Continuing the story with Leah Sausen, here she tests water at Kalihiwai Beach in Kauai. Sausen is a volunteer for the Surfrider Blue Water Task Force, a water quality testing program. These photos were taken for a story about her that will appear in Free Surf Magazine.
The samples from around Kauai are tested for a variety of bacteria and the data is passed on to the County of Kauai and the Hawaii Department of Health.
On an assignment yesterday using a GoPro and this happens, spontaneous combustion.
Or the illusion of it.
A drop of water on the lens backlit turns into a board on fire.
Sometimes the hard thing is to accept the mistakes and then remember them when you want to reproduce it.
Make the mistakes and cultivate the ones that sit well with you.
I really appreciate the recognition this week from the Photoshelter Jumpstart Your Photo Business Contest. I was named as one of the Silver Award winners, along with one of my past students Aaron Schmidt. Aaron is an amazing shooter and documentary filmmaker.
Going back into full-time freelance work late last year from teaching visual journalism at Brooks Institute is an exciting adventure right now and creating community is such a big part of the business model.
Thank you to the folks at Photoshelter!
The dogs taking Steph and Pearl for their afternoon walk in Princeville, HI.
Walking this morning along the beach, we see a woman in her 70s getting out of the water with her Boogie Board.
She has that lost look in her eyes, “I had to get out before I had to crawl out.”
Her face showed how stoked she was on her time in the water, eyes in that other place you can go in the connection with the ocean.
The coast is a time as well as a space.
Moon setting over Hanalei Bay, Kauai.
I just finished giving a photo workshop for Helen on the North Shore of Kauai.
It is really a rush to spend time with someone lost in the photographic process.
The workshop environment allows for a wonderful process of immediate feedback and renewed attempts that accelerates the learning curve.
And the learning curve in photography is immense when we open up to the possibilities of photography as a way of seeing, a way of being in this world.
Last week we spent time for the workshop on the South Shore that can be seen in this previous post.
Anthony de Mello, (1931-1987) is a Jesuit Priest known for his belief in awakening through detachment. What follows is an excerpt of his words on the subject.
DETACHMENT by Anthony de Mello
“The only way to change is by changing your understanding. But what does it mean to understand? How do we go about it? Consider how we’re enslaved by various attachments; we’re striving to rearrange the world so that we can keep these attachments, because the world is a constant threat to them. I fear that a friend may stop loving me; he or she may turn to somebody else. I have to keep making myself attractive because I have to get this other person. Somebody brainwashed me into thinking I need his or her love. But I really don’t. I don’t need anybody’s love; I just need to get in touch with reality. I need to break out of this prison of mine, this programming, this conditioning, these false beliefs, these fantasies; I need to break out into reality. Reality is lovely; it is an absolute delight. Eternal life is now. We’re surrounded by it, like the fish in the ocean, but we have no notion about it at all. We’re too distracted with this attachment. Temporarily, the world rearranges itself to suit our attachment, so we say, “Yeah, great! My team won!” But hang on; it’ll change; you’ll be depressed tomorrow. Why do we keep doing this?
Do this little exercise for a few minutes: Think of something or someone you are attached to; in other words, something or someone without which or without whom you think you are not going to be happy. It could be your job, your career, your profession, your friend, your money, whatever. And say to this object or person, “I really do not need you to be happy. I’m only deluding myself in the belief that without you I will not be happy. But I really don’t need you for my happiness; I can be happy without you. You are not my happiness, you are not my joy.” If your attachment is a person, he or she is not going to be very happy to hear you say this, but go ahead anyway. You can say it in the secrecy of your heart. In any case, you’ll, be making contact with the truth; you’ll be smashing through a fantasy. Happiness is a state of nonillusion, of dropping the illusion.”
The other day I spent the morning at Mahaulepu, Kauai photographing with Helen, here are a few of my photos from the journey.
While exploring the beauty and wonders of the South Shore of Kauai, our workshop focused her on photographic techniques, approaches to photography and the selection of photos.
Through the process, many questions come to mind.
Did I make the picture I just felt?
What did I want to portray?
What was I drawn to in the scene?
How to better capture the light as it feels in this place?
One of the great things about photographic education in the field is the instant feedback and growth that occurs understanding the trial and error while working towards photographic beauty.
