Friday, August 19, 2011

Don Ho Street, Waikiki Beachwalk

4am. Restful sleep eludes me. At 3am the cat wants out. At 3:00:05am, the dog wants the cat and so on & so on... Assistant B & I have just returned from 3 days in the blighty H'lulu in the employ of Florida-based Wyndham Resorts where we captured architectural images of a newly acquired & refurbished property. Spent yesterday hunkered down in front of this fine blue screen in post/editing mode. First batch of exteriors now uploaded to anxious clients via .FTP. Interior images to follow sometime later today. This will conclude leg one of a project that will stretch out over the next month or two. Leg two begins ten days from now with an extended 9 day trip to the Island of Kauai, followed by 4 days on the Big Island.


H'lulu was jamming... or Waikiki, to be specific, was jamming. Insane traffic, heavy road & sidewalk construction everywhere in preparation for next month's Asia-Pacific Conference... traffic lanes coming to a sudden end with no warning, lost tourists in rental cars trying to negotiate the maze of one-way streets & construction, sidewalks crowded with a swarming mass of humanity, street performers, crates of sandstone and construction barriers. One-two hour waits at every restaurant was the norm, forcing us the take refuge & refreshment in a much quieter Chinatown on our final evening. This brought about the highlight of the working trip... discovery of the relatively new restaurant EPIC & it's contemporary take on upscale comfort food (at very reasonable prices, I might add). Find them on Nu'uanu Street next to INDIGO.


Speaking of food... last friday evening, Maui Arts & Cultural Center held it's annual fundraising gala Maui Calls. Participating chefs from the island's top eateries joined wine makers to offer up some very tasty fare. Personal favorite: Pulled Smoked Brisket BBQ Sliders w/ Asian Cole Slaw from Tom Selman's Main Street Bistro. Tasted like Memphis! 

Maui Calls Offerings

Besides the food, there were lots of nice folks to chat with, a silent & live auction and a surprise solo-performance by Robert Cazimero at the piano to keep the evening lively. 

Caz

Huge sculpted petroglyphs announced the Polynesian theme for this year's event and the new pavilion was decked out in a wash of colorful light courtesy of house LD, Mark Astrella. 

Watched with much amusement as the ladies lined up to pay homage at a shrine built from a mountain of blue Tiffany & Co. boxes. Edit from this one completed and delivered yesterday.

Ms. Jenks Knows What She Loves!

And now the sun rises... already I'm making a mental schedule for the day. An email has just arrived from the Florida client requesting a phone call in just a short while, there's banking and bill paying that must get done, GE taxes to file & pay, flight/car reservations for Kauai to be made and final editing, post and uploading of the final H'lulu images to be performed. When all that is said & done, I'll be ready for the weekend!


Found this great little blog entry at Artist Representative Heather Elder's blog a few days ago. Here, Heather provides an overview of a recent  San Francisco APA event on "how to integrate social media into an overall marketing plan & 20 important things to know about social media & the photography industry." Heather was joined by a panel consisting of media-guru Miki Johnson, APA Board Member Josh Bobb & Photographer Timothy Archibald (see previous blog entry). A follow-up on the topics covered by the panel followed at the APASF Blog, offering the perspective of social media marketing from the perspective of Art Buyer Alison McCreery. Worth a read, you can find the interview here.


Now it's into the shower... a long walk in the park with pup Chester & his friends, the most social group of caninies I've ever encountered. Then the drive down the mountain to hole myself up in the studio to complete the laundry list of aforementioned tasks for the remainder of the day.

Morning Puppy Social Group