This is going to be another light one, I was on Maui yesterday for the big event, and big it was. Rarely am I able to make pictures of so many greats—giants of human endeavor—as I was able to yesterday. But I am beat, took a long-ish swim today out around the point at Makapu‘u Beach in beautiful, glassy south wind conditions (the tiny point heading toward the research pier, not Makapu‘u Point—I’m neither superhuman nor totally dumb).
I was on assignment yesterday so I can’t share pictures. I will; some of them are pretty good, I don’t always feel that way after a job. I’m generally able to wrap my hands around making capable pictures. Pretty good—it’s a higher bar. The pictures here are not stunning photographs, very much news images, and not exceeding their being photos that mostly just communicate information. Eddie Adams said something once about making pictures that were “just news” and then, occasionally making photographs that were much more, coming closer, maybe, to art. Those are auspicious pictures when they occur.
Though this is not yesterday on Maui, the event depicted here at Sand Island on April 15th last year, it was important enough to bring out our governor, Josh Green. And Nainoa Thompson, of course, was there—as he was on Maui yesterday (as was Green). So take in these few pictures of the Hōkūleʻa prior to its departure on the voyage Moananuiākea, an instrument-free circumnavigation of the Paacific, in the Polynesian way, to instill the navigator spirit in those the vessel and crew encounter. The Polynesian Voyaging Society believes this spirit critical to steering our way through the climate crisis, and they are not wrong. Read more here. All of the voyaging vessels of the individual islands of Hawai‘i were present yesterday just offshore of the gathering, including the Hōkūleʻa. It was a sight to see.
Once the story I was on assignment for has run there will be pictures of Nainoa Thompson, Sam Ka‘ai, and Hokulani Holt, among many, many others. I hope that I have done them justice. I hope that I have done the gathering on Maui justice. It was a strong statement by the many involved in producing it, and those who participated, for a pono recovery from the fires of last August.
Here’s a few more pictures: (A note about their captions—these are what went up on the news wire which does not accept Hawiian diacritical marks, demands names in all caps, and requires a certain writing style.)