Hula O Na Keiki 2010 with Randy Jay Braun

Photographing anything with Hawaii's own Randy Jay Braun, is always an honor. Having the opportunity to assist him in capturing the winners of Hula O Na Keiki 2010 hosted by the Ka'anapali Beach Hotel a couple of weeks ago was no exception. Starting in the early hours before sunrise, Randy takes the Kane and Wahine winners to the beach and gets them warmed up for their session. The pride and confidence exhibited by the young winners is always evident in their eyes and the way they carry themselves. Randy instantly puts them at ease with a quick laugh and in talking story with their families and kumu hula. Once he established rapport with the dancers, the photo shoot gets underway. This is the second year I have had the opportunity to shoot with Randy and I always have a wonderful time. Here are a few of my shots as well as some behind the scenes shots of the exceptionally talented Randy Jay Braun at work. Congratulations to Kaui and Kaya on their honors! Until next year!

A hui hou,

Aubrey

www.aubreyhord.com

Tropical Island Boot Camp for Creative Photography

Watching and learning from a master at work in their passion is a rare experience. When Randy Jay Braun announced his first Tropical Island Boot Camp for Creative Photography on Maui, people jumped at the opportunity to sign up. When Randy invited me to help with the camp and teach some of skills I know best, I was honored.
Over the course of 6 days, we took 10 boot campers from all over the country to some of the best locations on Maui for photography and encouraged them to let their creativity lead the way to some amazing photographs.
Randy also brought in Adobe Photoshop Evangelist, Russell Brown, to help with post production of the images we captured during the week. The nightly classes in Photoshop CS5 and Photomatix helped bring images into panoramics and HDR (high dynamic range) like never before!
The combination of magnificent landscapes and people along with the talents of Randy Jay Braun and Russell Brown made for some truly incredible imagery.
Having Randy and Russell tag team throughout each day with their humor and energy, brought the campers to life each morning and helped them sing into the night. With a wide age range (24-58ish) and skill set (beginner to expert), the trick was keeping everyone interested and engaged throughout the week.
Usually, the landscape provided the perfect canvas for inspiration but several days Randy had invited friends, hula dancers, and models to help bring a human element into the week. To capture authentic cultural elements in imagery is getting more and more difficult to do. Randy's lasting friendships and genuine intentions in capturing the spirit of Hawaiian culture is one of his true strengths.
From the red, white and black sand beaches in Hana to the beautiful (and handsome) hula dancers who graciously and patiently agreed to be our models, the diversity of subject matter made it easy to shoot a variety of images.
Some campers even got creative with their cameras themselves, swinging them around taking slow exposures and "driving" them like crazy drivers to get cool blur effects and "essence" shots.
All in all, the week was an incredible experience for everyone involved and a huge success for Randy, who has graciously invited me back again to help teach the next boot camp!
So to all the people taking pictures of people taking pictures of people... See you at the next Randy Jay Braun boot camp!
Keep taking pictures of great subjects in magnificent landscapes.
To sign up for the next boot camp: http://randyjaybraun.com/


A hui hou,
Aubrey
http://www.blogger.com/aubrey@aubreyhord.com
http://www.blogger.com/www.aubreyhord.com

The opportunity to work with Randy Jay Braun.

It is not often you get the opportunity to work with someone who is a master in their field, and a lot of fun to be around as well.

I was invited to join one of Hawaii's premier fine art photographers, Randy Jay Braun http://www.randyjaybraun.com/, on a few photo shoots recently as he was capturing the art of traditional Hawaiian hula dance.

I had met Randy before and at attended sessions taught by him at the 2009 Maui Photo Festival http://www.mauiphotofestival.com/ but was both honored and humbled when he invited me to shoot alongside him and learn about his distinct style. Randy has photographed the young male (kane) and female (wahine) winners of the prestigious Hula O Na Keiki competition every year at the Kaanapali Beach Hotel and you can see his images from the past 25 years gracing the front lobby of the hotel. I had the opportunity to join him the morning after the competition to photograph the young winners on the beach at Kaanapali.

He has a way of capturing the grace, movement, pride and tradition of hula both both inside and outside of formal settings. He also has an amazing eye for detail and sense of place when capturing Hawaiian landscapes. His images have graced magazines, websites, merchandise and are in fine art galleries across the state. His distinct style of finishing his hula pieces with an aged look, makes them appear timeless and truly allow visitors and residents to catch a glimpse inside the world of hula. His gallery is located in historic Makawao town right on Makawao Avenue.

When Randy called to ask me to join him again on another shoot, I jumped at the chance. He has a way of working with both his team and his subjects to make them instantly feel comfortable and relaxed in front of the camera. He carries himself with a humbleness and quiet confidence which seems to draw people in and make them feel welcome. And constant laughter on "the set" makes it a joy to go to work. Working with him is truly a pleasure.

Another session we did was with hula dancers in the sunset on the beach in Kihei. It was a pretty crowded evening on the beach but we made it work and got some great images!

I am grateful to Randy for the opportunity to shoot alongside him and hope I have the opportunity to continue to work with him in the future and take a glimpse inside his world of photography.

A hui hou,

Aubrey

http://www.aubreyhord.com/