Katch 1 at TooGruvz

I went to TooGruvz Records and Clothing in Pucks Alley today to pick up a few Katch 1 items that I had owner James hold for me. I was floored by the awesome artwork done by my favorite artist. Thank you James for letting me take these pictures!

This is their front door!

Katch's mural!!

These characters spell out KATCH 1!

IHOP

A few months ago me and Wendell had breakfast at IHOP in Waikiki. I forget why . . . I think we were craving pancakes.

Wendell ordered this omelet. Sorry, I forget what kind of omelet . . . it was awhile back.

This is my Eggs Benedict. I had to scrape off most of the sauce. It was good though.

We shared this short stack. It was very, very yummy.

Gobo Chips

My sister Didi got these gobo chips as part of a birthday present and she shared them with us. She said they can be found at Marukai. She called Shirokiya and Don Quijote to see if they might also carry them, but they don't. I liked it. It has a really nice flavor and crunch.

Didi also shared this Green Tea Kit Kat. At first it tasted like ice cream to me, but then it left a funny after taste. A friend of hers brought it back from Japan. I don't think you can find it here.

The Delivery Guy

I was at work today, busy typing as usual when I realized that the room had suddenly gotten very, very quiet. I glanced up and saw that the door was open and I could hear a male voice coming from the other side of the door. He said that he had some equipment for us. Someone directed him to our 4th floor space.

The door closed and the room quickly exploded with chatter. "Did YOU SEE him?" "OH MY GOD, he's sooooo cute!" A few blushed while talking about him.

I grabbed my camera and ran the two flights upstairs to the 4th floor. I could hear him approaching from the other side.

I pretended to be fiddling with the double doors, opening it for him while I shot from the hip.

In the guise of documenting the receipt of some very expensive equipment, I was able to get these shots.

What I won't do for my fellow coworkers!

Ala Wai Community Garden

On overcast days I love to go to the Ala Wai Community Garden. It's located at the makai end of University Avenue along the Ala Wai Canal. Cloudy-day soft lighting makes for good picture taking there. It was a little windy on this particular day, so I had to time the shots for the still moments. You sometimes have to shoot between the fence wires and you kinda have to search for the colors, but take your time, enjoy the solitude, become one with nature, and the shots will reveal themselves to you.

Honolulu City Lights with CQ and Family

Aren't Christmas lights just magical? Trying to capture that feeling is very challenging, so when CQ mentioned that her family was gonna check out the Honolulu City Lights I said, "I'm down, I'm in, I'm dope." Ain't I soooo kewl, hah?

I arrived early 'cause I wanted to look around before CQ them got there. Takes me long to figure out my settings and stuff, dat's why. I was in awe . . . sooooo beautiful . . . but how to capture . . . especially hand held? The Christmas tree lighting is amaaaazing. It has so many different looks.
So neat yeah!

CQ, Jacob, Kaori and Connor arrived just a little after me.

Getting them plus the background lights in the same shot was a bit tricky. After fiddling around and fiddling around, my settings kinda ended up at 3200 ISO, 1/125 f3.5. Depending on the distance, my flash compensation varied a lot.
For this picture, I got down real low to get the whole tree in. I had to take several shots . . . thanks for your patience guys.

'kay, the above picture was taken with my 35mm lens. Without CQ them moving, I switched to my 85mm lens, backed up a bit and got this shot. Totally different look, yeah!

Thanks CQ!! I had a great time! I like go back again.

Les, Randy, Mick and Mattie

It was duck soup getting a good photo for Leslie to use for her Christmas card. Okay, maybe nooooooottttttt. But it was good fun!

Here are the bloopers!!