LACKLUSTER...09.16.17

Went out to shoot at Lanai Lookout this past Saturday, feeling a bit uninspired with shooting my long lens project, almost bored with it! I think it's time for a change once again! I have to say that with the long lens I have the reach to photograph area of the coastline that would definitely not be safe for me to walk in closer to take a shot, like the image above.

Change is always good, it keeps the mind, eyes & heart fresh! I'm leaving my 100-400 home this coming weekend & will grab my trusty Rokinon 12mm lens & toss it onto my XT-2. Or maybe I'll grab another lens?! Who know?! Haha, we'll see where the wind takes me as I pack my camera bag Friday night.

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

PULL BACK...08.27.17

It's ALOAH FRIDAY! I'll leave you with this shot, have a safe & great weekend my friends!!!

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

THE GUIDING LIGHT...09.09.17

I had to take a shot of the lighthouse, there were some beautiful clouds hovering behind the lighthouse & I wanted that etherial slow dragged out look on the clouds so I dragged my shutter & took my shot. After my 3rd attempt, I had it, so much detail in the lighthouse, I can actually see the linked chain & post that surrounds the bottom of the lighthouse, when I zoom in to a 1:1 view, freakin' amazing quality glass that Fujifilm puts out!

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

MOONSHADOW...09.09.17

I've been trying to get a shot like this before but most of the time there wasn't enough clouds or the camera would black out all the surrounding clouds. So in the wee hours of Saturday morning  before my friends arrived, I setup my  gear & started to play with my shutter speed & ISO & got this. My settings were, shutter speed 1/250, f/5.6, ISO 12800 & racked out my lens to 400mm. This this shot & this Wednesday's blog totally made my day!!!

As far as my wave shot for that Saturday morning, even Sunday's shots, I pretty much came up empty! But I'm OK with it, it just means that I have to dig deeper into my creative vision next weekend! 

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

GODOX TT350-F...09.11.17

Received my MoLight aka Godox TT350-F speedlight in the mail today. It is soooo cute!!! It fits in the palm of my hand, I'd say it's about the same size of a pack of cigarettes, a little taller. It works perfectly with my Godox X1T-F controller.

The only limitation I encountered with using it with the X1T-F controller is that the TT350 only has 3 groups, A, B & C. I have 3 AD200, each one was dedicated to group A, B & C. Group A is my main keylight. Group B is my fill & C was my background. I'v changed the background light to group D & placed the TT350 in group C on the X1T-F controller. I just have to remember the change in groups. 

I now can just toss this little flash in my bag & if I need a pop of light anywhere I'll have it. It takes up so little room & weights next to nothing! Godox has bridged the gap that many camera manufactures have failed to inovate when it come to lighting with speedlights! 

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

FUZZY WATER...09.03.17

It's ALOAH FRIDAY! I'll leave you with this shot, have a safe & great weekend my friends!!!

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

POWER & BEAUTY...09.03.17

The power & beauty of Mother Nature...nuff said!

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

SURF FLASHLIGHT...09.03.17

Sunday morning I ventured to my usual spot at Sandy's. Low tide was 6:39am at 0.00' & sunrise was at 6:15am. Even though the low tide bottomed out at 0.00 feet, the surf was pumping in some very large waves! I tracked 1 wave in & took a burst of frames I was surprised that I caught this photographer's flash illuminating & freezing the wave around the flash. The photographers head, shoulders & camera was very well defined against the bright flash highlight. I thought that it was a very cool shot & that particular wave is frozen form the flash & the surrounding waves are blurred by motion.

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

SURFS UP...09.02.17

This is the shot I was trying to get earlier while I was standing much closer to the seawall, almost parallel to it. I was also looking for the right surfer to photograph, but no luck there. As the morning went on I migrated back to meet up with my friends on the beach side of the Hilton Lagoon. As I waited I saw this surfer guy, perfect subject, make his trek on top of the rock seawall, I immediately swung my 100-44mm  around & started to track him, while all the time saying to myself "stop dude, stop for just a second or two".  He must have heard me as he squatted down to check the waves before jumping into the cold morning waters. I took 3 shots & this one was in perfect focus!  

My shutter speed was low & ISO too high from settings that I was using shooting the oama fishermen closer to the seawall earlier. In hindsight  I should have been adjusting my settings to a faster shutter speed & lower ISO as he was walking to that spot. Just got lucky that morning!

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

ROLLING HILLS...08.26.17

It's ALOHA FRIDAY, time to start playing! 3 day weekend, have a safe & fun filled Labor Day weekend my friend!

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

SHORE BREAK...08.27.17

I'm finding that I need to be on location to Kapu my spot or perch to shoot my waves early. For the most part I don't really start shooting until about 10-15 minutes until sunrise. I'm thinking I need to be a bit more creative in the wee hours of the morning to shoot or bring along my flask of coffee & just enjoy the moment of serenity as I watch the skies light up. Hmmm second idea sounds like a better option! 

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

A SLIVER OF CHEESE...08.19.17

Shot this 2 weeks ago, I got to my shoot location just around 5am & saw this sliver of a moon. Couldn't resist & pulled out my gear & set it up. I also wanted to use my Sharpstar filter to achieve the sharpest focus to infinity, worked like a charm!    

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

LIQUID VORTEX...08.26.17

Headed up to Pounders this Saturday morning, sunrise was at 6:13 & high tide at 5:58am, excellent combo for some great wave action. The direction of the waves was so chaotic, the back wash pulling out from the shore & slamming into the incoming waves was magical, you could say it was a wet dream, pardon the pun! Had a field day that morning & gave some serious thought about returning on Sunday, which I would have except for the drive to that side of the island. 

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

SEA OF GOLD...08.20.17

It's ALOHA FRIDAY my friend, have a safe & great weekend!!!

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

For a uninspiring morning, turned out pretty nice photographically speaking! It made my day :)

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

SILK RIBBONS...08.20.17

Sunday I drove to Sandy's to try my luck there. Knowing that it was going to be a super low tide, -0.29', I parking my car and walked around to the front of my car & sipped coffee. Because of the tidal conditions I was feeling very uninspired, I was set to just sit this sunrise out & just enjoy it from the parking lot. I finally got up off my ass & realized that since I'm already here I might as well gear up!

I made my way to my favorite rock & setup my tripod & waited for the better light As I started to shoot & play with my shutter speed I tried something different & change up my technique just a tad bit. To my surprise it panned out & got some really interesting shots! Sorry, but not ready to reveal my secret...yet! 

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

RUSH...07.30.17

One of my favorites from about a month ago at Sandy's. Its King Tides this weekend so be prepared on the rising tide. Going to head to one of my "secret" spots. Should be very interesting it's going to be a super low tide at -0.29' & sunrise will be around the same time at 6:11am.

For everyone who came out to my workshop last week Sunday at Pro Camera Hawaii, I would like to take the time to send out a BIG MAHALO'S to you all!!! I wan't expecting such a big turnout & I hope that I've inspired someone to dig deeper into their craft of photography!

It's ALOHA FRIDAY have a safe & wonderful weekend everyone!!!

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

PACIFIC INK & ART EXPO 2017

It's been a wild & crazy month, so much happening photography wise! Finally finished up the edits for this years 2017 Pacific Ink & Art Expo. 3 days of shooting INKED BEAUTY all in 1 place. If you have some time please go ahead & take a peek at my images from the PIAE show. The key shot above is of a beautiful & talented artist, who I met a few years back at this expo & am blessed to call a friend, Megan Jones from 808 Tattoo in Kaneohe.

I'd also like to add that my INKED BEAUTY ongoing personal project has been growing & would love for it to grow even bigger! I have a fascination with the art of the ink. I also had the pleasure of doing a photo shoot with another beautiful & talented young lady from 808 Tattoo, Marie Makowski. She is an amazing tattoo artist & her beauty is beyond words. So after viewing the PIAE Gallery please go ahead & take a look at my ongoing project INKED BEAUTY.

If anyone is interested to in a photo shoot & to be added to my project, please contact me.  

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

SUNRISE WASH...08.12.17

It was another Saturday morning sunrise with my buddies at Sandy Beach. As I waited for the that big orange beach ball to float over the horizon I realized that I've never included the actual sunrise in my wave shots, so I racked my lens out to 400mm (600mm crop sensor) I started to snap away & luckily was able to capture this shot with those people who looked like they were ready to melt away from the sun.

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

BARRELING...07.30.17

Got lucky on this one & captured the wave as it was curling to form a tube. I wish I could have bumped up the shutter speed up just a tad bit to help define the water, but I still like it!

It's ALOHA FRIDAY once again! Have a safe & great weekend everyone.

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