The primary reason I came to Kauaʻi was to attend The Landscape Nude – A Destination Art Nude Workshop, one of a series of photography workshops put on by Aaron Feinberg, a Kauaʻi based fine-art photographer. The five-day workshop had four days of shooting with a rest day in the middle, and described the shoot venues as requiring “moderate, but short hiking to get to some locations.” This last phrase set my expectations for how much physical exertion I would be doing waaaayyyy below what turned out to be required, and exacerbated by my less than optimal back health it was quite a challenge … but I survived. There were three photographers including myself, and we were joined by two outstanding models, Anoush Anou (who I’ve worked with before), and St-Merrique.
The first day didn’t include any shooting and was basically just gathering up the group and ultimately making our way to our group house in Princeville on the northern edge of the island. It was a very nice house, with each photographer getting a bedroom, and the models sharing an upstairs bedroom accessed by a spiral staircase. I lucked out since I was the first to sign up so I got the master bedroom.
Despite the physical challenges, I had a great time on this trip. I came with pasty white skin and spotless white Nikes, and I went home with a bit of a tan and shoes thoroughly filthy stained with mud and water. I got to experience sun, sunrises, sunsets, rain, sand, mud, mountains, cliffs, ocean, beaches, forests, rivers, waterfalls, and mosquitoes, and I got to collaborate on some great photographs with some very creative people.
I began my first visit to Hawaiʻi with a few day stay in the southeast coastal enclave of Kapaʻa. I stayed in an Airbnb right near the beach as well as some decent restaurants and tourist shops. The island of Kauaʻi really is quite lush and beautiful, and I understand why it is called the garden island. Leaving Livermore in the chilly rain it was nice to arrive in the quite mild tropical weather.
It was touch and go just getting up the stairs, and I ended up basically spending the next day in bed, trying to relax my back, managing the pain, and trying to get it recovered enough to be able to survive the upcoming workshop. By the time Sunday rolled around and I met up with the workshop folks, I could move around, but still wasn’t feeling great. It was a challenge just rolling out of the bed. Nevertheless, I was glad I came to this beautiful spot.
During Friday night rush hour in the rain, I again trekked up to 
Another year has come to a close, and this one is a bit different than many that have preceded it. I got through Christmas and all the December holidays without getting any cold or flu, which I guess is attributable to getting a flu shot and not having contact with sick people. I’ve reported on this the last few years because of several years in a row where I spent the holidays suffering from some illness. Despite this, I do seem to have spent much more time at various doctors than I would like. It sort of felt like I was getting my 60k mile tune up. Eyes, root canals, physicals, etc. Hopefully that’s going to taper off quickly in the new year.
I finally took the training wheels off and arranged a shoot with a model at a studio in Oakland. An experienced model, 
I was a bit nervous, both because this was the first time I was doing this on my own, and also because I wasn’t sure I could think up creative things to do for two hours. I tried to prepare, re-watching some tutorials, and preparing a cheat sheet of shots to give me ideas should I get stuck. I made my way to Oakland, to the studio not far from the MacArthur maze and we shot. It went pretty well. I got some nice shots. I think next time I should try to identify a theme to provide some structure, but overall it went well. The studio had studio lights with a big softbox, which was new for me. This was interesting, but I also think I’d like some harder light. The situation was pretty chill, with the owner Candace walking in and out, and her dog running around, despite the fact that we were shooting nudes. All in all it was a good experience, and it gave me some confidence to try and do this again.
In a theater season that ran a little shorter than previous years, despite having more free time, I still managed to have an enjoyable time at the theater. I saw a total of 18 plays this year, 10 productions of Shakespeare plays (depending on how you count), and 8 other plays, produced by 5 different theater companies, in 3 different states. The count of live Shakespeare productions I’ve seen is now at 164. 
I ended my visit to the 
For my last outdoor production in the 
Tonight I returned to the outdoor