A New Twist on Surfboard Building

Local legend shaper Eric Arakawa is starting a new surfboard company called Arcomi (a modification of the Greek archomai, for "beginning"), in the Waialua Sugar Mill.


It's a different sort of board company in that it's based on the craftsmen involved. There are no "ghost shapers" here. Each person involved in the process has a name and a face.


With the current trends toward the "pop-out, made in China" and the "pro-board-stretched-to-your-size," Eric and his crew are going back to basics, back to a time when you knew your shaper and glasser, and they made you a genuine custom board for your style of surfing that made you really want to go out there and surf.


The idea is that these guys all work together to develop new ideas as a group. They are making some unusual designs, and doing some classic work like old school glassing and pin lines. I've been shooting quite a bit of material trying to document the creation of their project.


Eric is a very creative guy, and he came up with some interesting ideas for photographing the surfboard building process. I liked his idea of light coming out of a resin bucket so much that Eric and I ended up taping a Speedlite to the bottom of a paper bucket and shooting his glasser, Fermin Lagonell, pouring magenta-tinted resin onto a board.


Since the resin has a very short working time, we knew we'd ruin the glass job, so we used a reject board and just kept pouring resin onto it. I think we came up with something unusual, a new twist on the theme. Now if I can just get this resin off my camera gear....

Hitachi Corporate Reports

We were recently asked by a long time client of mine, Mr. Seyama of the film production company U International Corp, to shoot the "Hitachi Tree" in Moanalua Gardens. Hitachi Corporation is a large Japanese firm that is involved in everything from heavy equipment to electronics to nuclear power plants.

Hitachi has used this giant monkeypod tree in its advertisements since 1973, and it has become their corporate symbol, a bit like the Apple logo is for Macintosh computers. Japanese tourists flock to the park by the busload to see the expansive park and take their photos in front of the iconic Hitachi tree. The tree and the park are actually owned by Damon Estates, but Hitachi supports the upkeep of the park, and retains photographic rights to the tree.



Over the years, Hitachi has photographed the tree from every angle and in every light they could find, so the challenge for us was to find something they hadn't seen yet. They were designing covers for corporate sustainability and environmental reports, so the images had to have a "green" feel. I came up with some interesting techniques to light the tree in late evening with starlight, but that was nixed by the art director because it didn't really show the "green" image they were looking for.

In his infinite wisdom, Mr. Seyama noted that a photo shoot is always a learning process in which the client and the photographer gradually come to understand each other. In the end we did find some beautiful greens, and we are looking forward to seeing the images in print.

View Tor's past work for Hitachi Corporation at http://www.hitachinoki.net/download/wallpaper.html.

Weddings

I focus more on journalistic and commercial photography than weddings, but I recently had a wonderful time shooting two very different weddings. It so happened that a friend who shoots high-end weddings, Stephanie Riedel, became ill halfway through an important wedding. Her clients were prominent black Philadelphians who wanted the best of everything, even to the extent of bringing their own pastor and some amazing choral singers from the mainland.

The bride was gorgeous, the light at sunset was soft and warm. The ceremony was long, and there was a downpour just at the end, which made the entire wedding party scatter for cover. I ran in front of the wedding couple and caught the action.

Later the groom and his best men sang half a dozen songs to the bride, before starting an incredible dance party. I enjoyed filling in for Stephanie and I shot some images that I was very happy with.The long, traditional and religious ceremony couldn't have been more different from my next wedding- a simple Hawaiian ceremony for our new friends Brian and Tracey from Sydney, Australia. Noted Hawaiian kahu Butch Kauihimalaihi Helemano led a traditional Hawaiian ceremony including weaving of coconut fibers (ka nui ka'ula) symbolizing the weaving of the bride and groom's lives into one, and the traditional exchanging of breath (ka honi Hawai'i), the Hawaiian form of a kiss that symbolizes the sharing of life itself. The wedding was at Laniakea, one of my favorite beaches.

Click here to learn more about Butch Kauihimalaihi Helemano's traditional ceremonies.



It's been a joy to share some of the happiest moments of people's lives with them, and to have a chance to make a creative interpretation through the lens. Rather than simply taking pictures of a wedding, I think it's important to find new lighting, new angles, and new compositions in order to learn and stay passionate. I guess the same goes for any type of photography.

Click here to view the wedding page on Tor's website.