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

INKED BEAUTY, MARIE...7.26.17

It took 2 month to finally sync our schedules together so we could do this intimate portrait shoot, but it was well worth the wait. I had the honor & pleasure of shooting one of this islands hidden beauties Marie Makowski. She is a very talented tattoo artist who woks at 808 Tattoo in Kaneohe.  She's not a model by trade & was worried about posing for the camera, but at the end of the shoot , she nailed it & together we got some amazing shots!!! 

I've added some of Marie's shots to my ongoing personal projects, INKED BEAUTIES. I'm always on the lookout for more beautiful inked art, male or female, if your interested in being photographed please contact me.  

The 6th Annual Pacific Ink & Art Expo is happening this weekend, August 4, 5 & 6 at the Blaisdell. For more info, www.hawaiitattooexpo.com. I'll be there shooting one of my most favorite events of the year, stop by & see all the talented artist or get inked by the industries best tattoo artist...including Marie!  

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

BEHIND THE CURTAIN...07.30.17

Draggin' the shutter again at Sandy Beach this past Sunday & shooting waves at sunrise. Capturing a usable image while shooting this type of wave photography is a huge crap shoot! 900 plus frames shot, about 750 frames deleted totally unusable or just didn't have that "look" I was hoping for. After culling & editing, pulled out 3 half decent frames for posting on social media & my blog. I've been deleting the rejected frames from my catalog just to save space on my hard drive.

In this image I love how the white water is hiding half of the wave as it breaks & reveling just a bit of the curling wave. Instead of freezing the water with a high shutter speed, I find it more interesting if I slow everything down. The hard part is finding that right shutter speed to show enough motion without loosing the textures of the water as it's being pulled up into the curl. The frustrating part of this whole process is culling through all those frames to find that needle in the haystack! Out of the 3 edits from Sunday this is my #1 fav to date since I started shooting waves...my journey continues!

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

ROLLING TIDES...07.23.17

Love the beauty of the form!

It's ALOHA FRIDAY once again! Have a safe & great weekend everyone.
I think I'll put away my long lens this weekend & grab my nifty wide 12mm Rokinon lens...maybe!?!?

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

WAITING...07.23.17

I was watching this surfer as he waited for that perfect wave. For the next 20 minutes he paddled out as the waves drifted his board from right to left, forward & back, waiting & waiting. I found it a bit ironic & funny that I was basically doing the same thing he was doing...waiting for that perfect wave for different reasons.

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

DRAGGING THE SHUTTER...07.24.17

Went back to Makapuu Beach this past Sunday, I saw something the week before as I was walking back across the beach that I wanted to explore. Unfortunately the tide was too low & the surf was too small. I decided to try something else & instead of cranking up the shutter to freeze the waters motion I went the other way & slow the shutter down, using my 100-400mm lens . Not like my really long exposures of 2-8 minutes but just a fraction of a second. I was pleasently surprised with the abstract look it gave the moving waves.

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

ROCKY ROAD...07.16.17

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

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

A SMALL PIECE OF THE PUZZLE...07.16/17

I shot at Makapuu beach the other Sunday from a different location & wasn't able to get the sun back lighting the waves. Had a whole week to figure out where to shoot from & figured out where I needed to be & luckily it paid off! I got 3 usable frames out of 317 total frames. Not a good percentage at all, but with each failure comes rewards! Failure & persistence is a very good combination, IF you learn from your mistakes. With each failure, it brings you one step closer to be coming a better photographer or anything in life!

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

 

A SMALL PIECE OF THE PUZZLE...07.16.17

I think I'm starting to get the hang of this, shooting waves thing! Still far from where I want to be, especially on locking down that focus, it's a work in progress! The early morning sunlight back lighting the waves is a small part of my puzzle that I see in my vision. Slowly but surely the pieces of the puzzle are falling into place.

I saw something as I trekked back to my car on the beach & stopping to observe the waves, going to try to shoot it this coming weekend. A lot depends on how large the surf & tide conditions will be on Sunday. I might get wet, but I think the shot is worth it! 

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

FROM THE HEAVENS...07.08.17

There's something about the Koolau's that just fascinates me! Perhaps teh beauty of the valleys as it swoops down from the heavens into the ocean. When the first light of day rims the valley tops & fades into shadow as it separates each cut of the mountain. I was never able to do justice in my wide shots but now with the 100-400mm I can pull all that mass of light, shadows, dirt trees, clouds, & valleys so much closer to me. It's a starting point...the journey continues!

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

COMPRESSION...07.09.17

Still trying to wrap my head around long lens photography while shooting landscape/seascape! One thing I love about shooting with a long lens is the compression & how it pulls the background mountain closer into the middle ground. I'm aslo purposely shooting at the widest aperture to slightly blur out the background elements.

Sunday I had a chance to fully test out the Sirui PH-20 gimbal head, shooting waves & I loved it! The swing arm is not at smooth as the RRS gimbal head but very usable, & it makes a big difference not having to hand hold the camera & 100-400mm lens! 

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

LONG EXPOSURE, LONG LENS...07.09.17

This is my first attempt at a long exposure with my 100-400mm lens. The only problem I foresee doing long exposures with my 100-400mm is if the wind or waves hit my tripod that'll cause a little bit of vibration that will give me a slightly blurry image, especially on the long end at 400mm. The farther I push it out to 400mm the more sensitive it gets to vibration. This image was taken at 226.6mm, using a Lee Filter Big Stopper & a 3 stop soft GND. Not anything great to write home about but it was a successful attempt. I did very little to edit this image, the colors are how the XT2 captured it.    

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

PEAKS OF THE KOOLAU'S...07.08.17

We decided to head down to Waiahole Beach Park to shoot sunrise this past Saturday. It was a very low tide & the mud flats were exposed. I had my Fujinon XF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 R LM OIS WR locked & loaded onto my trusty XT2. I had 1 shot stuck in my head & wanted to shoot the Koolau's. To stay out of everyones way I walked to the right of the park & trekked into the wet, sticky mud. The wind on the ground was pretty still but on the peaks of the mountain the low lying clouds were being pushed by the gusting winds.

As I was setting up before we started shooting, my buddy Dave, let me borrow his RRS Gimbal head, I loved it! The panning & swing arm was super smooth. The only thing I disliked about the setup was the weight. It was a fun sunrise shoot & even "funner" breakfast with friends & eating a roast pork loco moko with fried rice at Times Coffee Shop, was soooo ono!!!

Later that afternoon I dropped by my friends shot in Aiea, Pro Camera Hawaii, I saw Tony had posted that he had a carbon fiber gimbal head by Sirui, PH-20 to be exact, was in the shop. It was much lighter, about a pound, &  a bit more compact, so I took the plunge. Not a big fan of the swing arm locking screw. The RRS swing arm with the lever clamp style is so much more easier to attach & remove the camera. The RRS arm does fit onto the Sirui so I ordered the RRS arm & will make that mod to the system. I do have to admit that the RRS PG-02 FG: Full Gimbal Head is much more smoother than the Sirui PH-20. For now the lighter weight of the Sirui carbon fiber gimbal beat the RRS by a hair & it was half the price! I just need to see how the workmanship of the Sirui will hold up to the abuse of the salt spray & water while shooting sunrise. 

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

ON THE CREST OF THE WAVE...07.02.17

One of my favorite shots from Sunday. I still need to work on my focus tracking, the tides look pretty good this weekend, so Sunday going to shoot more waves & have fun!

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

SURFING WITH ALIENS...07.02.17

Surfing with Aliens, I parked my car walked to the edge of the parking lot to see a guy bodyboarding with a LED light, I'm guessing  it was a Lume Cube LED light or something similar to that. Leaning on my car, I just sipped my coffee & watched this guy surf & then the caffeine hit me & realized that I should be shooting this! I already had my 100-400mm mounted on my camera so I threw it on my tripod & loosened the ballhead & used it to support the weight, as I was able to move it easily up, down, right & left. The problem was trying to track this guy as he surfed into the shoreline. Dragging the shutter at about 1sec was where I wanted to be & it worked!

I noticed that a tour van drove in with photographers on it, so I decided to pack it up & walk down to the rocks to kapu my spot. Lucky thing I did because there were about 10 photographers spread out near the rocks where I was.  I wish I had more time to play with my setting & shoot more of this surfing with lights, next time for sure!

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

SURFING WITH BOKEH BALLS...07.02.17

Sunday morning, still exploring the super tele lens I pick up about a month ago, Fujinon XF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 R LM OIS WR. The pictures coming out of my camera with that lens is freakin' amazing, So excited, like a kid in a candy store, I'm seeing things that I've never seen before! I'm shooting detail from places that I thought I would never be able to capture. I still have a bit of envy, awe & a lot of respect for those guys I see in the water capturing images of the tube as the wave curls, so much beauty & power. At my age that's where I draw the line at my craziness!

In this image the wave must have been breaking at least 75 yards out & grabbed this image, love the bokeh! The sun was still low in the sky as it rose above the horizon & kissing the water droplets. Perfect amount of out of focus background & foreground to accent the tiny little splash.

There is 1 drawback to that amazing lens, it's the weight...sort of?! I really have to admit that it's not that heavy, & I've been hand holding all my surf shots, but after a while it starts to get heavy & with my tendonitis in my right elbow it's painful at times. So I've been contemplating on getting a Really Right Stuff Gimbal head. I know that the RRS brand is very expensive but I've had too many experiences when I've bought the cheaper brands & ended up tossing it into the garbage 2 months after, to me that's wasted money! 

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