Ansel Adams once said - I can’t verbalize the internal meaning of pictures whatsoever. Some of my friends can at very mystical levels, but I prefer to say that, if I feel something strongly, I would make a photograph, that would be the equivalent of what I saw and felt… When I’m ready to make [...]
There is nothing is quite as delicious as a day off after working 12 hour days for more than a week. This evening, Dewitt and I headed down to the west end of the island where he has been photographing a beautiful series of wave images. As we set up on the beach, we discussed [...]
When it comes to sleep patterns, I have two modes in my life. Assignment mode, when I get up long before the sun to catch the sweet light of the first rays of dawn, and everything else mode, when I prefer to let the day start at a decidedly more leisurely rate paced by a [...]
Rikki often says it not about me taking the picture, but about the picture taking me. The phrase what will I be taken by today? regularly enters my mind when I am shooting. Its simplicity disarming the inner critic that tells me that I have to go make a good picture. Its a phrase that [...]
Driving the red dirt road to Kamakou preserve on Molokai, one could easily mistake the landscape for western Tanzania. Grassy plains surrounded by wind sculpted trees make my eye look for the giraffe that will never walk into my frame. Today we found ourselves bouncing down this road in spite of the rain that insists [...]
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
This morning it was not the usual cacophony of birds and subtle song of wind chimes that woke me, but rather the melodic drumming of rain on the tin roof above my head. Before I was fully conscious I knew our plans of a field trip to the mesmerizing ancient rainforest had washed away and [...]
A comment by Mr. Miroslaw Swietek in response to these stunning insect photos refused to leave my mind today. Mr. Swietek said Its not the camera which takes pictures but the mind and the heart – and in mantra like fasion his comment repeated itself over and over in my mind during the photography workshop [...]
Ten minutes after I hit the publish button on “nothing endures but change…”, I wandered over to the front porch of the lodge at the Hui for morning check in. Check in is a time for my fellow instructors and I to set the compass for the days workshop and offer a open forum for [...]
A cacophony of birds awoke me on the island of Molokai this morning. Exquisite morning light whispered through the Koa trees as a wind chime sounded out its unpredictable melody to the day. This is my fifth year helping to teach Rekindling The Creative Spirit with Rikki Cooke, Dewitt Jones and Theresa Airey, and like [...]
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Seeing the Light, 2009 was a wonderful success. Old friends and new explored what it means to be a photographer, and what it means to see – both before the shutter is clicked and after. Stay tuned for a 2010 announcement! Purchase this Photo 20% off custom framing ends use the code “HolidayGifts09″
Saturday, November 28, 2009
I must have passed this cross covered with leis twenty times before I noticed it on the solitary stretch of Kamehameha highway by the sea on the island of Molokai. It was located on a blind curve so I franticly took my frames while standing in the middle of the road as a friend of [...]
Elliot Erwitt once famously wrote: …photography was little to do with the things you see and everything to do with the way you see them. It is with this thought in mind that one of my mentor’s Paul Liebhardt and I decided to craft a photography workshop to be offered on the beautiful island of Molokai, Hawaii [...]
FISH IN THE FILTER The massive cumulonimbus clouds ripe with rain were well over a month away from rolling atop the blue hills of the Western Ghat mountain range in Tamil Nadu and enveloping the region in the mist of monsoon. My pet project for the dry season at the photographic college where I was [...]
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
My week of helping teach the photography workshop at the Hui Ho’olana on Molokai with fellow instructors, Rikki Cooke, Dewitt Jones and Theresa Airey has drawn to a close and I can feel the gravity of the mainland pulling me back into its orbit. Leaving the slow pace of life on Molokai to return to [...]
Hear Dewitt Jones read one of his columns from Outdoor Photographer. © Dewitt Jones 2009, All rights reserved. Used with permission. ________________ A chance to slow down and regroup today at the Hui Hoolana. A chance to notice the details, soak in the sun, relax and look at the images that have been taking us [...]
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Pigeons, known as the Molokai Rainbows, fly on the island of Molokai, Hawaii. The pigeons are colored with food dye and are released at special events on the islands of Molokai and Maui. For more information email Clay. Hear Rikki tell the true story of Bungalow Bill. Recorded on the front porch of the Hui [...]
Halawa valley, Molokai, Hawaii. Hear Rikki read “Seeing Simply.” © Richard A Cooke III. Used with permission. WHY IT CLICKS I’m walking down a dusty street in Madurai, India at midnight with close friends, Paul Liebhardt and Dan & Janine Patitucci. At this point in my life, I had been living in Tamil Nadu for [...]
Musicians performing ‘Kaulana Wailua’ during the annual photographic workshop at the Hui Hoolana on Molokai, Hawaii. Listen to the audio by clicking the play button below. ROCKS AND TREES It wasn’t long ago that I was standing in front of some of the most famous photographs of all time at the Boise, Idaho art museum. On [...]
Click the play button to hear Bronwyn’s opening chant. Old friends and new have arrived at the Hui for its annual photographic workshop on the island of Molokai. Formally opening the week, Bronwyn Cooke chants a song in Hawaiian that translates to the following: “Grant us, grant us, grant us, the wisdom from above, that [...]
The moon is radiant and clear bathing the ground in her pale light. Under a cloudless sky, the trade wind blows through the Koa forest and only the brightest stars are visible. Regulus and Leo take my vision, their light captivates me. Light that started its journey before I was born to reach this earth. [...]
