Dachs Thoughts

Our final shooting day was another long one, up before sunrise and out till after sunset. We started the day on the north side of Kauaʻi on Lumahaʻi Beach. This is where they filmed the “nurses beach” for the movie South Pacific. There was an interesting cliff structure, and some lava rock thrusting out into the bay. It was a short walk down from where we parked to the beach. We got some nice shots of the models on the cliffs and some shots of waves breaking over the rocks as the sun rose. Finally we got a good dump of rain before we called it quits, a frequent theme of this trip.

After a brief rest at the house, we headed towards the center of the island for two more shoots. The first location was in the Makaleha area, following a stream up to where Aaron knew of a bamboo forest. However, the stream was flowing too strong for us to cross where we needed to, and storms had kind of messed up the location. We did do some shooting in a small confined area, and Aaron again set off some smoke bombs for effect, but we were so far away from civilization it wasn’t a worry. After coming back we headed to Hoʻopiʻi Falls. The path turned out to be very muddy and slippery, and like last year ended with a steep climb down to the base of the falls. By the time we got there, we had a brief time to shoot before we lost the light. We again came back on teh slippery path in the dark, but at least this year I remembered to put on plenty of bug spray so I didn’t get eaten alive. Like last year we had our final dinner at Aaron’s friend’s restaurant, and we came in all covered in mud.

All-in-all I’m glad I came, but I never really seemed to get fully engaged on this trip. Aaron does a lot to fill the days with as much good shooting as possible, but at times it seems like overload. It was always good to work with Anoush Anou and Merrique, and I think I did manage to get some interesting shots. And for sure, I did get to see some beautiful sights of Kauaʻi.

The third shooting day of the workshop was another long one. We began the day in the Poipu area of southern Kauaʻi. We shot at two different locations in the morning. The first location was at some pinnacles along the Mahaʻulepu Heritage Trail. We walked up from Shipwreck Beach to get there before sunrise. It provided some dramatic shots to the sea. There were also a number of hikers going past on the trail, which some of us were nervous about given everything else that happened that week.

After finishing there, we returned to the car and drove a little further east and then took a long walk from above Gillin’s Beach out to Kamala Point. There were some interesting openings in the seaside rocks (in some ways similar to the slot canyons of Utah), and some interesting (and very sharp) rock backgrounds to shoot against. After waking back in the blazing sun, we went into Poipu and had some lunch and visited Aaron’s gallery.

We went back up north and after a brief stop at the house, we walked over to the Queen’s Bath in Princeville. We got down in time for some shooting around on the black rocks, and were able to capture another sunset.

The second shooting day of the workshop was up in the Waimea Canyon area. The original plan was to hide down the steep ridge that I had some challenges with last year. When we got there, there was a parks worker who after seeing us put on our packs told us there was no hiking at that point. The trail head started at the out of bounds sign there, but as most of us were too skittish for another encounter with the authorities it was decided to hike to another point a little further down the road. This turned into a total failure. We hiked out the muddy slippery and at times cliff-side trail for about an hour and didn’t really get anywhere useful. Aaron came upon some folks with a hiking trail app, and we saw were were only 1/3 of the way to the place Aaron was thinking of going, so we turned back. Along the way Dave Rudin almost took a roll off the side of a cliff, caught only by the bushy foliage. Aaron managed to drag him back up.

After getting back from our hike, we went to another place we shot last year in the same general area then had a lunch break in another little spot overlooking the canyon, where we were able to do a little shooting with the breathtaking canyon as a backdrop. After our lunch break we went down to the south side of the island to the area near Port Allen where we found the cool tree to shoot in. We shot on the rocky beach there and captured some nice sunset shots.

The next day was a rest day, and I gladly took a break, and went through my images. We had a little group image review.

The first official day of the workshop is just gathering up everybody. Luckily I got picked up midday and taken to the house that would serve as our base of operations in Princeville. Those of us who were there went to the grocery store, spent a fortune, and got settled in. This gave me a relaxing first day. Aaron seems to have a need to make sure we’re getting full value for the money we paid, leading to him over packing our shooting days a bit with typically three shoots a day. We got lots of locations, but at times it seemed a bit much. I could have done with a bit slower pace. Nevertheless, we had some very nice locations to shoot. We had four photographers and were again fortunate to be shooting with Anoush Anou and Merrique, two experienced and skilled models.

The first shooting day started out at Secret Pools, which was in the same basic area as Secret Beach where we shoot last year. After a mild hike down, we got to some rocky heights overlooking the ocean. I got some nice shots on the black rock against the sea. We also got the first of our many rain bursts of the week, but afterwards it yielded a beautiful rainbow that was bright enough to stand out in the photographs. As we got back for lunch a village patrol was about to boot Aaron’s car in front of our house. He smoothed it over, but that was a foreshadowing of our trouble with authorities on this trip.

After lunch we continued around the north side of Kauaʻi past Hanalei up into the forest next to what I think was Limahuli Stream. We did some shooting in the forest and Aaron set off some some smoke bombs. This caused us some trouble. Just as we were about to leave a lady cop had trekked up into the forest and found us. I don’t know what she thought we were doing, but she layed into us with an expletive filled rant that included f-bombs, ordering us to get out of there. She layed on us the line “not on my island” which stayed with us for the remainder of the trip. It also made most of us a bit skittish for the rest of the trip about skirting the rules, which seems to be a bit of Aaron’s modus operandi.

After getting chased away, we went over to Makua Beach/Tunnels Beach and watched the sunset, which was beautiful. Afterwards we went into Hanalei and had a nice dinner at a raman place, again having to dodge the rain for a bit.

After about 7 weeks at home I set off on my first photography vacation of the year, traveling to the island of Kauaʻi, Hawaiʻi. Like last year, I came a few days early just to hang out and acclimate. I was again attending Aaron Feinberg’s Art Nude Workshop. Last year I had felt this workshop/tour was extremely physically demanding, and even borderline dangerous, but I still decided to give it a try again as the scenery and landscapes on Kauaʻi were breathtaking. I again stayed in Kapaʻa, in a hotel close to where I stayed last year, but which was right against the ocean. It was very nice. I did a some walking around and had some nice meals, including one at a fish restaurant that had handmade tables finished like surf boards. Luckily this time my back stayed healthy and gave me a good preparation for the Workshop. This would be a nice place to come and just hang out for a week relaxing.