Beach closed, North Shore, O'ahu. fBHF on expired Ektachrome.

These are from the North Shore of O’ahu the day after the 2009 Eddie Aikau, an irregularly held surfing competition only held when the wave swells at Waimea Bay are over 20 ft. Greg Long rode a 40 ft wave to a perfect score, passing Kelly Slater to win. The following day, waves were easily still 20-30 feet high.

My wife & I had planned on exploring the North Shore in the morning, having an early lunch at Ted’s Bakery then shave ice at Matsumoto’s before heading back out to drive the Wai’anae coast.

It didn’t go exactly as planned.

Tasked with now entirely too much time on the North Shore, we tried to make the most of it. We drove the stretch from Waimea Bay to Turtle Bay and back, stopping at random beaches and whatever else struck our fancy for several hours; each time praying the police had finally reopened the road to Haleiwa and its delicious, delicious shave ice.

Long story, short: Matsumoto’s is worth the wait, the North Shore is both amazing & terrifying, and we never made it to the western-side of the island.

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Gallery: fBHF – O’ahu 2009

Bikini Wahine Wading Waikiki. O'ahu, HI 2009.

After several months of disuse, I finally dusted of the scanner and processed some 35mm negatives I had developed in the beginning of June. Taken last December on O’ahu with a GoPro Hero waterproof 35mm camera on expired Kodak UltraMax 400.

Fog of Mystery, O'ahu. Vintage Diana F, Ektar 100.

Hello Internet,

It’s been awhile, hasn’t it? I know, I know, I’m a bad friend leaving you hanging like that. Not a word or a peep or even just a heads up.

Suddenly, it’s June. I know May existed by the subtle carnage it left behind, but as to where it went, only future archaeologists may know….

So yeah. How are things?

Good, good (unless, of course, they aren’t; then you have my sympathies or other appropriate response).

Things have been hectic here. But you know how it is and how it goes and what-not.

Ok.

Well it’s been nice chatting with you.

Hey! Let’s try to keep in touch.

Surfer Lanikai, O'ahu. Vintage Diana F, Ektar 100.

Lanikai Beach, on O’ahu’s windward coast, is a place that existed in my imagination well before I ever knew it actually existed.

It has a beauty that makes any words used to describe it feel brutish & hackneyed in comparison:

- Water that openly defies Crayola with an ever shifting palette of blues and greens not found even in the big box of crayons.

- Sand so soft you could use it as cake flour.

- The sun in the sky so inviting, that you lay back and close your eyes to let the warmth embrace you; yet still feel compelled to open them every couple of seconds to reassure yourself it’s not a dream.

- Two picturesque off-shore islands that so perfectly compliment everything you see around you, you’ll find faith in a higher power, because shit like this doesn’t just happen… this… this is Intelligent Design.

- It inspires hyperbole so thick… uhmmm… you could eat it with a spoon…?

Yeah, sorry about that… got a little carried away there, I suppose.

Ok, ok, one more:

- The ocean, so serene, gently lapping against the subtle sloping shore, that despite being in Hawaii, you nearly wonder aloud “what the hell is that surfer doing here?”

Palm Fronds, O'ahu, fBHF on expired Ektachrome (1990).

As I twittered (tweeted, twooted, twinkled, twunctated or twhat-have-you) yesterday, I’ve finally finished scanning all the 120 rolls from my December trip to O’ahu; now I face the Herculean task of processing the rough scans into pretty pictures. At first glance, there are several frames that have caught my eye that I can’t wait to return to later.

The fact I at least finished scanning two consecutive projects (HolgaHike & O’ahu 2009) is progress, in more than the immediate literal sense. I should try to explain.

I’ve been loosely following The Art of Waiting project. The concept, as best I understand it, is that several photographers go out & contemplate ‘waiting’ in their work; then, they themselves (and the audience), have to wait until next year to see the fruit of their labors. I said “loosely” following, mostly because their concept hit a little too close to home: part of what they’re doing as art, I’ve been doing for years out of sheer procrastination.

I have a backlog of twenty-some-odd rolls of 120, some dating back to 2007 and most before I started labeling my rolls with location/camera/date information. So I have a shoe-box’s worth of my mysterious past awaiting to be discovered. Perhaps, instead of feeling traces of guilt about neglecting the past, I should mentally justify my procrastination as ‘art.’

If my negligence was on purpose, then what I’m really doing is just ‘aging’ those rolls, like one would with a fine wine or cheese, to be appreciated at some later date with pinkies out.

Or not.

So the fact that I’m close to completing a project or two, means I can start another with a clearer conscience, which is progress.

Waikiki Morning, O'ahu. fBHF on expired Ektachrome (1990).

Anywho, here is some more recent Hawaiian ‘wine,’ fresh from the box (camera).

The wife & I were strolling along Waikiki beach (as one is wont to do in Waikiki) in the morning on the way back to the hotel from a sunrise breakfast at Duke’s (great view, good coffee, terrible eggs Benedict). The beach itself was still mostly abandoned due to the early hour, so it felt like we had the entire shore to ourselves, which, in & of itself, is a somewhat rare thing in Waikiki.

It was serene.

An amusing aside about Duke’s: our relatively youthful waiter noticed my BHF sitting on the table as he took our drink order; first he asked what it was and then inquired how many mega-pixels it had….

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Gallery: fBHF – O’ahu 2009