Photography / By Mere

Ive always admired old hawaiian art. And with the recent release of Hawaiian Art photography by Randy Braun , Anthony Calleja and Kim Taylor Reece ( who are fine art photographers here in Hawaii ). It left me curious to see what I could actually do with a camera. And at the same time allowing me to release my creativity allowing me to put together beautiful Polynesian photo's for loved ones.

My daughter who has been blessed with a royal blood of Samoan & Hawaiian ( Malila ) was my first opt. She approached me in regards to senior portraits as we had recently signned with the studio. All the frames that were returned to us were unsatisfactory.

Being that this is my child I'm the type of mother who put's alot of time into my children's studies , sport's and upbringing. When they accomplish something such as graduating from General Studies. I believe its something to be recognized.

We checked the booking for ( Kim Reece ) who's actual schedule was pretty flexible. But for shoot location and price cost just to book an actual photo shoot time block seemed way too commercialized for me. So I decided to take her into the mountains with me where thru her childhood we've both shared some real quality time up in the valleys of Oahu. With two changes and a beautiful Bamboo backdrop we managed to shoot about 300 frames. Eventually we had banners made for the fence line for her graduation and poster boards. Another shoot was done down by the beach area where I was able to capture the true essence of our Polynesian bloodline thru her photo's.

Eventually word got around that I was responsible for the beautiful photo's that were taken for my daughter.

To date I have shot many sports players here in the district I live. With the graduation of Justin Tago ( JCHS QB ) I managed another shoot this past weekend with him and my nieces and nephews.

*** I enjoy doing photography , and knowing myself ... My future home will hold on its wall's the framed photo's of all my loved one's personally done by myself. We are Polynesia and there's nothing more beautiful than capturing those moments in a frame to express our pride for our culture.

Models:
Malila Hamatake, Kayce Konohia, Justin Tago 2012