On Assignment

The new year has so far begun with a bang, in a very literal sense and with no intent of pun towards recent events in Arizona... let's keep this local, shall we?


First, there was the lovely evening weather of December 31, clear, warm & still after much rain early in the day & week, giving carte blanche to island residents to break out & ignite their assembled fireworks arsenals. Prior to that, there had been massive thunderstorms rocking the house and sending jagged bolts of electricity across the sky. With the clearing storm, revelry began around 9:00pm, slowly building to crescendo levels around midnight. No reports of brush fires, roofs set ablaze or other accidental pyrotechnics due to the damp conditions.  The loss of Max last summer, mortally afraid of loud noises of any sort, meant I was free for the first time in years to join in. Armed with a couple of bricks of "flower" shower explosives left behind by friends a few years ago, the gravel driveway was converted into marvel of colored sparks and small explosions but I quickly grew bored and handed off the remaining fireworks to my neighbor's daughter to set off under parental supervision. They did... !


On the business front, things have been even better. The last couple of weeks of last year and the first of this year saw very good art sales during my weekly artist resort sittings. May the trend continue...


Finished up last year with a great architectural project, a new restaurant concept/design at the Hyatt Regency Maui Resort & Spa. A previous blog entry detailed the extremely unfortunate weather we were forced to contend with during the project's production days. Add to that the frantic completing of the final construction punch list, all being done around us as we worked, in order to get the restaurant open by December 27th. There would be little to no chance to get back in to shoot more once the opening took place. We were fortunate enough to have drier conditions each afternoon & evening of shooting... even a bit (just a bit) of color in those steely grey skies at the sunset hour. Mission accomplished. Here's a handful of edited images from the new restaurant, Japengo, at the Hyatt in Kaanapali. Credit for the impeccable design, blending of marvelous textures & wild fabrics, intricate lighting scheme goes to the talented team at Island Design Center, located here in Wailuku.