Recap 2020

Aloha!

How was your 2020? What a unique year, wasn’t it?? It started just like ordinary year, and everything has changed. Here is the recap from the year 2020 for me!

1. I stayed most of the year in Oahu, Hawaii this year unlike last years! Earlier in the year, I have shot in Japan, Arizona and Big Island, then all other travel shoots in Japan, Oregon, Chicago, Lanai, France and London were postponed. In 2020, I had 72 photo shoot including wedding, maternity, family, couple, engagement, surprise proposal, headshot, commercial, fashion and product shoots :)

2. New skills for me - VIDEOGRAPHY and VIDEO EDIT! It started from a loop video making for a big music Youtube channel, then a commercial shoot for a local coffee farmer, Kahalana Coffee. It has been fun learning Adobe Premiere for editing!

3. Started photography lessons online and in-person more regularly! I have been offering ones by request bases; however, the needs to take classes online emerged during COVID, so I also started to offer lessons on Zoom. I teach shooting techniques, editing methods and how to start/improve a photography business. I started in fall, and have taught 15 lessons to students from Japan, Europe and NYC!

4. Elopement became the thing! Since many couples were forced to change their big wedding day plans, more people started to visit Hawaii for intimate elopement ceremonies! It has been fun meeting and photographing people from all over the country!

5. I learned much more beautiful locations within Oahu! I used to spend more spare time when I am on business trips, before and after shoots. Then I come home to Oahu to shoot and edit. So I didn’t really have time to enjoy Oahu before COVID. I am coming from big cities, and I always though living in Hawaii 234/7/365 might be tough for me and loved my traveling life/work style. It turned out that living in Hawaii full time actually is amazing!! I started to learn more places on the island, made stronger connection with friends, learned new island skills, and all was great to me.

6. Started to have monthly fashion shoot with a Japanese watch/bag company. It has been great that I have been shooting their products and lifestyle fashion shoot with the products using models since summer. I love how openminded my client is, so I get to experiment with my models to create great shots always. I can’t wait to shoot for them more this year!

7. On my personal time - I got much more comfortable in the water! 2020 gave me more opportunity to be under water. I started to go scuba diving more often, then started to catch tako (octopus) in fall, then started spearfishing :) I was raised eating various fish and quite often, it is so amazing to try different fish from the markets, and enjoy fresh catch of the day at home! I am still a beginner, but I am glad that I got to start a new passion!

It’s already 1 month since 2021 has started! Time flies! I hope this year will be even better one for all of us :) Thank you always for your support and love!