Heart Soars Like Hawk

"... my friend, when I see you my heart soars like a hawk..."


This is the greeting you will most likely encounter when you meet Darrell. His eyes will twinkle, a wry smile will curl upon his lips and you will immediately fall under his spell and be transported into DarrellWorld. 


That's what happens whenever I see him. The man is a dynamo... full of creative energy just bursting from his fibers. His child-like enthusiasm for just about everything is as disarming as it is contagious. If horses, art or low-powered firearms should be involved, then all the better even...


Darrell was my first real photography teacher. He taught an Introduction to Black & White Photography course an Maui Community College (now University of Hawaii Maui Campus) for several years back in the day. Before we were halfway through the first class session, I had already begun to think of him as a sort of Mr. Rogers on Acid, if one can imagine such a thing. I immediately liked him... found him to be very inspiring. 


Several years later, when I was a little more established in my career, we met again when Darrell was hired as the Director of the Schaefer International Gallery at the Maui Arts & Cultural Center. Since the time of our first encounters, Darrell had served as an Officer in the Coast Guard, deployed as a combat artist in Desert Storm, the first Gulf War. We've become friends and he continues to teach me... about art, about life, about how to get through the day... against all odds... with a smile and electric enthusiasm.


Darrell is a modern day renaissance man; prolific painter, photographer, genius installation designer, cowboy, sharpshooter, RC Model Plane builder & pilot, dispenser of charming, corn-pone humor & wit, sailor and stellar human being. Presently, he is assembling his past work, all while frantically producing more each day, to be exhibited in the very near future as a retrospective ( and other projects to come) of his creative life.


I recently had the opportunity to engage Darrell for a formal portrait sitting... don't know why I have never asked before. After the customary greetings (see above) we got down to business BEFORE I allowed him to lead me into DarrellWorld. Afterward, we celebrated to successful images with the customary firing of pistols, reviews of recent output, old Leo Kottke cassette tapes, the swilling of wine and a million laughs.


Watch for the coming retrospective. Details to be announced here & everywhere soon.

Stella Hates Black Backgrounds

... watermarks and some other stuff. Stella? That would be Stella Kramer, a Pulitzer Prize winning PE for the New York Times, Newsweek & People among others.


Over at the Photoshelter blog, Stella spends considerable time (just over an hour) explaining ways, in her opinion, to improve your, my, our online portfolios. Give it a look... the video webinar is embedded below.


Lot's of stuff happening to write about, good stuff! There's no time to get into it here & now... off to another assignment. 


I'll be back!



Build a Better Online Portfolio with Stella Kramer from PhotoShelter.com on Vimeo.

Wah-Wah Cry Baby

It's not what you think...

Website Updated...

More to come... stay tuned...

More Meetings With Remarkable Men

It's been one of those weeks when everything works... everything! Creative juices are flowing, work I am very excited about and very proud to have made has been produced.


Things got off to a great start on monday with the privilege of working with Willie Kahaiali'i (better known around these parts as "Uncle Willie K."), master guitar virtuoso, walking music encyclopedia and an artist that has my vote as being Hawaii's preeminent entertainer. Willie, along with his wife Debbie, band members Kris Thomas (drums) & Jerry Beyers (bass), art director Sae, assistant producer Ashley all converged on a predetermined location Monday morning to produce media kits and promotional images for a couple of Willie's various projects. You can plan, scout, produce... organize every detail in advance. Then, sometimes magic happens and sometimes it doesn't. Magic happened. I so wish I could post a couple of my favorites from the edit here, but Willie hasn't seen them yet and it wouldn't feel quite right to put them up before he's had a chance make his selects. In due time...


An upgrade from Adobe Photoshop® CS2 to CS5 took place back in mid-December. What a difference! Much improved controls in Adobe Camera Raw processing has opened up an entirely new palette to work with. I've not even had time to explore all the new turd polishing filters, etc. in the software yet. ACR is so much better that 99% of my post work can be done there alone. Standouts are the much improved noise reduction controls, and the "clarity" controls. 


Yesterday afternoon & early evening was spent completing an assignment to make editorial portraits of America's newest Poet Laureate, Pulitzer Prize winning author, self-made arborist, protector of endangered palms, avid gardener and fierce intellect W.S. Merwin. 


Meeting us at his garden gate, Mr. Merwin, his thick shock of white hair glowing in the afternoon sunlight and a shy smile upon his lips, guided us briefly down an overgrown path thru some of the exotic palms trees he's planted from seed on his "estate", pointing to one... then another, describing each one's native region, peculiar growth and propagation methods before leading us to a cozy little chalet he built himself, nestled deep within the verdant jungle he has created. 


Once settled in on his cozy, sheltered lanai, surrounded by his current stacks of reading material, I began setting up camera, tripod as he sat at the small table and began to talk... quietly, thoughtfully... his views on our current President, the state of our nation & the world, Blake, Shakespeare's Hamlet, his opportunity to speak & read at the Presidential Inaugural, his house in France, literary criticism, his recent shoot with Jill Greenberg for O Magazine.... so many topics covered in a few short hours. He would pause briefly from time to time, generously taking little directions from me as I snapped away. 


Today, back at the studio editing workstation, I was blown away by the gentle, thoughtful, organic portraits captured while in his presence. Again... wishing I could post some favorites here, but must wait for the images to be published by the commissioning publication. I can, however, post a few images I made with the new iPhone on the way to the meeting and after completing the "formal" round of portraiture. Here's a few from the afternoon...

William's Books

Self Portrait

Roadside Jetsom

Entering The Jungle

On Location - Mission Accomplished

Assistant Barry Stands In For Lighting Check

A very successful shoot today, all very hush, hush....

Great location, marvelous light, cool talent all come together, resulting in images better than those conjured in my mind's eye... Now lots of stuff to finish up in post. 

Results will be published soon...

Overwhelmed With Nostalgia- The Loss of "Craft" & the Rise of Instant Gratification & Immediacy

"I'm not a luddite. I have no problem with digital" - Photographer Richard Nicholson

"A print took two hours.. so at the best, we could do 16 prints a day. And that was a long day, it was probably like 10-12 hours" - UK Master Printer Roy Snell

Yesterday's Guardian UK  online edition featured a story & video in their Art & Design section titled "The Dying Art of the Photographic Darkroom". The story covers artist Richard Nicholson's project where he sets out to photograph & document on video the last remaining working darkrooms in London. Principally featured is photographer and master printer Roy Snell, a master who's work I have admired for many years. 

I still have my darkroom, still use it. The smell of fixer... watching in the dim glow of the safelight as the silver nitrate emulsion begins to produce the image projected from the enlarger a few seconds previously. The careful evaluation of the wet print, determining how to make it better, how to separate tones & shades of grey, black & white, where and how long to dodge & burn. Finally, after many repetitions, arriving at a satisfactory rendering of the image held in my mind's eye. 

My Enlarger/Printing Booth

For almost twenty years, I operated the only commercial black & white lab on this island. Many of Maui's up & coming photographers spent time working long hours in the dark with me, developing & contact printing film, printing enlargements. Our days would start with assessing the quantities of film to be developed each morning and the print orders to be fulfilled, mixing & tempering chemicals for film, cleaning print trays and filling them with freshly mixed developer, stop bath & fix. Five days a week, eight hours each day we would stand in the dark, close quarters, hands wet, stacks of prints moving thru one chemical bath to the next as film reels washed in the gurgling agitation wash tube. Sean, Doug, Kyle, Bella and the rest of you... thanks for helping to keep things going back in the day.

Anyway, I'm feeling nostalgic after seeing this video... and just a bit guilty that I don't spend as much time in the darkroom these days. I too have embraced the digital workflow. There's still a bunch of bricks and boxes of film in the studio freezer. Time to thaw a few, pull out the time-worn Hassie & Sinar and get back in there.

You can find the whole article at the UK Guardian site here. You can read more about Richard Nicholson's project "Analog", currently on exhibition at London's Riflemaker Gallery in London Here. Thanks to Prison Photography blog for bringing the story & video to my attention.

Now here's the video, embedded here with permission from the Guardian UK.