Aloha,
I have here my remaining collection of handmade originals. Each is unique and one of a kind. These are all I have left as I have closed my darkroom.
I work with the most beautiful people in the world-dancers! Arriving in Honolulu in 1977, I worked with modeling agencies and ballerinas. As I learned more about the islands, I found myself captivated by the ancient hula, also known as hula kahiko. In 1979, I found my myself mesmerized by a public performance and realized my calling. I now have been creating hula images for over 40 years!
I started with my Canon a-1 and used super grainy 400 black and white film. I wanted to capture the era of Hawaii before colonialism and perhaps a time romanticized in my mind. To give the feel of olden times, i created my images grainy and sepia toned. The grain gave it texture and movement and the sepia color gave it a time period.
Here my collection of handmade originals. Each is unique and one of a kind. As I have closed my darkroom, these are all I have left. Each is done with the ‘old fashioned’ wet photography. Meaning using the original negative with photographic chemicals of developer/fixer and a good long wash. I also gave them a secondary treatment where each is bleached and then toned with sepia -a horrible-foul-rotton- egg smelling chemical. I used double weight fiber based paper- for a good solid feel- not plastic. And sometimes a fingerprint or two! Darkrooms are fun! and I made sure to squeeze as much fun as possible in mine!
Please view at your leisure and if an image strikes you drop it in the cart and take it home!
Ancient Hula 