Model: Amanda Li Paige

MUA: Sarah Pacheco 

 Assistant: Edward White

These are my favorite shots from the early morning swim shoot we did before Amanda heads back to the mainland for school. I was inspired to use sea shells as a theme from a shot in the editorial “Blue Lagoon” by photographer Nicole Bentley for Vogue Australia, but after working on the photos and picking my favorites, I realized they are also vaguely reminiscent of the work of one of my all-time favorite painters, Jia Lu, particularly her painting entitled Water.

(I also made the starfish circlet myself!)

You might also note that this is titled Fashion Friday – another effort to schedule out my posting a little bit more! We will see how long that lasts… :)

How I met Ace is a funny story.  I had been at a going-away dinner at Buca di Beppo for a makeup artist friend along with my husband and my stylist, Tyson.  During dinner, Tyson and I both noticed a handsome young waiter walk back and forth past our table.  Of course, we were the most awkward we could possibly be and started eye-stalking every waiter and waitress that went past us trying to spot him again, to the point that our own table’s waitress kept stopping to ask if we needed anything. My husband was obviously the most mature one among us, and told the waitress straight up that we wanted to talk to a specific waiter. Eventually, Ace made his way to our table, and after introducing myself I asked if he was a model. “Nope,” he said.

I then asked him if he was at all interested in modeling, and when he confirmed that he was, we all exchanged information and added each other on Facebook and Instagram with plans to do a shoot soon.

Unfortunately, due to crazy schedules, “soon” turned into “a few months later”, but I decided that it was getting ridiculous and I needed to just shoot Ace, who had in the meantime been signed to Wilhelmina Hawaii on our recommendation. I wasn’t even his first shoot – he already had one under his belt as a groom for a stylized wedding shoot with Creatrix Photography!

For this shoot we had no stylist, and we had no makeup artist – the shoot was pretty much just awesome friends hanging out on the beach at sunrise, but it went better than I could have imagined, and Ace is a natural. Looking forward to working with him more often in the future!

After shooting in Waimanalo, we headed to Sandy’s to watch Ace do his thing as a professional skimboarder. Those photos will be in a later post!

Special thanks to Tyson for attempting long-distance styling advice via text message!

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 Ran out of the car to get this shot before starting my model test shoot yesterday morning. I really need to do this more often!

Made another attempt at the meteor shower last night, only to find the skies covered with thick, persistent clouds. While this prevented me from taking another crack at the stars, I did get some interesting photographs of Lanikai Beach in the darkness. The tide was receding, and the waves were gently lapping at the shore, creating a beautiful gradient during my 30-second exposures. Combined with the clouds, it felt almost like we were in a contained stage setting, or a surreal dream, as if there was a ceiling over this space that stretched out into the darkness. Then, the waning crescent moon finally peaked through the clouds on the horizon, lending a new depth to the scene.  I managed to briefly capture Venus chasing the moon, but Jupiter, which had risen earlier, was lost to the clouds.

Might try again tonight to see what I can get, if it’s clearer!

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Making more of an effort to go out and shoot at night due to increased inspiration. This one is dedicated to my husband, Ed, who encouraged me to take this shot even though I was being stubborn about the lack of Milky Way in the photo. ;)

Shot at the beach where the famous kiss scene in From Here To Eternity took place.

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