FEEDING YOUR SOUL...06.22.17

Been in a funk for about a month, pretty much just going through the motions. A very good friend of mine gave me some amazing advice, my sister from another mother Darshall D,  "Sometimes inspiration comes to you where you least expect it to! Take a step back & open your hear to let it come to you!" I'll take that advise to heart & go out with a open mind. I don't expect it to suddenly appear this weekend or next, I know it's going to take some time.

I have found a new interest with my new lens, a 100-400mm F/4.5-5.6 OIS WR with a 1.4 teleconverter. I'm hoping that this will reignite the fire! However shooting with such a long lens is an art form in itself, one I'm going to try & attempt to master. I've been drawn to shooting the moon with this setup & I find it very soothing to capture the different phases of the moon & pulling out the details in the craters. I've never had the equipment before to be able to shoot the moon with such detail, it's new & exciting!

I've also been wanting to shoot big waves as it curls & crashes into each other, giving that almost glass like texture to it, with the colors of the golden sunrise as a backdrop. I have a lot of experimenting to do but have been shying away from doing it. I think it's because I'm not sure what I'm doing with this long lens photography & hiding in the back of my brain, the fear of failure. But I know that without failure I cannot grow! So onward I will trek until I find my mojo once again!

It's Aloha Friday, have a safe & great weekend everyone!!!    

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

TIME PORTAL...06.10.17

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

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

GOLDEN BOOM!...06.11.17

As I shot & sketched the landscape looking for that perfect composition, I gazed up to the sky & saw these amazing clouds! At that point I knew that the sky would explode with the anticipation of that golden light! Mother Nature didi not disappoint! 

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

MOONSET ON THE BEACH...06.11.17

This past Sunday I drove out to Sandy's a little bit earlier, hoping to have clear skies to shoot the moon. There were passing clouds which was moving fast so I was able to grab a few bursts of the moon, a shot I've been wanting to capture ever since I picked up my Fujinon 100-400mm lens. On the XT2 that would make the lens a 150-600mm with the crop factor. I did have my 1.4 teleconverter which would have boosted the focal length up to 210-840mm at the long end but didn't use it...next time. This shot was taken handheld @ 1/250 sec...I love my Fuji!!!

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

THE WIND,THE SALT SPRAY...06.04.17

The wind, the slight drizzle & the nasty salt spray a combination that has hammered my Fuji XT2 for the past 7 months. My shutter button has started to get sticky & after a thorough cleaning on Saturday, not surprisingly I noticed that some of the tiny screws on the flip out screen was showing signs of rust. Part of the job discerption & hazards for a seascape photographer & living on an island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean! I don'y baby my gear, many time I'll push the limits to get out a little farther on the reef to get that shot, safely. If you don't take that chance your images will look like everyone else's, this is what drive me. 

I did make another unplanned investment in a 2nd XT2 body. My plan is to send the 1st body in for repair & service while I have the 2nd body to shoot with. I've been wanting to have a backup body for those important  shoots where it's like playing Russian Roulette if my main body craps out on me. It's always comforting to know that there's another body in my bag to grab.    

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

FINDING MY CREATIVITY...MY CRAFT...06.03.17

I brought a friend here to this location he has never shot from before, so I let him setup his shot before I began to look for my composition, which work out really good for me. It made me think outside of what I was comfortable with & exercised my creativity, something I've been having trouble with for a while now...creativity. I've been craving something more form my "normal" shots. I need to figure out something to help me expand my minds eye. Every weekend shooting is a new beginning for me to explore my creativity...my craft!

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

THE MOSS IS GREENER ON THE OTHER SIDE...06.03.17

Went back to a place I haven't been for a while to shoot with some friends. The moss was greener than green & even though it was low tide the motion of the ocean  did not let me down! The only thing in the way, was the abundance of salt spray as the Makapuu winds blew into my face & on my filters. My camera was visibly wet from all the spray. My friend was using a Nisi glass ND filters, which he said that it was so easy to clean off the salt spray. I supported & bought into the Breakthrough Photography Kickstarter, to create a new line of ND, & GND glass filter system with a new filter holder, but have to wait until August until they start shipping them out..can't wait! 

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

GHOSTLY DEBRIS...05.21.17

I found a huge pile of rope that washed up onto shore, it looked like the remnants of a long line. It was about 3" in diameter with white stiff plastic like strands that flowed in the water as the waves washed in & out of the tide pool. The way the camera captured the strands it gave it a soft ghostly erie feeling.

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

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

COOKING HAWAIIAN STYLE SEASON 7

I'll be back shooting stills on set of Cooking Hawaiian Style Season 7 this Tuesday, 5/23 & 5/24 at an undisclosed location. Long days but always fun with my CHS Ohana, never a dull moment!

The above picture taken with Lanai Tabura CHS host,  Pro Surfer Carissa & Papa More at the Four Seasons Ko Olina.

Looking forward to seeing the Ohana again!

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

EXPOLRING SEASCAPES @MAKAPUU WITH HAWAII CAMERA...05.20.17

This past weekend on Saturday I hosted a Hawaii Camera Event, "Exploring Sunrise Seascaapes Makapu'u Met Up", not expecting a big turnout I did invite my photography buddies to join me at Makapuu for sunrise. However, I was pleasantly surprised at the turnout of about 20+ people. It was a fun event that I really enjoyed. I was able to meet a few new faces as everyone scattered after the intro at the beginning of the meet up. I'd love to do this again, perhaps next time I'll shoot less & go around to introduce myself.

Leave a comment to let me & Hawaii Camera know if you'd like to do another sunrise met up.

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

SEEING IN BLACK & WHIT...05.14.17

Original plan for Sunday sunrise was to head down to Secret Cave, I arrive there about 4:50am & stepped out of the car & noticed how hard the wind was blowing. I took a shot walk over to the rock barrier & looked down towards Secret Cave & saw how the wave were crashing onto the shoreline & decided for my safety I'll opt out from Secret Cave & head down to Makapuu Beach instead. 

The wind was still blowing hard at Makapuu Beach but the shoreline was much more accessible & there were always small pockets of water as it hit the shoreline. This shot I folded my tripod to almost a flat position to accentuate this small inlet as the water rushed up & then back out to the sea. Having my gear that low presented 2 problems, fist I needed to keep an eye on the incoming swells & to be ready to pull my rig up out of harms way. The second problem was the splashing of water on my filters, which was very annoying, but persistence always pays off, at least most of the times!

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

ON THE DOCK...05.13.17

The shot selections from this location of this pier, as beautiful as it can be is limiting. I chose to shoot & use the wooden fence & rails to incorporate it into my composition. I did not have access to the top of this dock but wanted to get a different perspective so I pulled out my table top tripod Mounted it to my L bracket & did the best to make the decent comp while trying to squeeze my face through the wooden rails to see the back of my LCD. I love the lines of the silhouetted wooden rails as the sunlight bounced off the surface of the doc floorboards.

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

THE COLORS OF VELVIA...05.06.17

This is a color renditions, my last shot of the day this past Saturday, it does look similar to the previous post in black & white but I can assure you that it's a completely different frame. I had a Lee Filter Big Stopper (10 stop) & a 4 minute exposure rolling. Really loved how the Fuji XT 2 handled the colors of this image. The 1st thing in post that I did was to change the Camera Calibration from Adobe Standard to 1 of Fuji's  film simulation presets, Camera Velvia/VIVID. I immediately fell in love with this image after that! 

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

MY 15 STOP VISION...05.06.17

On a very rare Saturday afternoon I headed off to shoot sunset. I guess I was a little overly excited since I've never shot from this location before & it was sunset! I actually arrive 2 hours before sunset not realizing that sunset was at 6:58pm, still excited, well better early than late. The sun was on it's downward swing into the horizon but still high enough to make me squint as I looked to check on a test exposure. I decided to play around with my Lee 15 stop ND filter. so I could slow down the shutter & do what I love doing, a long 8 minute exposure. I set my camera to manual focus as seeing through 15 stop was virtually impossible to auto focus. I did have some issues with my focus peaking, figured it out after I got home, it was on the wrong setting. I did shoot 2, 8 minute exposures back to back & this image has a lot of noise & hot pixels, way too much to clone out, on the lower portion & also on the left hand side. The cause was most likely due to that fact that the sensor was pretty hot by that 2nd exposure.

One of the local boat residents told me that I missed the sunset lining up directly with the center piling. He also told me about another interesting shot further down the road. I thanked him as he continued his walk. What I neglected tell him was, I didn't want the sun directly lined up & wanted a look similar to this, in black & white...my vision.    

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

GOD"S GOLDEN LIGHT...04.29.17

Some of my "crazies" friends were heading out to Pounders Beach to shoot sunrise this past Saturday. Unfortunately a wet weather front was heading our way, so I made a decision not to take the 45 minute drive to Pounders & instead met up with my friend at Makapuu Beach Park, a much shorter drive. I arrived  about 4:50am  & waited for my friend, it was constantly drizzling, sometime heavy & then letting up a bit. It did this until 5:30am, & finally stopped! Hallelujah! Someone was smiling down at us! I quickly scrambled down the rocky shoreline to find a decent composition. Lo and behold, the dark skies parted as that beautiful golden God's light spread it's warmth over the rushing water & into my lens...Amen   

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

TIDE POOLS...04.25.17

Love capturing the tide pools at Makapuu Beach on low tide! It's a bit more calming rather than at high tide with the big swells crashing over the these rock. This always becomes a problem when trying to get into the right position for the optimal composition. Oh & can't forget, getting wet, I hate getting wet, but it's part of the job discription! 

This weekends sunrise shoot will definitely be a challenge as we're expecting a front to pass by the islands that will bring wet conditions. With all that said, I'm still planning to get out there to try & capture some beautiful rain clouds, hopefully with a break in between the rains! Wish me luck!

It's ALOHA FRIDAY everyone, have a safe & great weekend, even with the rains!!! 

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

DRAWN BACK...04.25.17

Took the day off yesterday to attend to some family business with my Mom & Father in Law. So what better way to start my day then to go out & shoot sunrise?! I headed straight to Makapuu Beach Park, there was 1 other car in the very dark parking lot, found out  that they were shooters too. 

Every time I return to this place that I call my 2nd home away from home, I head straight out to this 1 specific location. The chaotic water of Makapuu's pounding waves crash up & over these rocks to form this small little canal that channels the water back into the sea. I'm never 100% happy with my composition! If it's not one thing it's another thing that calls me back to try & capture the perfect tide, with the perfect amount of waves with the perfect light!  One day I'll get it!

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

SHADES OF VIGNETTING...04.23.17

It all started on Saturday when I noticed that my image I was seeing on the back of my camera had this really dark ugly vignetting around the upper & lower left hand corners. At that time I couldn't figure out what was happening?! After thinking about it, it could have possibly been that I didn't have the WCC filter holder flush against the adapter. 

Sunday I went out to shoot sunrise at Makai Pier, but this time I switched out my WCC system for the Lee Filter system. I didn't realize how much I missed the compact size & portability of it! However it too still vignetted but not as bad as the WCC. So when I got home I removed the 3rd slot on the Lee holder so I can only slide in 2 filters. I took it out out this morning to Makapuu Beach & WOW no vignetting, at all!!! With all that said I did notice some little quirks about the Lee system that I don't miss, & the biggest one for me was the fact that the splashed of water would get in between the 1st & 2nd filter, I was kind of annoyed! The WCC (Wine Country Camera) system never did that. For now I'll jump back & forth with the holder systems WCC & Lee's.

Breakthrough Photography is introducing their own design of GND glass filters with a new slide type of holder system, similar to the Lee holder. I will definitely pick that up & take it for a test spin!

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


 

A GLIMPSE OF MY SOUL...04.16.17

I seemed to have recently found a peaceful part of my soul when shooting sunrise, I no longer  feel the need to have the rising sun in my frame. I find my images have a more serene feel to it. I'll either move the direction of my lens to keep the bright sun out of my frame but still have that golden glow coming just at the edge of the frame. Combining this technique with a long exposure moves my soul, it's what I crave & I find it as addicting as a drug. 

It's Aloha Friday, have a safe & happy weekend my friends!!!

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

SWIRLY GOODNESS & THE WALL...04.15.17

One more from the Kapahulu Groin, aka Waikiki Wall. Like the rest of my buddies I was playing around with my shutter speed trying to capture the textures of light bouncing off each wave as Mother Nature reminded me of her power as she pounded the water onto the wall with such strength & watched it gently rolled back into the sea.

To capture these textures I needed to set my camera to burst mode, continuous high, 8 frames a second. My normal 18-24 shots ballooned into 255 frames! It's so difficult to be able to predict how the camera sensor will capture & translate the movement of water passing through the frame. I decided to do a 1:1 square crop on this image as I found the background hotels too distracting. Thinking about it now I should have played with my aperture &  a shallower depth of field, but what's done is done. I'll save that thought for next time.

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