{My Happiness Project} Finding the SPOT Where You Belong

Last week I was feelin' blue. Super nervous about my photo shoots that my boss was going to be observing. Worried that we'll never get around to making friends or joining any local Hawaiian clubs/activities. Missing greenery. Aching from my sunburns. Frustrated at feeling bloated from eating too much chocolate, candy and cheesecake. Tired of driving around the island and shooting weddings in bright hot sun. Wondering if we'd ever feel fully content and fulfilled here in Maui. 

Driving home on the Honoapiiliani Highway, I pulled off the road to check out the little farm store, hoping to get a great deal on some fresh veggies. Driving in the parking lot of the Maui Tropical Plantation and Country Store everything around me seemed to sigh and fall into place. There were vegetables growing in the moist brown dirt and the sun was pouring through the valley making the green grass glow. I had this moment where I felt like, "Ahh...now this is what I need. This is how I imagined Hawaii. This is my spot." I entertained the idea of working in the little farm shop and spending all day digging in dirt (oh how I miss my garden). Glorious. I pondered whether maybe, just maybe, I could moonlight as a farmer. Would they let me dig up carrots and polish Pineapple leaves on my Sunday afternoons? 

Just knowing that this little haven exists half-way between my house and my office has given me such peace everyday. I zoom past the Maui Tropical Planation everyday, glancing over at the little territory of happiness.

This month, I've been dwelling on 'belonging' and this week I've come to appreciate that no matter where I go there will always be a 'spot' where I belong. These spots will revolve around my interests, passions and hobbies. Things that sooth my soul. I may not belong in the wider Hawaiian culture or everywhere on Maui, but I do belong in a vegetable garden, and if I can find me some veggie patches on Maui, I will feel at home... at least during those minutes when my fingers are buried in the soil. 

You have a Special Place Out There!

Resolution 10: Everybody has a SPOT Where They Belong...Go Find Yours!

Half Face of Makeup — Merging Before & After Images

My friend Sophie showed me this crazy photo of an Asian woman who only applied makeup to half of her face. It's crazy how the right side looks deformed (even though that's her 'normal' side). It's crazy how we instantly gravitate towards the 'prettier' left side. This picture alone could start a huge conversation about the politics of women's beauty standards in our society & media. How does wearing makeup change the assumptions we make about people. I'll be really honest and say that the stereotypes I see are: LEFT: pretty girl with lots of friends, Westernized and into modern pop culture & RIGHT: nice woman who studies math or works in a flower market in China. Crazy racist stereotypes, I know. But those are the judgements that jump into my mind (I don't know why). I'm not so shallow to think that my instant stereotype judgement would be anywhere near the reality (people always surprise me and that's so good) but if I have to make an instant judgement that's what jumped into my mind. Anyway, it's insane because the only difference is some face paint. What stereotypes jump into your mind when you see each half of her face?

"Half Made Up Woman" Original Article

Sophie challenged me on this topic and asked me how it relates to my photography. I give women makeovers and present them in a certain way that lines up with certain definitions of beauty. How is my photography affecting women? Is it part of the media that's harmful to self-esteem? Or is it empowering, showing women that they are indeed beautiful, just like the women in the magazines who are beautiful when they get their makeovers too? Celebrities don't look so gorgeous coming out of the super market. That's why we love seeing those paparazzi pictures, right?

So I thought I would do a little experiment and create 'half made up' faces from my photographs. I took two beautiful women — their before photo is pretty and their after photo is pretty. I took half of the before photo and half of the final image and merged them together into one face to create the same effect as the original photo. What do you think?

What do you think about these images & this issue?

Courtney's Maui Beach Portraits at Sugar Beach

Last weekend, I had my first beach photo shoots with models in Hawaii. Courtney was my first guinea pig. I was really excited to photograph her Polynesian tattoos. She told me a little bit about the significance behind some of the symbols — there is so much more to the pretty shapes and swirls that I'd ever imagined. We started taking pictures in the thorny trees that line the beach (I collected at least 10 thorns because I'm not used to having to watch were I'm stepping while I take pictures - these beach thorns actually get stuck in your skin!) and since it was early in the morning the sun was just rising over Haleakala and gave us some gorgeous backlight. I'm officially addicted to backlighting at the moment — I can't resist the glowiness! After I got all of my standard comfortable poses out of my system, I was ready to try something new! Ready to embrace some Hawaiian spirit into my portfolio! Ready to take portraits IN THE WATER! I was slightly nervous about taking portraits of a model in a bikini on the beach — afraid of balancing along that fine line between beautiful-sexy and just-too-far-guys-calendar-porno-sexy. I experimented with whether I liked the look of the water splashing up around her body or whether that looked messy and it was better to just have her lying on wet sand. It turns out that the splashing water tends to carry lots of sand with it so it can look dirty (but dramatic) whereas the smooth wet sand acted as a pretty good reflector of the light, filling in any shadows on her face and making her skin look smooth and glowy (and we've already addressed how I'm feeling about glowiness these days!) Oh, and I LOVE the way strands of her hair were getting swept away with the water — that's definitely a new bonus that I never had when shooting in a studio. 

Here's a little before photo and some behind the scenes! The most fun thing about shooting in the water were the warms waves splashing up around us and making us laugh. The morning sun was blazing down so the water was really refreshing and I think there's always something really delicious about being sopping wet when you're fully dressed (obviously, Courtney was in a bikini but I was wearing clothes). It was also really funny watching Courtney try and hold poses and keep her face relaxed while the waves were pushing her around. I caught some action shots from moments when the ocean won and totally broke our poses. haha

Have you ever taken portraits in the waves?
I would love any tips you have to offer :D x

{Grateful on Sunday} Lots of Trees & Simple Pleasures

Happy Sunday my amigos!

As usual... it's my day off and I'm sitting on the porch, (green) iced-tea in hand, John Mayer's newest album playing on Spotify, collecting my photos from the past week and reflecting on what I've been grateful for....

reflections,

seeing dolphins swimming in the wild near the beach,

shade,

plumerias,

lying on my back and looking up at trees,

eating pistachios and listening to my audiobook,

exploring,

eating peanut-butter by the spoonful,

making my a dinner so delicious I had to lick the plate,

feeling more confident driving a manual,

the breeze I feel when I drive around with the top down,

Maui Tropical Plantation,

tree silhouettes,

the row of trees in Wailea,

being a passenger so I can lay back and look up (at the trees),

refreshing tropical rainstorms,

pizza night (w/ root beer & apple slices),

view of the West Maui Mountains (from the north east),

Miggy cheered me up by playing a smell-guessing game at the supermarket,

the palm trees at Baldwin Beach,

sharing a healthy multi-ethnic lunch with Miggy — we took an hour at the salad bar deciding what to put in the box,

finding AMAZING colors in nature that you thought could only be created in a factory
(this is a Dragonfruit smoothie),

watching a chick-flick,

aloe vera, 

What are you grateful for today?