything so as long as anyone buys the book, it'll be a profit. All I have left to do is edit the text, insert the images, and format it. Hopefully by the next time I get to an internet connection it will be ready for upload!
The second thing I did is put up a fund raising page for myself. I am pretty much at the limits of what my 5 year old computer is capable of when it comes to editing images. Even though it is maxed out RAM wise for what it is, it takes me about ten times as long as it should to edit images because I have to wait for the edits to catch up, especially when using the insanely high resolution images that come from the D800. I can't really afford to upgrade, but if I want to keep shooting for free and providing images to my friends, I can't afford not to. So I decided to try and toss it out into the universe and see if the people who I have been doing all the free shooting and editing for would maybe be willing to help me out a little in return. So far it's been a bitter disappointment. Only one person has contributed at all. I was hoping for a little bit better response, but I guess people really don't know how much time it takes away from my family working on their images. With my current setup, for example, just doing noise reduction on 200 shots from a show takes me around 5 - 6 hours. And that's before doing anything else to the images. Oh well, I am going to have to be a lot more selective in the free jobs I take on in the future I guess. I knew I would have to make that decision at some point, I just hoped to push it off as long as I could, but maybe that's now. I've been making the argument to myself that it's been building a fan base, which it has, but it sure hasn't led to any paying gigs yet, so not sure there is much point in it anymore, even though I enjoy going and shooting the shows. There are a few people who, while not necessarily able to give back money wise, I know they do send anything my way they can and return the favor as best as they are able, if you are one of those friends, don't worry, I'll still shoot for you any day.
The next big thing that has happened is that I have been accepted as an apprentice by The Arcanum, which promises to be an awesome experience. Basically, it was set up as an alternative to traditional photography schools/classes by some ridiculously talented and cool people, it's sort of an online jedi academy for photographers, where a group of masters select a cohort of paduan learners who work together to learn and grow. I was selected by the incredible Jessica Lark, and have already started to meet a fabulous group of people who I will be sharing the journey with. There will be more updates on that front as I go along the path, it will take me a while to really get moving since right now I am going to be connectivitevely challenged. (yeah, I just invented my own word there, sorry)
Now for Hawaii. Once I had my travel dates down, I got on Model Mayhem and One Model Place to try and find some local models to set up shoots with. I initially had a lot of interested responses, but as it got closer and closer, the majority of them flaked. Wound up with two relatively good prospects. One of them was interested in modeling nude, but wasn't comfortable with doing it in a potentially public place, so she asked about doing boudoir in my hotel. My first instinct was, "oh hell no, I am going to be in Hawaii, I am going to do beach and waterfall shots!" But I figured I would go with the flow, so I told her I would let her know. Then I checked into my hotel, took a look around, and decided it would work. So lesson one- go with the flow of the universe. Seems to have worked for me so far, went with it here and it paid off. Lots of good shots, but what really sold it was the cracked glass windows between the bedroom and bathroom. Lighting was a pain in the ass, should have brought some gaffers tape, wound up balancing a flash on top of a lighting fixture on the mirror and hoping it wouldn't fall, but here is the kind of images we were able to get: (censored just to keep the post PG13, you will have to wait for the full NSFW gallery later on)
So pretty happy with how that worked out. Second model knew of some good beaches up on the North West corner of the island near Kaena Point so we planned an afternoon meet up. Traffic was lighter than I expected so I got there pretty early. The image I opened the post with was one I took while scouting around and killing time. I also found a glider port, and decided to take a glider flight to kill time. This was an excellent choice!
More from the glider coming later, it was challenging to shoot through the canopy, especially not knowing when the pilot was going to catch a wind gust and do something fancy to show off. But it was cool. I know there are a lot of glider ports around San Diego, will have to investigate them when I get home and get caught up.
So got down from the flight and the model showed up. Not only was the beach she chose awesome, but she had been modeling for a while and knew what she was doing. The shoot was great, she gave me lots of awesome with minimal direction, which is great since I am still pretty inexperienced when it comes to posing models. She was just plain fun to work with. We timed it so the we just caught the golden hour, and the universe obviously listened when I said I wanted an epic beach shoot, because after some other great shots you will see soon, we ended with a set like this:
All natural light, and yes, that is a freaking RAINBOW behind her head. I pulled up the saturation a little bit in photoshop, but no kidding, it was there.
So thus ends my epic week of Hawaiian working vacation. Tomorrow it's back to the ship and getting ready to head back out to sea. I'll be mostly off the grid for a little while again, but I will have a lot of time to work up all the images from the week of shooting, so when I get to civilization again there will be full galleries from my shoots in paradise, and hopefully more information on the book!
Until then, don't forget me, please feel free to stop by my fundraising page, pass the link on to your friends, and finally, always remember that photography isn't about the gear.... unless it's this one from outside a coffee and chocolate factory on the North Shore.....
Yeah, I said coffee AND chocolate factory. Told you it was an epic trip! That's all for now, back to the grind, see you again in a month or so. Aloha and Mahalo!
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