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History, You, and Your Camera

Early on in my photography career, not sure what I was doing, yet knowing I both enjoyed it and had an aptitude for it, I began shooting my own brand development images for my Surf themed company on a Minolta system. Both on land and in the water. Larry Moore who would become my editor at Surfing took me aside and explained the significance of building a body of work over the arc of a career lifespan. He explained what a library was, and how to set a bar on my work, in order that I might become an image

Earth Day: 2016

I am not a huge fan of the entire Earth Day movement. I see it as a politically inspired facade where people masquerading as leaders, do and say stupid shit, and pretend they care about you and I and the blue marble we spin through space and time on. As my colleague, Photographer Chris Burkhard put it in his instagram post of a stellar image shot in Alaska: “Every day is Earth Day”. I see it similarly. The image above was a shot at the end of the day, “Earth Day” 2016. It is a single frame from a time

Forms

The featured image this week is of my friend, designer Jenny Doll, deep into sword forms. When we endeavor to become at one with Nature, there is far more discipline, and exploration than one would at first glance, ever imagine to be required. We become it. It does not become us. This Winter season I began posting my daily weather homework which I have done for nearly 40 years, on to my Facebook page (David Pu’u Photography-Cinematography) The thing about Weather and Nature for Photographers who rely on the intersection of light atmospherics and ocean for their work, is that

Ocean Life and the Great White Shark

Ocean Life and the Great White Shark In recent months the reports of white shark (Carcharodon carcharias) activity in California have literally exploded in number, with videos, many of them shot from UAV (Drone) camera platforms, news articles and reports via the ocean community grapevine, indicating with little doubt, we have more of the species appearing in near shore waters than I can ever recall. So what is going on? The CDFW (California Department of Fish and Wildlife) lists the total number of “Incidents” in California waters between humans and the White since 1950 as 101. It is unclear what

Bali: Outward Bound: Dispatch One

It was strange leaving California in the midst of a heat wave and unique Ocean and shooting conditions, which had kept me happily in the water for weeks sans wetsuit. Hard to walk away from that, But in the wee hours of a Tuesday morning, Donna and I departed LAX for Bali where we would once more touch base with friends who comprise the melange of talented artists, business people and change agents who base their lives around Bali. This is the first in a series of dispatches I will post on these few weeks we get to spend in

Heart Surgery

“Where your heart is, there you will find your treasure.” The above is a Bible verse. Typically when one quotes these it is obligatory among theologians to cite the chapter and verse (location) so that people can look the lines up and read them in the larger context of the text. I am not doing that here. I will leave it to those who read this, to sort out the reason for that. I typically have reasons for most of what I do in my work and life. Most of us probably do. This is where the location of our

Samsung NX1: Modus Augmentation

Long time friend, and sage photo editor Jeff Divine, once put this question to me after pouring over a seasonal submission of imagery. Pages of 35 MM slides encased in Vis a File plastic sleeves, were stacked on his light table. “Don’t you ever shoot anything besides golden hour?” “Not if I can help it, Jeff.” (He looked at me quizicaly) The edit session gave me a reason and motivation to examine my method of operation in creation of my work. (Good editors are like that) Eventually this led to a higher (and narrower) degree of focus. That modus, which

Samsung NX1: We Have Lift Off

The above image and copy is a post I did to my Instagram and Facebook pages this week. This Post is the first in a series of pieces I will do on my transition from the Canon System to that of Samsung. My perception is that this one system could serve as a foundation for professional level content creation in photography, cinematography and audio production. In my career in imaging, these shifts are more like massive leaps, and occur very infrequently, but always for the same collection of reasons. Those reasons can be summed up in this statement. “I want

Ethics Slice

There is much to be said regarding the power held in the art of a creative. The reason for this lies in the modus of all of the Arts: to effect the climate of the human heart and soul. Once again, a Facebook post by a friend illustrated the outrage that runs close to the surface in American Culture, at a Govt which seems to have run amok. They had been discussing the Clinton family criminal record and apparent lack of prosecutorial action to rein in what many see as an ongoing insult to the Nation. Below is what I

Of Mice and WOmen: Bali

To be clear, I am here on Bali at the invitation of my wife Donna, and working under the auspices of her Company, Betty Belts-Betty B doing art and project development. One of the more well traveled people I know, where in the course of her life, she has been to so many far flung parts of the world, that one would never suspect she could learn more than she had prior to our meeting. But in fact, she has, and continues to do so. This charms me completely. On the heels of a divorce over a decade ago from

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