Memorial Day Weekend 2012
Saturday, May 26, 2012
Friday, May 18, 2012
Thursday, May 10, 2012
Raising Cane - Afterburn
Sugar cane... a crop once ubiquitous to the islands now on the wane. On the island of Maui, sugar planting is now largely limited to the the central plains, north shore and lower elevation plateaus & slopes of Haleakala. There was a time when a patchwork of verdant green once quilted the mauka ("towards the mountains") areas of West Maui from Ukumehane to Kahana.
Sugar is controversial. Which side of the controversy you stand is largely dependent on several factors.
If you were born here... or come from family that was brought here decades ago from foreign lands to work in the plantations, your view is most likely that cane is a benevolent crop, providing employment for members of & ethnic diversity to your community for generations. Many of the small towns in the islands developed essentially from the plantation camps... sugar (together with pineapple) was the central point of focus that held these communities together and around which these communities eventually grew into the residential and resort areas that exist on the island today. It was within these small camp communities that the foundations of what we now call Island Cuisine first developed as approx. 337,000 new immigrants were imported from China, Japan, The Phillipines, Puerto Rico & Korea to work the plantations in the course of a century. With them came the cooking styles & foods of their homelands, contributing to what we all now enjoy as a diverse and vibrant mix of ethnic flavors employed in the humblest of Hawaiian Plate Lunches to extravagantly priced Asia Fusion offerings in dining venues boasting a galaxy of rating stars.
If you're malahini (newcomer) or kama'aina (long-time resident transplant), it's quite likely your view of sugar is the opposite... it's dirty, consumes too much water (a somewhat limited resource in the islands). The burning of fields prior to harvest creates large amounts of smoke & ash (first plumes of smoke during the first stage of a burn resemble the mushroom cloud of an atomic explosion), in turn, contributing to increased reports of asthma & other respiratory illnesses, air pollution, toxic gasses released from plastic drip irrigation lines also burned along with the crop, increased air born dust & dirt, filthy ash (island snow) falling on our newly washed cars or filling our swimming pools. Fields, once burned & prior to replanting, are extra prone to wind & rain erosion, which contributes in the long run to the burying and degradation of protective barrier coral reefs that ring the islands. Opponents of sugar production will also point out that the crop sucks up tax dollars with government subsidies aimed at supporting domestic production over cheap imported sugar.
My thoughts on sugar are decidedly mixed. On one hand, I sympathize with sugar's opponents. I agree with the health and environmental concerns they hold while at the same time enjoying the expansive greenbelts the crop provides. One only needs to drive along the coast of the island's west side to see large expanses of land, once green with cane & undeveloped, now a dry brown brush fire hazard or yielding to the unquenchable lust of gated-community developers. The smells issuing from the island's last remaining sugar mill are of the nausea innducing, sickly-sweet, rotting variety during peak production seasons. Yet, fields in cultivation are temporary ecosystems in themselves, providing shelter, food and homes to a variety of fauna, from insects, mongooses, rats & mice to several species of birds. Vast fields of cane provide paths (illegal... you will be trespassing) for outdoor activities like biking, dirt biking, walking, hiking, running and other outdoor activities... their network of irrigation ditches & streams bringing much needed water to arid parts of the terrain and opportunities to recreational fish for Tilapia and other introduced fresh water species.
No matter which side of the issue you take, sugar has been grown in the islands for centuries, most likely arriving somewhere around 600 AD with the first voyagers from Polynesia. Sugar cultivation was observed by Capt. Cook when he first ventured to Hawaii in 1778. Sugar eventually became big agribusiness and one of, if not the dominant island industries with the advent of reliable steamship transportation to the island's sometime during the 1840's.
Love it or hate it, sugar remains a large agricultural and economic force in Hawaii for the foreseeable future. As we approach the summer months, harvest is in full swing soon to be followed by replanting and cultivation. My goal is to document the process & some of the people involved with photographs and the occasional word through the season, to serve as a visual document of an island way of life that will not be with us forever, with neither a point of view of condemnation nor praise, but simply as an island way of life that has permeated & contributed much to the current culture.
Spending time in the fields recently to photograph a harvest, I quickly became aware of the skill & precision... a choreography of competence, with which each field team operates. Like clockwork once the burn is completed, heavy machinery moving in & out... cranes, haul trucks. There is noise, danger and the harsh conditions of heat, brutal sun & unrelenting dust in the workplace of these men & women working the fields. During harvest season, they work 'round the clock... morning, noon & night... first leveling the fields once burning is completed, moving the charred remains into massive piles and then scurrying load the scorched "cane" into huge haul trucks before it rots, transporting their cargo to the mill for processing into raw sugar & molasses to be pumped into tanks for eventual sea transport for further refining at mainland mills.
The following photographs comprise the first early efforts of a series I call: "Raising Cane". Stay tuned for further installments throughout the summer harvest & replanting season.
Sugar is controversial. Which side of the controversy you stand is largely dependent on several factors.
If you were born here... or come from family that was brought here decades ago from foreign lands to work in the plantations, your view is most likely that cane is a benevolent crop, providing employment for members of & ethnic diversity to your community for generations. Many of the small towns in the islands developed essentially from the plantation camps... sugar (together with pineapple) was the central point of focus that held these communities together and around which these communities eventually grew into the residential and resort areas that exist on the island today. It was within these small camp communities that the foundations of what we now call Island Cuisine first developed as approx. 337,000 new immigrants were imported from China, Japan, The Phillipines, Puerto Rico & Korea to work the plantations in the course of a century. With them came the cooking styles & foods of their homelands, contributing to what we all now enjoy as a diverse and vibrant mix of ethnic flavors employed in the humblest of Hawaiian Plate Lunches to extravagantly priced Asia Fusion offerings in dining venues boasting a galaxy of rating stars.
If you're malahini (newcomer) or kama'aina (long-time resident transplant), it's quite likely your view of sugar is the opposite... it's dirty, consumes too much water (a somewhat limited resource in the islands). The burning of fields prior to harvest creates large amounts of smoke & ash (first plumes of smoke during the first stage of a burn resemble the mushroom cloud of an atomic explosion), in turn, contributing to increased reports of asthma & other respiratory illnesses, air pollution, toxic gasses released from plastic drip irrigation lines also burned along with the crop, increased air born dust & dirt, filthy ash (island snow) falling on our newly washed cars or filling our swimming pools. Fields, once burned & prior to replanting, are extra prone to wind & rain erosion, which contributes in the long run to the burying and degradation of protective barrier coral reefs that ring the islands. Opponents of sugar production will also point out that the crop sucks up tax dollars with government subsidies aimed at supporting domestic production over cheap imported sugar.
My thoughts on sugar are decidedly mixed. On one hand, I sympathize with sugar's opponents. I agree with the health and environmental concerns they hold while at the same time enjoying the expansive greenbelts the crop provides. One only needs to drive along the coast of the island's west side to see large expanses of land, once green with cane & undeveloped, now a dry brown brush fire hazard or yielding to the unquenchable lust of gated-community developers. The smells issuing from the island's last remaining sugar mill are of the nausea innducing, sickly-sweet, rotting variety during peak production seasons. Yet, fields in cultivation are temporary ecosystems in themselves, providing shelter, food and homes to a variety of fauna, from insects, mongooses, rats & mice to several species of birds. Vast fields of cane provide paths (illegal... you will be trespassing) for outdoor activities like biking, dirt biking, walking, hiking, running and other outdoor activities... their network of irrigation ditches & streams bringing much needed water to arid parts of the terrain and opportunities to recreational fish for Tilapia and other introduced fresh water species.
No matter which side of the issue you take, sugar has been grown in the islands for centuries, most likely arriving somewhere around 600 AD with the first voyagers from Polynesia. Sugar cultivation was observed by Capt. Cook when he first ventured to Hawaii in 1778. Sugar eventually became big agribusiness and one of, if not the dominant island industries with the advent of reliable steamship transportation to the island's sometime during the 1840's.
Love it or hate it, sugar remains a large agricultural and economic force in Hawaii for the foreseeable future. As we approach the summer months, harvest is in full swing soon to be followed by replanting and cultivation. My goal is to document the process & some of the people involved with photographs and the occasional word through the season, to serve as a visual document of an island way of life that will not be with us forever, with neither a point of view of condemnation nor praise, but simply as an island way of life that has permeated & contributed much to the current culture.
Spending time in the fields recently to photograph a harvest, I quickly became aware of the skill & precision... a choreography of competence, with which each field team operates. Like clockwork once the burn is completed, heavy machinery moving in & out... cranes, haul trucks. There is noise, danger and the harsh conditions of heat, brutal sun & unrelenting dust in the workplace of these men & women working the fields. During harvest season, they work 'round the clock... morning, noon & night... first leveling the fields once burning is completed, moving the charred remains into massive piles and then scurrying load the scorched "cane" into huge haul trucks before it rots, transporting their cargo to the mill for processing into raw sugar & molasses to be pumped into tanks for eventual sea transport for further refining at mainland mills.
The following photographs comprise the first early efforts of a series I call: "Raising Cane". Stay tuned for further installments throughout the summer harvest & replanting season.
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Today's Mailbag - Pele Awards 2012 - Negotiating Redux
In a previous blog entry or two, I've mentioned that I get regularly tapped to create a Dream Photo Session for some of Maui's less fortunate youth. The locally based philanthropic program A Keiki's Dream, provides child-directed dream days, one child at a time, for some of the island's neediest children; children often caught up in a web of poverty, homelessness, neglect, abuse, major personal loss & other crisis situations. Program Director and habitual do-gooder Darby Gill takes these kids and provides them with an entire day of fun, according to the dreams articulated by each individual child. Whether it's the opportunity to surf or jet-ski, dine at a favorite restaurant, shopping at the malls & boutiques, limousine rides, meeting entertainment heroes... Darby does everything in his power to make sure that each referred child gets to spend a day "living their dream".
Many of the young girls referred to Darby will ask for a day of wardrobe shopping, an hour or so of pampering at a local salon, finished off with a modeling photo session. I've been doing these for the past several years now and it's always a most rewarding experience to watch these children light up once the lights go on and the shutter starts to click. At the end of each session, I sit at the computer with each child as we review the photos we shot only a few moments before and then send them home with a CD full of the best results and a 13"x17" print of their favorite shot.
A couple of weekends ago, I had the distinct honor of working with another one of these children, this time - a poised beyond her years and indescribably cute 8 year old named Sara. After a morning and early afternoon of eating, shopping and pampering, Sara waltzed into my studio and lit the place up! And, Sara is also a budding portrait artist in her own right apparently as today's mail brought a thank you note from Sara with her drawn portrait of me!
If you'd like to help out the kids at A Keiki's Dream, there are ways to donate, volunteer your time or even sponsor a needy kid. Find out more on how to help HERE.
Last Saturday evening, 300 or so leaders in Hawaii's advertising, design & media industry turned out for the annual dinner and award presentation stroke-fest held this year at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel. One of two Best In Show awards went to the Anthology Group for the four-color, "Come, Play" Magazine Print Campaign for the Maui Visitors Bureau, now running in magazines nationwide. Congratulations to April, David & the rest of the team that worked tirelessly to produce an interesting ad series with a twist! I am happy to say that I had a hand in creating two of the print ads in the overall campaign, along with a group of talented other photogs also contributing spots.
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| I shot the one on top! |
Friday, April 20, 2012
Blog Negligence - Art Events - Studio Progress - Thank You WONDERFUL MACHINE For The Help
First of all, I'd like to invite you all to join me and a handful of other talented artists (Kim Mosley, Pat Matsumoto, Erin Dieguez & Travis Joers) for a meet & greet and preview of our newest work now on display (and I might add - for sale) at Maui's newly opened haven for contemporary art.
The Maui Art Hale, located in the South Maui Center at 95 Lipoa Street (right next to Fabiani's Bakery & Pizzeria) in Kihei, has recently opened it's doors and arms to Maui's emerging and established artists alike. This Saturday evening, April 21st from 5-7pm, the Hale will host the event "Alternative Lifestyle/Alternative Art".
Gallery founder & Director Ken Norris has assembled a very nice collection of work from the above mentioned artists & displayed it in an uncluttered environment so antithetical to what is commonly seen in most of the island's commercial art galleries. Plans are underway to host evening events combining live jazz, art, food and much, much more in coming weeks. A gala, formal Grand Opening is now scheduled for May 19th.
I will be unveiling a series of limited edition prints, most never seen before, culled from my month-long visit to Indonesia late last year...
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| "Merapi Smolders" |
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| "Mandi Sore"
Drop by sometime tomorrow evening... raise a glass, wag a chin with a great group of artists and get a first peek at the new work. Hope to see you there.
Today is your final opportunity to see this year's Art Maui, hanging for a few more hours in the Schaefer International Gallery at the Maui Arts & Cultural Center. Last Saturday afternoon,in between runs to the Construction & Demolition Landfill in Maalaea, I had the opportunity to join the juror for this year's show as he walked thru the accepted work, attempting to convey a little bit about his process in selecting which works would be exhibited. The two hour walk-thru only served to reconfirm that I have no understanding of art speak...
I was, however, greatly amused by the sight of several volunteers armed with those cricket bat looking paddles usually seen at golf tournaments with the word QUIET painted on them, as they wandered around the gallery waving the paddles in the face of offending cell phone users and other attendees intent on boisterous conversation during the presentation. Those armed with paddles showed remarkable restraint. Had I been asked to wield a bat, there would have been blood!
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| Maui Patriarch of the Arts George Allan Ready To Strike Much progress made this week on the new studio space... walls framed and up on monday, roof trusses dropped in by crane on Tuesday, shoring & sheeting for the rest of the week. The space now is completely dried in and walled. Work now comes to a halt for a couple or three weeks as we wait for windows, doors and roofing metal to arrive on island by barge. |
Finally, a shout-out and sincere offer of thanks to the very generous folks at Wonderful Machine for taking the time to review and critique my newly revamped website, offer suggestions on improvements I might (and did) make in order to better present my work. Your time, energy and commitment to photographers all around the world is greatly appreciated. Thank you!
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
New Tear Sheets
Wailea Magazine
Spring-Summer 2012 Issue
Hot off the presses and in this morning's mail delivery!
Images Stumbled Upon
The sudden break in weather had me out last evening in search of photo-ops on the drive home. Just before the sun had ducked behind the mountains, I drove by my favorite jacaranda tree in the upcountry area and found a shot that could not have been better produced, styled or propped than what I found sitting roadside.
Pictured above is upcountry plein-air artist Michael Clements at work. His old, fully restored pickup lent a perfect air of "folksiness" to the scene, his shirt mirroring the color of jacaranda blossoms. Even better, he was more than welcoming and friendly as I approached with cameras in hand, allowing me to photograph him from numerous angle for at least half an hour, cheerfully taking direction and chatting as I lay prone in the grass.
You can check out Michael's work at his website HERE.
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