I finally got a chance to do a photo shoot and work on my photography skills. This is a pic I took of my girlfriend Malia Funk, on the south side of Oahu. It was a great experience to play "photographer" and capture stills of such a beautiful girl. Doing this photo shoot definitely fuels my ambition to become a better photographer as I learn about lighting and ideal scene selection in a photo, through real life practice. I'm looking forward to the next photo shoot!
Learned about taking HDRI (High Dynamic Range Image) in school the other day. I really like the photos, the images really come to life, though they almost appear unrealistic with the heavy dynamic range. Heres a photo a took and created through Photoshop.
I was extremely blessed in past couple of days for my opportunity to go up to the island of Moloka'i for a diving trip. My buddy Derek LeVault invited me to sail up to Moloka'i with him and his friend Victor to go and do some spearfishing. Victor the boat captain sailed us through the channel on his 32 ft sailboat overnight in relatively ruff seas. I was surprised on his sailing abilities considering how little sleep he got. The weather wasn't too great during the trip and because of the north swell we weren't able to dive on the north side of the island. We ended up doing well though, we got a bunch of good fish and found some nice reefs to dive on. It was also really cool to see lobsters in some of the reef holes in moloka'i, though we didn't end up catching any. I was especially stoked on the mus and uku I shot. Heres a pic of some of the better fish i ended up shooting. We also got a bunch of uhus, goats, rois, and other reef fish.
This is a short Time-lapse i made of my new pet Sulcata Tortoise,Squirt . The time-lapse consists of close to 250 photos of 1 photo every 10 seconds. The clip was then slowed down through edit.
I've been compiling footage and begun the ruff editing of the next dive video. This new video is gonna be focused towards the invasive roi, and the clean up of the reef. It is going to incorporate footage from both myself and my dive partner Brandon. I hoping to produce a video thats really up beat and to the point, minimizing boring shots and trying to keep it action, and by that I mean just action of Rois -> to keep it focused on invasive. I'm thinking that this video will be popular in many spearfishing groups throughout Hawaii, as the eradication of the invasive peacock grouper (roi) has become an apparent issue and mutual goal to eliminate. I hope that you guys are looking forward to the next video. I look forward to posting it!
Finally after hours of editing, I got my video up on youtube. Started to get creative with this video and mixed it up. I filmed my dive partner Brandon, to get a third party perspective. He also filmed me using a three prong. I felt that those addition really helped to make the video unique. I also added the banner for the club Na Kane O Ke Kai. I thought it would be considerate of myself to rep the club that I am a part of, along with HammerHead Spearguns- my dive sponsor. I hope all of you enjoy the video and subscribe to my channel. Mahalo
This is a dive video that my dive partner Brandon Terry just put out. Its got a ton of action and takes place in many of the same spots that my videos are shot in. It's his first video so he's trying to look for new ways to improve with consumer comments. At the time we both complied footage and edited videos, so i'll be coming out with a dive vid soon. My video is pretty much done, just trying to get a couple more people to review it before I publish it to the web. Final stages of editing! Anyways everyone that looks at this blog should view this video and subscribe to his channel. Mahalo Nui
Monday, September 26, 2011
I apologize for the recent lack of posts. I've been extremely busy with architecture school and work. I finally had an opportunity to get a dive in with my dive partner Brandon. We went out with one of Brandon's dad's work friend. He promised to take us out on his boat and play boat man, if we could help him catch fish for a party. It worked out well as all of us got a fair share of fish. I was excited on my catch, especially the Nohu (Rock Cod) as they are fairly rare to us. Also delicious to eat.! Keep in tune as a new video is soon to be in development. Also, I always appreciate input. Please feel free to message me and let me know what kind of material you would like to see on this blog in the future.
Recently the company I work for; Kamanu Composites, sponsored a work retreat for all of the employees. We all left to Kauai on a camping trip at Poli Hale for a three day vacation. Because two of the bosses and one of the workers live on Kauai, the trip was ideal and there were trucks that we could borrow to get around for transportation. Kauai had unreal scenery and Poli Hale was an incredible place to camp. The sand was silky, the sunsets amazing, and weather conditions were epic. I even got a chance to dive and pic up some fish to cook for dinner.! Unreal trip and thanks a bunch to Kamanu Composites
first day catch. Uhu, Papio, and Justins
Aholehole (photo credit- Makana Denton)
Beautiful sunsets at Poli Hale (photo credit- Makana Denton)
photo credit- Makana Denton
photo credit- Makana Denton
Cooking the fish from the first night (photo credit- Makana Denton)
tents on the beach.
Found the good reef on the second day. 15lb Omilu, and 7lb Tako. and a bunch of other fish. (photo credit- Makana Denton)
Just finished Coaching for Kailua Canoe Club. I coached with a friend for the boys 14 and 15 age group. The season was tuff at times, but it was an overall exciting season and memorable as well. I put this video together thats filmed with 90% Gopro and a couple shots with the Canon 60d. Before watching the video I suggest for you to turn up the volume and turn the video to HD. Enjoy
Went diving the other day and picked a whole bunch of Munu (goatfish) also known as Joe. These fish are really good eating and i am blessed to have been able to catch so many. The one in the far back was shot by my dive partner, but i shot all of the others. These fish were shot in 40-70ft depth.
My dive partner and I also shot some invasive fish. Doing my part to help the reef.
Finally got some epic footage that i've been trying to capture this whole summer. Were starting to get into the shark week mood! We went out on the HammerHead Speargun boat outside the northern side of the island of Oahu. We stopped at one spot in blue water that had potential, I was the first to jump in. As soon as I got in the water, I saw a monster Kaku (barracuda) and immediately acted upon the opportunity. I yelled to Kevin who was in the boat to throw me a gun. He handed me one of the new Hammerhead model spearguns that we were testing that day. Not shooting the gun before made me a little tense and apprehensive, though after dropping down to the Kaku and landing a great shot on it, I had great confidence in the gun. We landed the Kaku as seen in the video and used some of it for palu(chum) to bring in the sharks. Although it was a crazy and possibly dangerous move, the sharks were calm and the day ended with us getting great footage and all of our limbs still a part of us. We also saw some kawakawa's (small tuna) chasing around the opelu (small bait fish) though we couldn't get a decent shot on any of them. Later we went back into the reef and shot some invasive fish to do our part with reef conservation. Also I landed my second decent size fish with the new gun, a nice size kahala (amberjack). It was a great day that resulted in outstanding results with the new model gun, epic footage, and some nice fish. I'm going to post another post specifically about the new Hammerhead gun soon, so keep in tune for that! It was a Good day in Hawaii.
I've been saving up for a while now and i recently picked up a Canon 60D with an 17-40 mm lens. After talking with friends and seeing the videos they make, I've decided that i would like to start the art of video making and photography. The 60D is nice for video shooting, it takes High Definition footage and has a movable screen which helps for filming.
I also have the GoPro setup which i use primarily for underwater/water filming because of its housing. Im really like the GoPro, it takes unreal footage and is a steal for the price it is. You get an wide view HD camera with a underwater housing for 250-300$ thats the best bang for your buck in my point of view.
Left- Eye of mind housing, head strap Middle- Flat lens addition, head strap. Right- regular housing, clip on attachment for gun mounts.
THe other two are my friend Kevin's GoPros. This is after a day of filming while diving, we got some unreal footage and im gonna post a video up soon! hope you guys are looking forward to it.
Here are two of the videos that i have made recently with the new camera.
THis is a video that I made for a guy who my Dad is working for. He asked for a video to be made of the construction of his house so that he could look back at it for good memories. This was technically my first "job" as a videographer in the sense that with this Im starting to pay off the camera. I enjoyed making this video and i especially like incorporating time lapse footage in my videos.
This second video was of Diamond Head Hike. I was tagging along with the summer prep program Upward Bound, that I have been apart of in High school. I also enjoyed making this video. Because i only had one day to film, i took lots and lots of footage so that i would have a selection to choose from while editing.
I would greatly appreciate any comments, or recommendations on how i could improve. Subscribe to my Youtube channel for more videos in the future.
Three of my friends from work recently went on a trip to Japan. They main reason for the trip was for them as paddlers, to enter a paddling race in Japan. Though as seen in the video, they also had a lot of fun partying and getting to see many scenic areas in Japan. I couldn't join them because i couldn't afford it financially though i hope to go next year. Seeing this video inspired me to start making more videos and my friends in this video and I have already started to work on the next project. I hope you guys enjoy this video!
------> http://vimeo.com/26167663 <--------
Scored two nice Mu the other day diving. One right after the other. The two mu were incredibly curious and came in to inspect me pretty fast. I shot them with my Hammer Head 110. Both weighed six pounds though i swear one looked way bigger then the other in the water. I was stoked on my catch, i think my skills on mu hunting are improving. I look forward to getting even better!.
I'm not sure if you guys have seen this yet, this is kinda of a older catch of mine.(maybe like 2 or 3 months.) I just thought that i should show that i do, do my part in shooting invasive. This bad boy weighed in as my largest yet shot roi at 8lbs! I didn't realize how big it was when i shot it in the water, i thought it was just another 5-6lber.(which we see kinda often) Little did i know that this fish was a personal record. Unfortunately it swam in the rocks with my shaft and slightly bent it. I was super irritated about that considering it wasn't a big ulua or anything.
Im stoked on the catch and i printed it several times, keep in tune for the final gyotaku! ( when i get time to get to it . haha :-p)
I finally found the plant that I have been looking to grow! I've wanted to grow this plant for the past couple of years but I haven't been able to find it at any of the local nurseries due to the fact that it is a rare plant. The plant is called the Miracle Fruit or Miracle Berry. It makes a small, bright red berry that temporarily alters your taste buds when consumed. After eating the miracle fruit, one can eat easily consume normally sour items like lemons or limes, and they will taste sweet!. The plants grows slow, but can bare fruit after a little over a foot
this is a sample plant they had at the nursery, they said that they've
had it for over 5 years.
The miracle fruit plant that i bought
stands a little over a foot
My dive partner and I went diving the other day off the zodiac. Getting ready for the dive, i realized how many guns we actually take on a day of diving. We had six guns total, three guns each. Both of us have one wood gun, one bigger euro, and one smaller euro. Each gun is used for a different reef and depth of diving. Is this overkill? what do you guys think. Keep in mind though, this was a full day of diving. Normally we would only take two guns each. The funniest thing is... both my dive partner and I, want to get a new gun to add to our arsenals. It never stops!
My dive partner and I entered the Gene Higa Memorial dive tournament this past sunday. The tournament is a memorial to a fallen diver, Gene Higa, as well as all the other fallen divers out there. It takes place on the north shore of Oahu at mokuleia beach and the boundaries stretch across mokuleia. Its a "biggest fish" tournament so everyone is out there looking for the big hogs.
We didn't really have a game plan going into this tournament, as it was the first for both of us. We swam out far enough pass the mokuleia drop off to where it was about 100-120ft depth. We dropped a flasher system that i made, and we chummed sabas for hours. We were lacking luck that day and nothing came in. As we drifted back to the drop off, i shot a 6.5lb uku. I was stoked on the uku as it had potential to place. Later i found the seven eleven crab. The crab was huge!. Never before have I obtained, let alone seen a 7-11 crab in the water. It took several drops to free and grab the crab out of this giant cave in was hiding in. The claws on the crab were huge and I was a little hesitated when grabbing him.
After bringing it back to the weigh in, is when i realized how large it really was. Everyone was congratulating me on the catch, both the uku as well as the crab. The crab weighed 3.4 lbs and beat out the old state record 7-11 crab by .3 lbs. Unfortunately their was no largest crab category :P
Overall it was a great experience for my first tournament, and all you other divers out their..... were gonna be ready next tournament, the fall shoot out is on the home ground. Gonna be exciting!
The other day I took some of my friends to see my old teacher of Bonsai. My friends were starting to become interested in the hobby of gardening and they wanted to see different styles and ways to grow plants.
For a quick overview, Bonsai is the art of maintaining, trimming, and creating the perception of a large tree in a small scale. Bonsai plants are usually very old and are pruned and shaped regularly to maintain their beauty and to mold them into little trees. From what i believe, Bonsai is an art that came out of Japan. Check out the site at the bottom for more info on the art.
I took a bonsai class a while ago and i told them about the art. Intrigued with the idea they wanted to learn more. We decided it would be cool to go to my old teacher, Walter Liew's , garden in waimanalo to check out his collection of bonsai trees. It was a nice visit and my friends were happy that they got check out his work.
These trees are very old, and have had alot of time put into them. I really do appreciate this art form and plan on making some of my own bonsai trees that hopefully i will still have when I'm older. If anyone is interested in checking this garden out, it's called the Dragon Garden. Their is more info at this site http://dragongardennursery.com/gallery.html.
Mahalo and thank you for keeping in touch with Onemoredrophawaii,
Kaoru Lovett
High school paddling season has been over for a couple months now. After coaching Le Jardin's junior varsity team with a friend, i have gained much more appreciation for the school as well as the sport. This year was the second year that LJA has had a paddling team, and they are growing fast. The other night, Le Jardin held an award ceremony for the school sports.
As coaches, we went to give all of our boys awards and congratulate them on a good season and wishe for more to come. At the end of the ceremony, one of the varsity paddlers Mike Dowsett's, father Jay Dowsett revealed to the school a brand new canoe that they had been working on. Jay and seven of the seniors on the paddling team had been working on a new Malia canoe for the school. This was especially awarding due to the fact that the school had no canoe's in its possession prior to this one.
I was lucky enough to get to see this new Malia and i have to say that it is one of the nicest six man canoes, that i have ever seen. The craftsmanship is excellent, and the overall finish look to it is amazing.
The Malia is the series of boats that all ILH schools must use in order to race in their division.
The seven seniors built this canoe from their hearts, and in doing so they decided to put some symbolism into the canoe. Each senior stamped their handprints onto the seat in which they normally sit. The Le Jardin community is very lucky to be blessed with this beautiful boat.
These past couple of weeks, I've been jam packed with a huge project as well as a portfolio assignment in my architecture class at the University of Manoa. I'm finishing up my second semester of my first year in the architecture program. I spent last week at school doing nothing but sketching, rendering, and editing work. With many sleepless nights, and much anticipation to get back into the water, I'm extremely relived as well as glad to be able to say that it is over.!
The project was a presentation that we had to create on one of the buildings on the UH campus. I choose the newest building on campus, the center of Microbiology- C-More Hale. With this building, we were assigned to come up with, a floor plan, an elevation, a section, a site plan, two vignettes, two models, and an abstraction. It was alot of work, but i gotta say it was an enduring challenge and rather fullfilling too.
planar model
These are a couple of pics of the two models. The models are similar in the sense that they were made from the same abstraction. One is a planar model (made with planes and thin pieces rather then masses) while the other is a volumetric model (made with masses and thicker pieces). Both models were made with bass wood.
volumetric model
planar model
planar model
These are two pages out of my portfolio, covering the drafting done for the final project.
My dive partner and I also shot some invasive fish. Doing my part to help the reef.
Later we went back into the reef and shot some invasive fish to do our part with reef conservation. Also I landed my second decent size fish with the new gun, a nice size kahala (amberjack). It was a great day that resulted in outstanding results with the new model gun, epic footage, and some nice fish. I'm going to post another post specifically about the new Hammerhead gun soon, so keep in tune for that! It was a Good day in Hawaii.
Scored two nice Mu the other day diving. One right after the other. The two mu were incredibly curious and came in to inspect me pretty fast. I shot them with my Hammer Head 110. Both weighed six pounds though i swear one looked way bigger then the other in the water. I was stoked on my catch, i think my skills on mu hunting are improving. I look forward to getting even better!. 
