Hawaii Camera Photography Meet Up in Kaka'ako.
This past weekend I was able to experience my first photography meet up event. It was hosted by Hawaii Camera, and we did all of our shoots in the Kaka'ako area. This was a fun interactive event that allowed all types of photographers to get together and shoot photos. Our goal was to use either a film or digital camera with lenses ranging between 28-50mm, and take photos of anything or anything related to the scavenger hunt topics we picked. As for my experience, I mostly went solo and did what I usually do best haha. For my challenge, I ended up picking the topic: "People Embracing Each other." This was a great opportunity to challenge my photography skills and make new friends amongst the photography community.
The event started in Salt at our Kaka'ako in Treehouse Hawaii's camera store. From there we our choice of photographing anything we wanted or to challenge ourselves and pick a random topic out of a jar and shoot whatever photos we can with that topic. All the photos from the topics we picked can be displayed at Hawaii Camera's shop on their next photo meet up event. There we so many of us, all ages, from kids to adults all having a good time taking photos.
Prior to the meet up, I was here earlier ago and decided to kill some time doing a mini photo shoot of my truck and a few self portraits. I parked at the very top for this reason haha but this spot would make for a good car photo shoot, if there isn't anyone around here.
A view of Salt At Our Kaka'ako, from the very top of the parking lot. When I first started coming here, it looked way different than this. Im glad this place remolded, it fits in with the artistic vibes Kaka'ako is also known for.
After picking our topics for the photo challenge, we all went out to find what photos we needed. My topic; "People Embracing Each Other" was the hardest challenge Ive done in photography, only because it was for one day and on a limited amount of time. Since majority of everyone stayed in the town center area, I set out tony usual photo spot at the Waterfront Park for some sunset photos. My goal was to try find anyone (Mostly Couples) to capture that loving moment. To be honest this was very difficult for me. Even though there were so much Japanese couples doing wedding shoots, I could just go up to them and ask them to pose for one photo. I had to do it discretely and non noticeable. Alongside this challenge, having to shoot with a limited lens distance also made it a challenge. However I managed to get a few shots of this couple. I was across them on the other hill and had a higher vantage point. I used my 50mm to get these two shots.
Along the way, I started snapping away at random things or pretty much anything that caught my attention. For example this photo below of the flower I captured was perfectly timed with the sun setting down. I did multiple exposures and decided to use this particular photo.
I low key like this shot of my truck, really brings in the essence of car shoots, modern architecture, and nature all in one photo.
Now we head back to the town center to finish off some remaining photos before the meet up ends. I know a lot of people like to take pictures in these alley ways, somehow the way I captured it, made it look beautiful.
Moden Architecture at its finest. Just something different to capture than my usual nature photos.
Of course you have to in a Fitted Hawaii Hat to make it a unique photography experience. This hat is suppose to represent urban Hawaii so I figured it would match with Kaka'ako as the backdrop.
What this meet up has taught me, was that theres always thousands or even millions of people put there who is doing almost the same thing I'm doing or has an interest in photography. We all should get together and share our knowledge on taking photos and learn the diverse styles each and every one of us has. Photography brings people together through photos and we should always encourage more people to keep up with the art, so that we can document today and share it the world for years to come.
