Students from the New York Film Academy Los Angeles Photography BFA and One-Year Programs spent a week on the Big Island of Hawaii, engaged in a variety of tours and activities.
Monday, the students met with Chef Allen, who owns HUGGOS restaurant. Chef Allen was kind enough to let the students shoot in his restaurant from 10:00am until 2:00pm, where they shot models (from Premiere Modeling Agency) in the restaurant. The restaurant is on a cliff overlooking the Pacific Ocean. The rest of the day was spent organizing the week.
Tuesday was the Circle Island/Volcano Excursion. The all day tour took them to the island’s most popular sight seeing locations. They visited Kilauea Volcano, Hilo Town (the floral center of the islands), a stop at Akatsuka Nursery and Big Island Candies (known for its chocolates). From there, the photography students went to Rainbow Falls and past sugar cane fields to Parker Ranch, which takes up approximately 250,000 acres of the island. Parker Ranch is also one of the nation’s largest cattle ranches.
Wednesday the students met and worked with the Focus Model & Talent Agency. They sent a toddler, teenager and an adult. Everyone met on the beach, and the challenge for the students was a location they had never seen before with outdoor conditions and a time restrain. While on the beach, the locals were friendly and gave out excellent advice on where to eat and shop!
On Thursday, they participated in a tour that began at Kona, along the beautiful coast of Hawaii, wandered through ancient lava fields, and ended at Mauna Kea Summit — over 13,000 feet altitude and has 13 telescopes from over 11 countries. High above the cloud cover, students photographed the stunning views at sunset, then traveled down to the Mauna Kea Visitors Information Station for a Star Gazing party, learning about the night sky and constellations while being treated to home made brownies and hot chocolate.
Friday was spent going to Kole Kole beach, where a fresh water river meets a saltwater ocean. Although the water is clear and there are rocks on the bottom, they all joined in swinging off the rope from the cliff and into the water.
Students treked to Waipio Valley, childhood home of King Kamehameha, where they hiked down the lush valley with local birds and bugs (and no cell phone service) to Hillawe Falls. When hiking back up, a tropical rain soaked them all!
Saturday, there was a modeling agency workshop with the Focus Modeling Agency owner, Swan. The “new face” models were there to meet Peter Baratti, Hollywood guest photographer, and the students were invited to join and shoot with him.
Saturday night they all went back to the hotel to enjoy the local poke (fish salad) and get ready to head home.
All in all, the photography students first one-week exotic trip was a huge success! We look forward to providing the same experience to our next group of students.