Friendly Fire

There's nothing like a cameraman getting a shot of another cameraman and a guy getting caught in the middle of friendly fire.

Photo on the Fly

I caught this photograph on the fly while exiting Maunakea Marketplace. Because of motion blur, it looked best as a sepia image. This woman was just waiting around in her kiosk for a customer or two.

The Old Man at Amy's Place

 

The wall next to Amy's place used to be red brick, then it was painted over gray and it peeled and now... The old man sitting under the sign added character to the facade.

There for the Taking

 

Coming up with a photo of the day everyday is a challenge especially when I run out of fresh ideas, and then... the photo of the day creates itself. The image is there for the taking and all I had to do was depress the shutter and POP! 

Street Photo of Chinatown

Honolulu's Chinatown is rich with history, culture, food, people, and texture.

An Off-the-Hook Performance

Chinese New Year is always very festive and celebratory. Tonight was action packed with martial arts, dragon and lion dances, crafts, and a variety of food vendors at the Chinese Cultural Plaza. The Wah Ngai Lion Dance Association showed off their lion pole dancing skills with their off the hook performance. They hopped and skipped to the beat of the drums and cymbals and moved so smoothly over the poles that it appeared as if the lion had no fear of falling. They had the crowd in the palm of their hands with each movement that the lion made. They cheered, whistled, and at times even cringed for the performers when the lion hit each daring step with perilous precision.

Year of the Dragon

This weekend in Honolulu Chinatown were the new year celebrations with food booths, vendors, and martial arts performers who filled the streets and stages. This little girl was in the spirit of giving a dollar the Chinese lion for a year of good luck. It's the year of the dragon in 2012 which is the end of a lunar cycle. 

I asked the woman behind this gentleman if I could take a photo of the two of them painting the Wo Fat building in Chinatown and she gestured, "go ahead." They were completely focused on their work and couldn't be bothered. The reflection off the store front window shows the building across the street that they both were painting.

Art or Not?

There is a documentary about graffiti and the hip hop culture which I can't remember the title to that I had watched recently. According to the film, graffiti originated with individuals that "tagged" their signs on railroad carts so that many people could see them as they rolled  throughout the country from state to state. One of the more famous international tags was, "Kilroy was here". Other individuals would paint over the tags to show off their painting skills as gang rivalries. Graffiti was meant to be temporary as they faded with time or was painted over by others, until some rich guys decided to buy and sell them as art on canvasses and to hang them in museums and indoor spaces. In Hawaii, the graffiti are usually just scribbles although I can't take anything away from self expression. My question is, is it art or not?

Gummy Candies and Salted Plum

One of the few cracked seed stores that sell dried fruits, gummy candies, salted plums, etc... in old fashioned glass jars is located in Honolulu Chinatown. It's a nostalgic Hawaii that reminds some of us of another time when society moved slower, things were handmade, and people appreciated snacks didn't come in wrapper.

A Fire Spread Across the Entire Town

Honolulu Chinatown 2011

Honolulu's Chinatown is colorful in more ways than one. The historical buildings were probably built in the early 1900's after it was burnt down starting at the boarder of Iolani Palace on King Street all the way to City Mill in Iwilei. Many of the people who lived in the area were infected with the Bubonic plague. Doctors and politicians believed that it was a disease of poor people and their remedy for it was to burn down the buildings that they thought carried the disease. Little did they know, people were infected with the disease by means of flea bites and because the lower class lived in highly soiled and littered areas (manily in Chinatown) where the fleas thrived, they were targeted as the inferior who were susceptible to the disease. There were high winds on that day that it was decided to set some of the buildings on fire for cleansing and unexpectedly the fire went out of control and it spread across the entire town. This same remedy was also used in Maui's Chinatown and in South East Asia. Click here to view a local vendor in Chinatown.

Night Market Hero

One movie that was selected for the 2011 Hawaii International Film Festival was a Taiwanese film about a community of food vendors at 888 Market. The film, Night Market Hero carried a simple plot with a political overtone, a boy meets girl undertone, and food were mere symbols of their relationships. It left me hanging because the food was not the primary subject and I expected to more shots of exotic dishes thus I was inspired to check out Honolulu's very own 888 Market in Chinatown. Click here to see my dish that I had for lunch for $3.50 no tax on facebook.

An Axe Head Chopping it's Competitor

Click here to see another view of First Hawaiian Bank on facebook

First Hawaiian Bank is the tallest building in downtown Honolulu. The older building was demolished in the 90s and replaced by this newer bluish mirrored building. The owners consulted with Feng Shui masters to ensure that the energy flow of the bank would be positive. Some say that it was built in the shape of an axe head directing a chop at it's competitor Bank of Hawaii (the building directly across the street). Maybe it's an urban myth but ever since the new First Hawaiian Bank was built, many businesses have failed for almost half a mile behind Bank of Hawaii which is in line with First Hawaiian Bank's feng shui chop.

Vibrant Plastic Sweepers

Click here to see more photos of Chinatown on facebook

Happy Tuesday everyone. Without the colorful dustpans and brooms, this alleyway would be just an ordinary narrow passageway. The Chinatown shop to the right of these vibrant plastic brooms was packed with small medium and large steel bowls, metal strainers with bamboo handles, cleaning supplies, various pots and pans, aluminum stacking steamers, cutting boards, knives, etc... Thus, these sweepers were stored here for space.

You've Got Nada?

Mailmen and ladies with their deliveries for the day at Honolulu's main post office.

 What will we do without the U.S. Postal? 

That's Sum Barber!

Click here to see 9/28/11 outtakes at Honolulu Photo of the Day on facebook

Those barber shop candy cane poles are a thing of the past and I found one while passing Sum's Beauty Center in Chinatown. It symbolized blood and bandages, the red for blood and the white for bandages. I suppose the blue was added to the newer candy cane poles to make them all American. The barber used to be a place to go to for minor surgery and for teeth yanking! Chop, chop, go to Sum's for sum full service in salon! There might be more than you bargained for.