The video we’ve been working on has just been released.

We shot at five locations and spent many late nights editing.

At the beginning of February, it began playing on all Hawaiian Airlines flights to and from the mainland.

You can also watch it online.

The project started with a conversation between me and my friend Brad Watanabe. He runs a video production company here in Hawaii called Berad Studio and was interested in producing a video about rock climbing for Hawaiian Skies, the in-flight video magazine for Hawaiian Airlines. The goal of the video would be to introduce bouldering to a non-climber audience and to showcase the beauty of Hawaii through this niche sport.

Brad pitched the project and got the green light. Now, all we had to do was figure out how to get this thing done. It would be the first real video project I’ve ever worked on and Brad’s first video about rock climbing. My role was to help produce the video (meaning getting all the climbers together and coordinating shoot dates) and serve as the creative director (which meant I helped developed the look of the piece, the flow of content, and feel of the video). The budget for this video was super tight so I didn’t get paid for any of this. But, I figured it would be a fun project to work on.

We learned a lot during the production of this piece and there are a ton of things that we wish we could have done differently. But overall, we’re happy with the video.

If you’re interested how the video was made, I’ve posted photos from the different shoots with notes on how the project came together.

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I love taking photos here.

The colors are bold and bright.

I’m back at the Mu Ryang Sa Buddist Temple.

A couple weeks ago I was contacted by someone from the temple who was building their blog. She asked if she could use the photos from my Mu Ryang Sa Buddhist Temple post and of course I said “yes.” Then she told me about some parts of the temple that I totally missed and wondered if I’d be interested in taking photos of those as well.

So, I went to go check it out and here are some of the awesome sights I overlooked on my first trip to the temple…

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Those black spots up there on the hillside are boulders.

Some are big enough to climb.

Further up the hillside you come to this freaky area.

Up here, lies the Iceberg.

Bunker Boulders is another new bouldering spot that’s being developed on Oahu. Credit goes to fellow rock climbers Angel Munoz and Phil Langford for bushwhacking through the hillside and finding this great collection of boulders. As they explored the area they came across some old military bunkers built into the hill and that’s how the place got its name.

I cruised out here with Matt a couple weeks ago and he showed me the three main boulders. But there are more rocks to climb in this area and probably many more that remain undiscovered.

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Berad Studio is an up-and-coming and award winning video production company in Hawaii. Owned by Brad Watanabe, Berad Studio offers full production and post-production services. Clients include: Hawaiian Airlines, Anthology Marketing Group, and Cirque Du Soliel.

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Meet Hilton.

He paints beautiful waves.

And he paints massive waves.

I met Hilton last weekend. One of our mutual friends, Ken, started posting photos of Hilton’s paintings on Facebook and I was drawn to his artwork. I’ve always wondered what it’s like to be a surf artist in Hawaii so I asked Ken if we could set up a meeting and Hilton was nice enough to agree to chat with me. We talked for a couple hours and I got to find out that this dude is incredibly interesting.

Hilton first came to Hawaii from Brazil to enter a stand up paddle race. He was supposed to stay for three months but, like many of us, he took a liking to Hawaii and never left. Now he lives in Kahuku (on Oahu’s north shore) with his wife who is a high school teacher.

He’s a surfer, competes in stand-up-paddle (SUP) races and pays the bills by selling his art at Wyland Galleries. And, a big focus in his life right now is a social project he’s been developing called SurfArtKids. It’s all about connecting with the community through art.

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Wai Yi  transfers her plants from pots to a planter.

She grows a bunch of herbs and veggies. This is mojito mint.

We’re at the Moiliili Community Garden.

Moiliili (pronounced moe-eelee-eelee) is a district of Honolulu that’s close to the University of Hawaii Manoa. Wai Yi, a geologist and friend from the rock climbing gym, lives there and recently became part of the community garden.

The garden is in a small plot of land between a strip of homes and apartments. The land is divided up into several 10 by 10 plots. If you live in Moiliili you can put your name on a waiting list and when a plot opens up you can use it for a fee of $75 a year.

If you live in a house, this might not seem all that interesting, but I live in a sea of apartments and high-rise condo buildings in Ala Moana. No one around me has a backyard. So, when I heard there was a community garden right down the street from me, I wanted to check it out and see what people were growing.

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