KCC and Waikiki Sanpokatagata.

I met up with cuzin: J.T. – on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday – for a photo walk around Kapiolani Community College and Waikiki. (“Sanpo kata gata” is a Japanese term for: “while taking a walk/stroll”. I know everyone uses “osanpo” or “osampo” but that is boring!) The weather was awesome and JT has been looking for some lens upgrades for her Nikon kit. I don’t need “an excuse” to toss some glass into my bag and run out the door – that was TWO! You can click on the photo above to view a gallery of photos from our photo walk, please do.

We swapped between three lenses that day: Nikkor 10.5mm DX Fisheye, Sigma 12-24mm DG HSM, and the Sigma 150mm DG Macro. I was shooting full frame and JT was on DX cropped sensor. Say what you like about “third party” lenses; I love those two Sigma’s! Did I mention that the Sigma 12-24 is a full frame lens? NO ONE else has anything to match – not even Nikon (at the moment). The Nikkor 14-24mm f/2.8 is a phenomenal lens but it is also bigger, heavier, twice as expensive, and it “sees less”: 114 degrees for the Nikon vs. 122 degrees for the Sigma. (These are aspherical super wide zooms. IE: in general, horizontal and vertical lines stay almost perfectly straight.) Although the corner light fall-off for the Sigma is much heavier. So, one could argue that the Nikkor has just as much “usable field of view”. Personally, I have grown to appreciate the in-camera vignette – saves me a step in post… hehe.

South Tahoe 360.

This 360 was captured at sunset on the shore of South Lake Tahoe. We were graced with beautiful weather every where we went. Please click on the thumbnail image above to view the 360 panorama. More from Lake Tahoe, California and Reno, Nevada to follow shortly.

Kakaako, Winter, Sunset.

I am still going through my photos from NorCal (20 gigs worth!) so here is a “Kakaako Quickie” gallery of images that I got the other day, after work. Please click the thumbnail image to view the simpleviewer gallery.

I had a shoot on board the “Ala Kai”, Hawaii’s inter island Super Ferry. The shoot ran longer than I planned. So, I decided to stay “in town”, rather than fight the 4PM traffic to go home. Best idea I have had in a long time!

I made my way over to Jamba Juice, Ward. I ordered my usual “Orange Dream w/ energy boost”, sat down, and relaxed in air conditioned comfort — not bad for 5 bucks (cost of my smoothie). Oh yeah, they have WiFi access too! ;~) (Actually, it originates from Starbucks’ AT&T mobile hotspot.) It is not free but there are ways. If you have a compatible WiFi NIC, the RoadRunner Speedzone is also available (anyone with a circa 2006 Broadcomm mobile wireless NIC — like me — is out of luck).

About an hour before sunset I crossed the street and began my short photo exploration of Kakaako Waterfront Park. That “ground snorkel” is meant to release any gaseous build up due to the decomposing garbage which lay below the rolling green hills of the park — oh you didn’t know? Kakaako Waterfront Park is built on a garbage dump — landfill, as they like to call it. I’m not “dissing” the place. I think that is an awesome reclamation of an otherwise stinky dump! But I thought I would mention it, for those who may be wondering.

I eventually parked my butt on the break wall, just Ewa of Point Panic. The colors of the sunset were pretty awesome that night. Afterward, I met up with the guys and we had dinner at Goma-ichi Ramen. Their Wakame, Tan Tan Men, hit the spot! (Sorry no photos — too busy eating.) What would have been a normal work day / frustrating commute, turned out to be an excellent experience of nature’s colors and good food. We should all learn to fight traffic, in this way.

Waikiki: night walk.

Hey everyone! It sure has been a while since I last wrote in my blog. Recently, I have simply avoided the computer — unless it was absolutely necessary. It is like a blackhole, time and space get sucked in and only God knows what is on the other side.

A wonderful side effect of my computer avoidance has been a new found wealth of time — to get out and do some photography. “The Guys” and I have been on three very cool photo walks in the last month! I just posted some pics from our most recent walk through Waikiki, at night. Please click on the photo link on the left to view the gallery in SimpleViewer. Actually there is a lot more in the gallery than just Waikiki. I drove into town early to avoid traffic. So, to kill some time, before meeting with the guys, I stopped at KCC. The cactus garden there is a very nice place to photograph. In addition to the interesting plant life, the bromeliad patch is infested (in a good way) with Phelsuma laticauda or the Gold Dust Day Gecko.

Enjoy this gallery and I’ll write again (eventually) with more galleries and QTVR’s from two more photo walks. Aloha!