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    Posted on by JordanMurph

    I’ve been having fun relaxing at the beach at night making long exposures. Most are 30 seconds long. The moon has been pretty full lately, and that coupled with great clouds and sunsets lately, has made for some really cool and surreal scenes. It’s been a study for me in patience and getting back to the basics. It’s very relaxing and almost therapeutic for me to be all alone at the ocean, compose, open up the shutter, and just sit back in my beach chair and wait. Have to be patient.

    I know, I know, it’s digital and not film. But still, in this digital age, waiting something like 30 seconds for a photograph while chimping (a.k.a., checking the back of the camera) is pretty much instantaneous, makes that little bit of time an eternity.

    It’s nice to slow down. To think. To relax. To not hammer the motor drive. To not check the iPhone. To just sit in the stars and moonlight and wait 30 seconds for that “click”.

    It’s pretty exciting to see what the result will be. And isn’t that what photography is all about?

    long exposures of honolulu buildings 01 Slow and steady exposures

    A long exposure of Ala Moana Beach Park with the Waikiki Skyline in the background at dusk in Honolulu, HI.

    long exposures of honolulu buildings 02 Slow and steady exposures

    The Honolulu skyline as clouds move off the Ko'olau mountains at dusk in Honolulu, HI.

    long exposures of honolulu buildings 03 Slow and steady exposures

    A surfer stands on the reef at Ala Moana park as clouds move off the Ko'olau mountains at dusk in Honolulu, HI.

    long exposures of honolulu buildings 04 Slow and steady exposures

    Stars shine above Hokua and Nauru Tower at dusk in Honolulu, HI.

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    Long exposures of Honolulu buildings from Magic Island at Dusk.

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    A view of the Hawaii Prince Hotel towers and the Waikiki skyline from Ala Moana Beach Park in Honolulu, HI.

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    A long exposure of Diamond Head and the Waikiki skyline from Ala Moana Beach Park in Honolulu, HI.

    Kupuna Portrait at Aunty Honey’s 80th Birthday Party

    Posted on by JordanMurph

    ‘Ohana means family.

    I got to spend Saturday night with my ‘ohana to celebrate my great Aunty Honey’s 80th birthday. It was a blast getting to catch up with all of my cousins, aunties, and uncles. The food was amazing, the stories were hilarious and bitter sweet, and the aloha with all the family was amazing.

    I’ve been wanting to photograph a portrait of the kupuna (elders) in my family for a long time but at their age it isn’t very often that they all get together. My grandfather, Bertrand Naholowa’a was in the Air Force. When my mom was a little girl, he was on a chartered flight up in Alaska and the plane hit an electrical storm and disappeared. My grandfather, along with several other service men, some even with their entire families aboard, were lost and never recovered. Because of the tragedy, military families were no longer required to fly together again.

    Anyways, my connection to my Hawaiian ancestry is through my mother, and her aunts and uncles who are my late grandfather’s brothers and sisters. I’ve always wanted to meet my grandfather. I’ve heard to many stories about him and been told how he and I have the exact same eyes and brow. The closest thing I have to seeing my grandfather are his brothers and sisters. and lately, for some reason, it’s become important for to me to get to photograph them. When my Aunty Pu told me about the party last month, I realized that it’d be the perfect opportunity and I asked her if I could set up a studio and photograph them together.

    I had a simple set up. For the background, I chose a nine foot white seamless (12 footers are hard to come by on the islands). I went with white because I didn’t want to portray a mood with gray or black and I didn’t want to have to light it if I didn’t want to. I wasn’t going for a moody look or anything…this was a celebration for Aunty Honey’s birthday and I didn’t want to take away from that.

    I kept the light really simple. I had hoped to use Nikon Speedlights using a Lightware Direct FourSquare and modifiers like the Traveller 8 softbox and Speed Grids from Honl Photo, but I didn’t want to worry about power and recycle. I wound up using my Dyna-lites and keeping with the simple theme: one 1000XR pack and a 4040 bulb head. I used that with an 86 inch silver parabolic umbrella with a front diffusion that I picked up a few weeks back and all I can say is, holy moly. It’s incredibly efficient and puts out a great light. With the pack set to only 125 watts and the light seven or so feet away from the subjects, I was metering f13 at 200 ASA.

    Wow.

    It was great night with my family and getting to catch up with everyone. And made a lot of progress and got a ton of info from my family for my personal project I’m working on. More on that to come.

    It was an honor getting to photograph the kupuna.

    Thanks for looking.

    Aloha,
    Jordan

    murph 244583 Kupuna Portrait at Aunty Honeys 80th Birthday Party

    My grandfather's siblings; Aunty Umi, Aunty Honey, (back) Aunty Maggie, and Uncle Reuben.

    murph 244614 Kupuna Portrait at Aunty Honeys 80th Birthday Party

    Aunty Honey with her children: Aunty Pu and Aunty Pam. (back) Uncle Noa, Uncle Nui, Uncle Alex, and Uncle Sam.

    murph 244650 Kupuna Portrait at Aunty Honeys 80th Birthday Party

    Aunty Honey with her grand children and great grandchildren. I have a lot of cousins.

    murph 244676 Kupuna Portrait at Aunty Honeys 80th Birthday Party

    Happy birthday Aunty!

    One vote for a friend and I win a free Drobo. Better odds than Vegas.

    Posted on by JordanMurph

    I guess I’m lucky.

    My friend Matt Brown entered a contest to win 100 Drobo units (hard drive arrays that back up your data). I voted for him to win. It was a four way tie in the end, but he still brought home 25 units worth $400 a pop, you do the math. Congratulations Matty. But they decided to randomly give away Drobos to people who voted and I was one of those randoms. Not too shabby for trying to be a good friend. It’s right at home here on my desk.

    Thanks Matt and Drobo.

    drobo desktop jordan murph One vote for a friend and I win a free Drobo. Better odds than Vegas.

    Hawaii Engagement Photos of My Friends Jamm & Erica

    Posted on by JordanMurph

    Jamm Aquino is one of my best photographer friends back here at home in Hawaii. He and I met back in our college days at the University of Hawaii at Manoa where we both shot for the school newspaper, Ka Leo ‘O Hawaii. We both attended the first Sports Shooter Academy back in 2005 in Orange County, CA and it was a big turning point in both of our young “careers”. He went on to earn a staff position shooting at the Honolulu Star-Bulletin (now known as the Honolulu Star-Advertiser after they absorbed our town’s other daily, the Honolulu Advertiser) and I eventually went on my path of assisting professional photographers that I met at that workshop, like Matt Brown and Robert Hanashiro, who not only taught me about photography and life and became wonderful mentors and friends, but also took me in as a part of their families, something I shall forever be grateful for.

    But back to the story. Jamm has always been a great friend and I had the pleasure of photographing engagement portraits of him and his fiance, Erica Aloang. Erica and Jamm are fixtures in the local Honolulu music scene, both being talented guitarists and playing in several different bands. While bouncing portrait ideas around with them one night at their downtown apartment, their guitars being such important parts of their lives, I knew I wanted to incorporate them into the photographs.

    I scouted around downtown Honolulu for a while looking for locations and found a sleepy, quiet parking garage with some cool backgrounds and shafts of light from the afternoon sunset.

    Photovoltaic Solar Roof Installation in Kaneohe, Hawaii

    Posted on by JordanMurph

    Last week I got to photograph a photovoltaic (more commonly known as solar) system installation for Beachside Solar Technologies at Marine Corps Base Hawaii. The assignment was to take photographs to document the job, for marketing materials, and for the upcoming relaunch of the company website that I’m excited to be a part of. This particular crew is one of best in the business. I always enjoy getting to photograph them and I appreciate them letting me into their world. Here are a few frames I like that don’t give too much away. Mahalo!

    From The Archives: Diving With Mats Wiktorsson

    Posted on by JordanMurph

    I recently got got back in touch with my friend from college, Mats Wiktorsson. We were both Communication majors together at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. We had a few classes together, and we became friends while sitting next to each other in the back of the computer lab for some class I’ve long forgotten about. I asked if he’d be cool with me shooting some photos, he didn’t mind, and over the next year of school I shot a ton of dive meets and practices. I love shooting water sports, especially diving, swimming, and water polo, so naturally it was a blast.

    murph 061027 5553 From The Archives: Diving With Mats Wiktorsson

    Mats Wiktorsson diving from the 1 meter springboard at the Duke Kahanamoku Swimming Complex at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. 2007 Copyright © Jordan Murph

    After all that time of being pretty much the only photographer around, the team and coaches began getting used to me. I tried to be a nice guy, stay out of the way, and always showed my gratitude for them letting me into their house. And so the more access I asked for, the more I got. So much as they were fine with me being in the pool with them while they dove.

    Mats is now back home in Sweden and I wish him the best!

    Here are a few of my favorite photos of Mats. Click on a photo to see a larger version.

    murph 061220 9152 From The Archives: Diving With Mats Wiktorsson

    Mats Wiktorsson diving from the 3 meter springboard at the Duke Kahanamoku Swimming Complex at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. 2007 Copyright © Jordan Murph

    murph 061220 9159 From The Archives: Diving With Mats Wiktorsson

    Mats Wiktorsson diving at the Duke Kahanamoku Swimming Complex at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. 2007 Copyright © Jordan Murph

    murph 070309 18025 From The Archives: Diving With Mats Wiktorsson

    Mats Wiktorsson returns to the surface after a dive from the 10 meter platform at the Duke Kahanamoku Swimming Complex at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. 2007 Copyright © Jordan Murph

    murph 070309 18032 From The Archives: Diving With Mats Wiktorsson

    Mats Wiktorsson dives from the 10 meter platform at the Duke Kahanamoku Swimming Complex at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. 2007 Copyright © Jordan Murph

    murph 070309 18040 From The Archives: Diving With Mats Wiktorsson

    Mats Wiktorsson is trailed by bubbles as he returns to the surface after a dive from the 10 meter platform at the Duke Kahanamoku Swimming Complex at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. 2007 Copyright © Jordan Murph

    Pictures of Special People + Honl Photo Traveler 8 Softbox Mini Review

    Posted on by JordanMurph

    I really enjoy photographing my friends and family when I can. Not only is it fun and good ways to try new lighting techniques and gizmos, but I love having an archive of the most important people in my life for the future. It’ll be nice for when I’m old.

    Back in April I got to meet and work with David Honl at the Sports Shooter Academy Lighting Luau workshop in Orange County. He’s makes a really cool line of light modifiers for Speedlights with his company Honl Photo and he graciously hooked me up with his products to test drive.

    Pictures of Special People + Honl Photo Traveler 8 Softbox Mini Review

    Exposure Data: 1/1250th @ f/2.8, 100 ASA. Nikon D3s+Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 G with one Nikon SB-900 Speedlight in Honl Photo Traveler 8 Softbox

    I’m quickly becoming hooked on using Speedlights for portraits instead of using my Dyna-Lite studio strobes. I shot this simple portrait of my old man, I mean dad, using Dave’s Traveler 8 Softbox. At only eight inches across, it’s not going to replace a full sized softbox for every situation, but for it’s small, and I mean SMALL, size it puts out a very pleasing light…”soft” but with a very noticeable and defined edge.

    What’s so great is that it weighs next to nothing and it folds and packs flat and can easily be slipped into any camera bag, from the daily newspaper photojournalist’s Domke bag, or slipped into any of the nooks and crannies of a standard lighting kit.

    Check it out!