Another week has passed. Travel to the Big Island in pursuit of political testimonial portraiture took place on tuesday, commissioned by the LCA-Anthology agency in Honolulu. Two subjects were scheduled... one at the Imiloa Astronomy Center in Hilo, an educational resource facility of amazing modern architectural design. The second subject - a high-powered Civil Engineer overseeing the reconstruction of the Saddle Road, the route through the volcanos connecting the east sides of the island with the south & west. The shoot at Imiloa was scheduled for late morning and weather was not with us, as is often the case in Hilo, a town often shrouded in clouds. Our shoot day and time were no exceptions. Fortunately, my subject was good-spirited & cooperative.
For the Saddle Road portion of the assignment, scheduled for later that afternoon, I met the subject at her office in Hilo at 2pm. Climbing into my rented Jeep SUV, we ascended the slopes, passing terrain straight out of the Jurrasic period. My heart sank as we soon were surrounded by clouds so thick that the road ahead was nearly completely obscured from view. A few miles further and 1000 ft. or so higher, we burst thru the clouds and into bright sunshine and blue skies. Rugged lavascapes dotted here & there with ancient Pu'u (volcanic cinder cone hills) came into view and were perfect for our shoot location. Once the work was completed, it was back down the mountains and the mad dash to the airport to catch a 6:30pm flight to Honolulu and a 7:45 connecting flight back home to Maui. All lighting gear baggage arrived on all flights intact & in good working order.
As is often the case, pressing deadlines for print runs were ordered for this assignment, so once back on Maui at 8:30pm, it was back to the studio to unload the gear, download the days images, perform all the post-processing tasks & editing and upload the work via .ftp to the agency. The entire mission was completed by 11:30pm, then off to home for some much needed nourishment and sleep.
The following morning, up before the sun and off to Lahaina for an editorial architectural shoot at a beautifully refurbished historic home to be published as feature story in a future issue of Maui No Ka Oi Magazine. I wrapped up this assignment just a few short moments before the sun sank below the horizon.
The time up on the Big Island volcanos reminded me fondly of late afternoons & evenings spent in similar locations here on the Valley Isle...
Liquid days of lavender & lemonade, of lava & laughter.
1 comment:
unbelievable Tony, your work is amazing. The description of your day took me there...
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