Puako and Mauna Kea Family Photographer

My evolution into family photography. Where do I start?

I started out taking photos of people mostly looking and smiling at me. But you know what? that never satisfied me as an artist. I always knew something was missing. One day I went home thinking I just had the worse session of my life. The kids would not pay attention to me. I don’t know if I got any of all of them looking at me. I didn’t open that session for days. I was anxious.

It turns out that session would be my lightbulb moment. Because the kids didn’t really want to sit still and smile at me (and can you blame them?!), I had the family interact more with each other, encourage the parents to love and play with the kids. That session became the first session that felt like me. My favorites were the images I never used to create. Images of love and connection, of joy and real smiles, not the “smile at the photographer” kinda smile. I realized only later that even though I was freaking out deep inside about how poorly the session was going, somehow that at some point I had subconsciously focused on the light and the connection instead of keeping an eye as who wasn’t looking at the camera. My work was never the same after that.

I don’t think I could photograph a family any other way.

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FAMILIES

ENGAGEMENTS

WEDDINGS

ELOPEMENTS

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