Natalie Kennedy // Honolulu, HI

This Natalie was the second Natalie that I reached out to in Honolulu, with a last minute plea to see if I can schedule a shoot whilst there. The first Natalie wasn’t available on short notice, and also didn’t have any pointe shoes, something of a necessity for a ballet shoot. This Natalie was my second referral from the same person, and she quickly said yes to my (always) weird idea of shooting with a palm tree. 

Since I was visiting my younger-older sister Yoli, she knew the island of O‘ahu like the back of her hand, and had even - unbeknownst to her - done some pre-scouting, photographing several palm options around the beaches. Coincidentally, the first palm tree location happens to be the same palm tree that I had driven by the day before, sparking my last minute plea for a shoot. 

Right outside of frame to the left is Mokolii Island, known among locals as Chinaman's Hat because of its cone shape, which resembles the peasant's hat worn in rural China. Ironically, when Natalie found out where we would be photographing, she mentioned that she had with herself her very own Chinaman hat, and suggested she bring it as a prop. She had no idea of my obsession with hats, and covering faces with them. *belts out evil laugh*

The weather in Hawaii can be quite frustrating. One minute it’s sunny, and quite literally two minutes later it’s raining, even while the sun out is out. My weather app forecasted clear, sunny skies, but throughout the entire shoot I was dancing around massive rain drops. My preference for hard light is something that I have to oftentimes put on the back burner, for the sake of the shot. 

With the careful help of my location-scout sister Yoli, Natalie shimmied up the tree as far as comfortably possible and held on for dear life as I ran back to my pre-focused Hasselblad-on-tripod to make the frame. 

May 23, 2021