photonelly.com

Time for another entry in my Facebook Photographers series. And like the previous entries, this one comes from the Hawaiian islands with a young and talented photographer, Makena Gadient.

(Photo Credit: Makena’s Flickr photostream)

I met Makena at the ‘09 Maui Photo Festival as one of the high school scholarship winners – all of which were pretty amazing for shooters their age.  Since the festival in September, I’ve been following along with her work on Twitter and the beginning of her 365 project on Flickr at the start of the year. It’s been great watching her experiment with a lot of different techniques and really starting to come into her own style this year.

Perhaps one of the things I envy the most about Makena (aside from living on Maui ) is that she’s coming into this hobby at such an ideal age. When you talk about teenagers getting into something with as much commitment and dedication to a craft that she is now, you can definitely tell that they have a bright future ahead of them and the sky is the limit with what they can, and will, accomplish.

Finding Makena’s Photos

In addition to posting the daily photos in her 365 project on her Facebook page, you can also find them and outtakes on her Flickr account.  It is certainly a lot easier to see the collective set on Flickr, and compare images from the beginning of the year to the recent weeks.

When you check out those photos on both sites, you’ll notice a reoccurring theme in both places – that is the support an encouragement of her friends and her family.  From acting as models to providing feedback and coming up with new ideas, there’s a lot of positive energy there that only fosters great things.

If you do have a Flickr or Facebook account, you’ll certainly want to follow along for the rest of this year and with where Makena’s work with photography may take her. If she follows her aspirations in photography in the future, I’m sure we’ll be hearing more from her.

Back to the Festival

Although I won’t be making the trip back to Maui for this year’s photography festival, I still will be following along with everyone.  In addition to Makena, I made so many connections last year that I still keep tabs on, and there will be more MPF alumni that will be featured in this series in the coming weeks and months.

Stay tuned.

– Kris

Back with another edition in the Facebook photographer series. This edition features the surfing snapshots of Clark Little.

Clark Little was one of the many cool photographers and instructors that I met at the Maui Photo Festival last September. However, you’d be hard to compare Clark on the same level as many of the other professional photographers holding workshops. You see, Clark isn’t your photography professional. In fact, he’s a surfer who, according to his bio page, only started his photography career in 2007.

So what’s so special about Clark?  As his website puts it:

Clark had a unique talent for taking off on hopeless closeout shorebreak waves and surviving in one piece.

Put a camera in Clark’s hands and you have some amazing works of art.

If you haven’t clicked on any of the links above yet, then check out his gallery on clarklittlephotography.com and you’ll see what I mean.

More Photos on Facebook

One of the reasons I wanted to feature Clark in this Facebook series is that just about every week, he’s posting new photos right to his page’s wall, which means right into your news feed. If there were ever photos as of late that you could share online without captions and have them constantly speak for themselves, these would be it.

Plus, if you want to meet Clark in person, pack your bags and come join the fun at the ‘10 Maui Photo Festival in August.

Stay Tuned

Be sure to check back for more editions of the Facebook photographer series, and if you’d like to request a fan page to be featured next, head over to my page on Facebook and leave your recommendation there.

– Kris

This week’s edition of my weekly Facebook Photographers series brings us back to the island of Maui once again with the very talented Peter Liu.

I’ve been following Peter and his work on Twitter (@peterliu47) for sometime now, and got the chance to meet him in person last September at the huge #MauiTweetup we had. In fact, Peter is the unofficial #MauiTweetup photographer, and it’s always good to see photos of everyone during those events. Even though I can’t be there for all the fun, seeing everyone smiling and having a good time fills me up with Aloha.

Peter’s Work

Peter’s been at this a long time, and you can easily tell by the quality of his work and his wealth of knowledge on just about all aspects of photography. His specialties include landscapes, nature, and amazing underwater photography that makes me want to take my camera gear underwater and explore. Although, I guess I should learn how to swim first.

Not only is Peter an award winning photographer, he’s a big techie and social media fan, too. Using his way with the web, he also shares many tutorials online to help others learn to shoot and process images the way he does. He’s even looking at hosting an open-invitation photowalk during August right around the time I’ll be there for the ‘10 Maui Photo Festival. It will be pretty neat to be able to shoot along side Peter and learn from a true master of this craft.

The Photos

As always, pictures speak louder than words, so here are a few links to find more of Peter’s work.

• Peter Liu Photography on Facebook
• Peter’s photography site and portfolio
• Images for sale at ImageKind
• Photos on Twitpic from recent #MauiTweetups

Drop A Note

As always, if you have a Facebook page you think I should feature here, leave a comment on the discussion topic posted over at my own photography Facebook page.

– Kris

Each week, I’m planning to feature one of the great photographers I follow on Facebook. For the first edition in the series, I decided to feature someone that I have first-hand experience with…as a client.

This week’s featured Facebook Page belongs to the very talented wedding and portrait photographer, Natalie Brown.

For our annual Maui trip last February, my wife and I decided we wanted to have vacation portraits taken as a special and personal keepsake of our favorite island in the world. Doing our research, we first found her listed on the Maui Photographers Organization website, and it was obvious her work was primo good. The photo shoot went off without a hitch, and we couldn’t ask for better photos. I wrote a recap of our experience – with photos – over at my Maui blog.

We then got to meet up with Natalie a second time this past September at the Maui Photo Festival. It was very neat attending a few workshops with her, getting to shoot along side of her during the sunset hula session – although her images were much better than mine – and even having my portfolio reviewed by her during the 4 day event.

See For Yourself

You don’t necessarily have to take my word for it. Check out her work with the links below, fan her page on Facebook, and try telling her work isn’t amazing.

• Natalie Brown Photography on Facebook.
• Natalie’s portfolio site.
• Maui Wedding Photography
• Natalie’s profile on the Art on Maui website.

More to Come

Thanks for checking out the first edition in this series. I plan on featuring a new Facebook page each week, so check back next week to see another photographer to follow.

Feel free to let me know what you think of the series, and if you have a Facebook page you think I should feature here, leave a comment on the discussion topic posted over at my own photography Facebook page.

- Kris