INKED BEAUTY SERIES...11.11.18

I had the pleasure to shoot with Kehau, @kemeow on IG, a beautiful young lady with some amazing inked body art!!! She was great to work with, even though the trail was muddy & the stream's water was brown & raging, due to the recent heavy rains we've had in the past couple of days prior. 

I kept my lighting to a minimal to help accentuate her beautiful lines & curves. Playing with the highlights & shadows, the MoLight 30" Beauty Dish with the single outer defusion panel & the Godox AD200 did its job to sculpt Kehau's lines & curves.

Kehau was a trooper, I knew she was cold but didn't complain. My assistant Reid who was in thigh deep of raging water as well as myself. Dave was closer to the shoreline with the 2nd AD200 as a backlight & ready with the smoke in a can. Unfortunately, the winds were blowing a little bit too hard & the smoke didn't work out as I planned. 

As we packed up, Keahau & myself were talking about coming back when the water is calmer. I have this shot stuck in my head, & she has everything I need to get that image! Did I mention that I loved her tattoos!!!

Inked Swimsuit Shoot
Model: Kehau, @kemeow
Sony A7R III | 1/250 sec. | f/1.8 | ISO 50 | Sony FE 55mm F1.8 ZA
Assistant 1: Dave @dkfphotoworks
Assistant 2: Reid @_reid_f_
Edited in Lightroom Classic & Photoshop CC 2018
Copyright 2018 Ryan Sakamoto, All rights reserved

Aloha a hui hou my friends! 
www.ryansakamoto.com
Copyright 2018 Ryan Sakamoto, All rights reserved

BACK IN BKACK and WHITE...11.03.18

It’s ALOHA FRIDAY! Have a safe & relaxing weekend everyone!!! 

Aloha a hui hou my friends! 
www.ryansakamoto.com
Copyright 2018 Ryan Sakamoto, All rights reserved

ORDER IN CHAOS...11.04.18

Up until around 6:15 I was the only soul at Sandy’s where I normally perch & set up my tripod, oh & of course I had my 32oz Hydroflask filled with my poison of choice, Hawaiian Isle Vanella Macadamia Nut Coffee. I guess I was so focused on watching the waves & shooting, that when I turned around to grab my ND filters pouch, there was 1 photographer behind me to my right about 5 feet from me & another guy to the left with his iPhone. Looking farther back there were another 4-5 other people behind them. 

I really need to start paying more attention to what's happening around me, but it's all cool! I always worry that since I'm sitting on that 1st rock that I'll be in everyone's shot behind me. That's why I normally try to get to my spot as early as I can before anyone else shows up, that way they can't complain since I was there before them. At least that's my theory. 

Aloha a hui hou my friends! 
www.ryansakamoto.com
Copyright 2018 Ryan Sakamoto, All rights reserved

LONG EXPOSURE DRONING...11.03.18

Slowly getting the hang of this long exposure photography with the Mavic Pro 2 & using PolarPro Exposure ND Collection. This whole weekend the winds were blowing pretty hard. The problem with that is trying to keep the MP2 stationery without the wind blowing it & shaking the drone while doing a 1-second exposure. So for this shot, I hovered & took 6 shots, maybe more. The rocks are slightly out of focus, just a hair! I did get the effect that I was looking for of slowing down the water movements to get that silky, misty look & feel to it. My friend was also flying his drone & there was another one in that small airspace so we had to keep an eye out for each other.

As I've said before we learn from our failures, that's how we become better & more experienced in our craft. I have not only learned to respect the ocean & it's powerful waves that crash on the shoreline but now have learned to respect the air above me! 

Aloha a hui hou my friends! 
www.ryansakamoto.com
Copyright 2018 Ryan Sakamoto, All rights reserved

TORN...11.04.18

Ever since I picked up my Mavic Pro 2 drone, I ‘ve been torn between splitting my time to shoot waves or flying! I still need more experience flying & learning how to control the drone. I seemed to be less afraid to crash or losing the drone as I was when I 1st got it, Im assuming that it’s because of getting more airtime, but it's always in the back of my mind that maybe one day the inevitable will happen! 

On Sunday I packed my MP2 (Mavic Pro 2) with my Sony a7R III & the 100-400 lens in my backpack with the plan to shoot waves at pre-sunrise & continue shooting until that amazing golden glow was about to disappear. I haven't shot waves in a few weeks & have missed it so much!!! Even though the tides were about to bottom out at 6:23am & the sun rising at 6:36am, the swells were small but I did enjoy shooting waves again!!! 

I did the same game plan on Saturday shooting with a few friends, shoot & fly, I'll post those images later on in the week.

Aloha a hui hou my friends! 
www.ryansakamoto.com
Copyright 2018 Ryan Sakamoto, All rights reserved

A DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE...10.27.18

On her maiden voyage Stardate 10.27.2018 my Mavic Pro 2, which I have dubbed, NCC-1701, Sorry Star Trek Nerd, made its 1st flight from Eternity Beach. Not sure what I wanted to do when I arrived, I did bring my full camera bag, my drone, controller & 2 extra batteries. Twilight, I did take a few shots with my A7R III camera & as the early morning sun rose above the horizon I packed it up & brought out my MP2. Just prior to launching my mind went blank & I forgot how to set the drone “return to home” settings! Just like a little kid I said screw it & launched the drone. 

I knew what I wanted to shoot & immediately headed to the opening of the cove as the crashing waves hit the rocky mountainside & grabbed this shot! I was so excited & couldn’t wait to get home to edit my drone shots. Far from being a good shot, I did want to use my ND filters so I could slow down the movements of the waves, but another rookie mistake…I forgot to pack it into my backpack!?!? 

Since then, I’ve flown my MP2 two more time & slowly getting used to the controls. I have to say that when I do lose sight of the drone it is very unnerving not knowing where it is in the sky!!! I do need to experiment & find my vision for this new perspective in the sky, an exciting journey awaits me!!!

Aloha a hui hou my friends! 
www.ryansakamoto.com
Copyright 2018 Ryan Sakamoto, All rights reserved

ONE MORE STEP FORWARD, REBRANDING...10.20.18

Hi there my friends, I’ve begun to reorganize the way I’ve been branding my name based on the genre of photography on Instagram, seascapes (@rsakamoto808), portraiture/boudoir (@lightandlace.ink) &  doggie pix (@friendsofmaileandchowder) 

I’ve created 3 separate IG accounts, my thoughts are,  that I can hopefully refocus my viewers experience to what they want to see. As it was, everything was being dumped onto my main IG page rsakamoto808 page. I’ve noticed an increase & decrease of followers based on what genre of picture I am posting. So the seascape followers may not want to see my imagery of tattoo picture & visa versa.

So I now have 3 IG feeds, the main IG account will be…
@rsakamoto808 
which will be all my seascape & wave imagery & Special Projects. 

@lightandllace.ink
Which will be my portraiture & boudoir imagery

@friendsofmaileandchowder
Which will be of Sam & Kim’s new furry kids & friends. 



Aloha a hui hou my friends! 
www.ryansakamoto.com
Copyright 2018 Ryan Sakamoto, All rights reserved

CUE THE MUSIC...10.06.18

Cue mood music...Do you think it makes a difference on how you edit an image to what kind of music you're listening to at the time of editing? Do you edit in a quiet peaceful environment or are you watching TV & editing at the same time? 

For myself, my zen zone is, at my workstation in my room, sitting on the floor  Japanese style listening to contemporary instrumental soft jazz music. Yes, it has to be instrumental no singing, way too distracting!!! 

I used to listen to & still do every once in a while, alternative & heavy metal music. I started to notice that my moods were very "on edge" & somewhat irritable. I really didn't like feeling that way & started to listen to soft jazz & I believe it helped out mellow my moods & I wasn't always in a rush, especially while I was shooting, running around "looking" for every single composition, instead of slowing down & "seeing" my composition. There is a difference between "looking for" & "seeing" a composition. Nowadays I try to let the composition come to me, it's hard to explain but it's more of a combination of feeling & knowing when & where the composition is or will be. 

So what do you listen to while your editing your masterpiece?

Aloha a hui hou my friends! 
www.ryansakamoto.com
Copyright 2018 Ryan Sakamoto, All rights reserved 

LEAVE NO TRACE...10.02.18

I’m not posting a picture today, I think it’ll distract from getting my point out today. There has been a movement within the photography world called “Leave No Trace”, I first heard of it from a podcast that I listen to called "F-Stop Collaborate and listen" hosted by Matt Payne an outstanding photographer whose work I admire & draw inspiration from. He interviews many of the iconic landscape photographers & how they work their vision to capture that shot.

In a nutshell, Leave no trace, has been adopted by many photographers it entails not revealing the location of their images for this reason. Many of the popular photographers who post their work on social media & on their website have many other photographers inquiring about where this location is. In the past, they did share their "secret" spots but they've been noticing that more & more photographers visit that same location & trash the aina. They trample the greenery, move rocks, & the vandals that tag the location. I'm sure you've heard of these idiots in the news defacing the beautiful landscapes to get their shot. With social media, these secret spots get popular by the minute.  

In Hawaii, there are a few "secret spots". Once a photographer posts his image, it gets viral locally very fast & it's not a secret anymore. However it's not only the locations, but it's also respecting the aina, I've done this myself in the past where a small branch of a tree is in my frame & I've broken it off, just to get my shot. Nowadays I'll remove it in Photoshop or find another composition. In my eyes it’s just wrong to pull out a plant or break off a branch just to satisify your vision. It takes decades for a tree to grow & it takes 5 seconds to deface what nature has given us. Who are we to play “God”?!?!  

Moving forward, for the most part, I'll put up the location on my blog but it'll be a general area of where I am. In the past 5 years, I've taken the time to explore the landscape as to where I can possibly shoot from. There are locations where it is not accessible at certain tides. Do your homework & go out to explore not only physically going out to a potential spot but Google maps reveal many things on our shoreline. Find out if it is accessible to the public, if not get permission from the landowner to shoot from there. These are my own opinions & I hope I haven’t pissed off too many people’s, if I did block me.

Aloha a hui hou my friends! 
www.ryansakamoto.com
Copyright 2018 Ryan Sakamoto, All rights reserved 

LIGHT AND LACE, REBRANDING...10.01.18

Hey there my friends, I know I haven’t been keeping up with my blogging, I’ve been so busy with my craft  being sick, as well as dealing with everyday life. 

I wanted to let you all know that I am working on a new website & branding my boudoir & lingerie styles shooting. For this reason I’ve taken that page off my main website, ryansakamoto.com. I personally think that it’s a bit confusing having my seascapes, wave & portraiture images on that one site. So I’m starting to rebrand my name into a secondary boudoir & lingerie style of shooting. I’m not giving up seascapes & wave photography that will alway be my 1st love…at least for now, but I do have to admit, sadly, that I don’t have the same excitment for seascapes as I did before.

I have been studying more lighting techniques & have recently purchased a Stella Pro 8000 LED lighting system & a 20” Deep dish softbox . The Stella Pro is a constant LED light so I can see the way the highlights & shadows fall on my subject before clicking the shutter. The Stella Pro won’t replace my Godox/Flashpoint AD200 lights, they have their own use & is so much more powerful than the Stella. As with my style of shooting on the dark side, I bought the Stella Pro to explore the low key boudoir style of shooting, showing enough but not everything of my subject & on the plus side have less equipment to lug around.

So be on the lookout for my new branding Light and Lace, lightandlace.ink…Aloha


Aloha a hui hou my friends! 
www.ryansakamoto.com
Copyright 2018 Ryan Sakamoto, All rights reserved 

WITHIN THE DARKNESS...09.29.18

My buddy & I revisited “The Tree” once again, a perfect +high tide that will give the illusion that a single tree growing in the ocean, which it actually is, & by looking at the forecast for wind conditions with 5-10mph breeze we decided to chance um’. We arrived there early Saturday morning & 1st thing we noticed, no wind, maybe a slight breeze here & there. Why was the wind so important? I wanted to shoot a long exposure, 3-4 minutes long to smooth out the water & streak the clouds, & if the wind was blowing it would blur the leaves on the tree, with that said I did have an alternative plane that in my pre-visualization I’d use the blurring of the leaves in my composition, so either way would have worked for me.

I've posted my original, unedited raw image below, I purposely overexposed the image knowing that I can recover the details in the highlights in post. I also tried something different, at least thinking wise, by overexposing the image, I could darken the shadowed areas in post & not introduce any noise or hot pixels. Granted viewing the image on the back of my camera looks like CRAP, I had to suck it up & carry on with my experiment. My settings for this image was 181 sec exposure, f/8 & ISO 100. I did bring down the exposure & shadows in specific areas in the foreground but wanted to keep some detail of the wooden plank to make the viewers eyes look deeper into that area. As an artist I have to be aware that this in camera image is just a sketch or final draft of my vision & knowing what I can do in post will bring out the beauty of the final image. I also did crop the image just a tiny bit to balance the composition.

There were some unwanted reflections on the wood plank in the foreground that I had to remove, that annoying yellow leaf (which I should have removed at the time of the shot, laziness shows it ugly face once again!) & on the very bottom of the image there were a lot of white rocks that I removed, I thought they were too distracting. I added the golden light back on the horizon, which was actually there, for a little while, & added some textured highlight contrast to the clouds.

Original RAW unedited image below…

Original RAW unedited image

Aloha a hui hou my friends! 
www.ryansakamoto.com
Copyright 2018 Ryan Sakamoto, All rights reserved 

BACK IT UP...09.22.18

Had a fun 2 days shooting season 10 of Cooking Hawaiian Style at Kualoa Ranch. 2 days, 13 episodes, 10 hour days in the humid hot sun & luckily no heat stroke or sunburns this time! 

I made 1 rookie mistake & what a doozy of a mistake. On Saturday morning, day 2 of the shoot, just after sunrises I wanted to get a shot of the morning light hitting the Koolaus.  I’m not sure what I was thinking last night but instead of removing my SD cards out of my A9 & keeping them safe at home, I switched them & put it into my A7R III body.  So when I began to setup to shoot the Koolaus that morning I realized that the cards were in the A7R III. I removed the 2 cards from the  camera & stuffed them into my pocket with my iPhone. 

Just before lunch I started to backed up my current card from the episode we just wrapped up to on my WD My Passport Wireless SSD drive. That’s when 1 of the SD cards fell out of my pocket & I realized that I didn’t put the cards away in my card wallet from this morning. I dug into my pockets to find the other backup card, my heart skipped a second when I couldn’t find it!!! 

I didn’t panic knowing that I did have a solid backup plan in place already. The lost card was the backup card from the day before, my A9 has 2 card slots, the 2nd slot I have the camera copying all the contents from the 1st card as a backup. When I reached home on Friday night the 1st  thing I did was to copy & import  the card to Lightroom on my local external RAID drive, so I already have 2 copies at home. I still have the main SD card, this would be my 3rd copy, with all the files on them. The 4th copy, the WD My Passport Wireless SSD drive, after each episode I would religiously backup my files to the WD My Passport Wireless SSD drive. 

Just the fact that I lost $50 for that card was a shake my head, lolo moment! 

UPDATE: On Sunday morning 9/23/18 the Producer of the show emailed me & said one of the crew found my card in the grass while they were breaking down the set! Whew what a relief. So the moral of this story is to be sure that you have a solid backup plan for all your shooting events. If it’s a personal shoot, it’s not so bad but if your being paid to photograph anything you need to cover your ass & have a backup plan. 

I just wanted to share this lolo moment with you all & to let you know that we all make mistakes.

Aloha a hui hou my friends! 
www.ryansakamoto.com
Copyright 2018 Ryan Sakamoto, All rights reserved

A GIRL, A SAMURAI SWORD & SOME INK...06.17.18

I wanted to post something different instead of waves. Been itching to shoot low key boudior style. Waiting on a few peices of equipment to come in so I can follow the shodows!!!

The beautiful & exotic Kelsy. Unreleased image from our photoshoot back in June.
It’s Aloha Friday, have a safe & GREAT weekend everone!!!

Aloha a hui hou my friends! 
www.ryansakamoto.com
Copyright 2018 Ryan Sakamoto, All rights reserved

SONY PRO SERVICES

I headed out to Sandy's this past weekend, I had an itch to shoot waves. I've fallen in love with my 2nd body, the Sony A9!!! It is an amazing full-featured camera body! Being able to track the waves with no blackout between frames is so freakin' awesome! I'm getting so spoiled but I have to go back to my A7R III for the resolution.

Earlier last week I did get my Sony A7R III back from Sony Pro Services, but unfortunately they were not able to recreate the problem I was having with not being able to bring up the menu or reviewing my image, it would come up for a second then kept going back to the shooting view. They did clean it, reset & recalibrate the camera & I had it at my doorsteps in about a week. So no horror stories about people waiting for months for heir camera to be returned. As far as service using the Sony Pro Services I'd give them 5 stars, even if they could recreate the main problem. The day after they received my camera from a prepaid FedEx shipping label they provided, they called me to tell me that they weren't able to recreate the problem & wanted to know more about my shooting conditions. A couple days later I called & they said they we shipping it back to me, still unable to recreate the issue. I haven't used it since I got it back, I'm just too head over heels with my A9 & having so much fun with it! I think this weekend I'll take the A7R III out for a test spin to see if the "issue" will come back!? I'm praying it won't, wish me luck!

Aloha a hui hou my friends! 
www.ryansakamoto.com
Copyright 2018 Ryan Sakamoto, All rights reserved

HERE COMES HURRICANE LANE...08.19.18

As hurricane Lane sluggishly creeps upon the island of Oahu, I wait at home with my family & thinking about everyone's safety. It has been downgraded to a Cat 1 storm as of this afternoon, which is very good news, but Lane could turn or pickup strength at any time, so we wait & cross our fingers until it passes. I have to admit that earlier in the week, as I monitored the movement of Hurricane Lane, I was very worried as it predicted path was heading straight towards the Hawaiian Islands! All we could do was to wait & try to prepare for the worsts & pray for the best.

In the meantime, I'm dying to go out & shoot the high surf but, I do know of the safety hazards & precautions I'd have to take, & with my better judgment I'll say at home &  take care of the family today. Tomorrow is a new day & we'll see how fast or slow, Lane moves away from our Island home! Stay safe everyone & keep the ALOHA!

Aloha a hui hou my friends! 
www.ryansakamoto.com
Copyright 2018 Ryan Sakamoto, All rights reserved

2018 PACIFIC INK & ART EXPO →

It took a while but I finally finished editing the pictures & it's up on my site! Follow this link, 2018 PACIFIC INK & ART EXPO. As always I so enjoy walking around & shooting this event, meeting new artist & seeing old friends!!! 

I did take a darker more old school look to my edits this year. I desaturated these color by dropping the vibrancy, I found it a little distracting. 

Aloha a hui hou my friends! 
www.ryansakamoto.com
Copyright 2018 Ryan Sakamoto, All rights reserved

ROUGH WATERS...08.04.18

Well my Sony A7R III is now on it's way to Precision Camera via my Sony Pro Support Membership & it should get there on Wednesday 8/15. Made the call on Friday & received an email about an hour later with a prepaid FedEx shipping label. Sony Pro Support will expedite the repair & I should have it back after a 3 day turnaround repair, we shall see...I'm hopeful!  

It started acting up about 3 weeks ago & got worst while I was shooting the Pacific Ink & Art Expo. Whenever I tried to review my pictures it would pop back to the shooting view. The same thing happens while I try to access the Menu, so it got to a point where I couldn't change any settings because I couldn't keep the Menu screen on long enough to do anything! It was a bit frustrating, to say the least! This past weekend I used my backup A7III to shoot sunrise, which was perfectly fine. I had previously set all the buttons & setting to mirror what I had on my A7R III, except for a few functions it's almost an exact mirror. But I want my baby back ASAP!!!

We shot at Kaiona Beach this Saturday, it was a dropping tide & no wave action. My focus of interest has shifted from shooting the long exposures seascapes to shooting waves. I've noticed that without that focus of interest, I seem to lose my creative focus as well when shooting LE seascapes. When I look out at a scene I see nothing. On Saturday's I shoot with friends & for me the camaraderie with my friends is my focus & photography comes in at a close second! So I really don't mind if I come up empty especially in the company of good friends!

With that said Sunday's I normally shoot alone. I've come to enjoy the calmness of having no expectations, no one to wait for or waiting on me, the freedom to come & go or shoot or not shoot & just enjoy watching the sunrise. This is my "calm".

Aloha a hui hou my friends! 
www.ryansakamoto.com
Copyright 2018 Ryan Sakamoto, All rights reserved

PACIFIC INK & ART EXPO 2018

The 2018 Pacific Ink & Art Expo will also be happening on the same weekend August 3-5 at the Blaisdell Center Friday: 3pm - 11pm, Saturday: 11am - 11pm & Sunday: 12pm - 6pm.  I'll be there covering the event with my camera in hand, all 3 days, well maybe 2 days, not too sure about Friday night yet, since I’ll be at The Contemporary Photography In Hawaii Gallery opening. My fascination with inked body art runs deep! Hope to see you there...Aloha

Aloha a hui hou my friends! 
www.ryansakamoto.com
Copyright 2016 Ryan Sakamoto, All rights reserved

PARTING SHOT...07.29.18

The last series of shots from Sunday's wave shoot at Sandy Beach. I shoot until the sun is about 15-20% above the horizon or when the light gets just way too harsh. It's always hard to leave my little spot & I always tell myself one last set, this is going to be the shot! It never is as I chuckle to myself, but on that Sunday morning this set rolled in & I locked my lens on it & took a short burst of shots as the lens followed the wave as it curled...ahhhhh, I think I got it?!

Taking these long exposure shots of the waves at anywhere from 1/6th to 1/10 of a second, I'm craving a little sharper images but knowing that at 1/6 of a second & panning with the waves, I know very well that it would be tack sharp, acceptable sharp? Hmmmmm, I'll have to take acceptable sharp. I'm still experimenting with my shutter speed, maybe boosting it up a tad bit may get me where I want to be?! With that said I know I'll have to sacrifice something in the textures of the wave at a higher shutter speed.    

Aloha a hui hou my friends! 
www.ryansakamoto.com
Copyright 2018 Ryan Sakamoto, All rights reserved

CONTEMPORARY PHOTOGRAPHY IN HAWAII 2018

Aloha everyone, one of my images has been picked to show in this year's Contemporary Photography In Hawaii 2018 gallery. The artists' reception will be held on Friday, August 3, from 6-8pm. If your free please come down & join me to see some amazing artwork from the Aloha State.

Congratulations to some of my friends who also had their imagery accepted into the gallery.
Lance Agena, Leslie Gleim, Stephen Sakamoto (no relationship), & Shane Sakata. Aaron Feinberg will also have one of his prints on display in the gallery, I'm such a big fan of his work! I hope he's the same Aaron Feinberg from Kauai, I'm thinking about?!?

Aloha a hui hou my friends! 
www.ryansakamoto.com
Copyright 2016 Ryan Sakamoto, All rights reserved