Me with contest winner Tracie Dux

There are so many things I want to say about the Maui Photo Festival and Workshops, I don’t even know where to begin. Randy Jay Braun’s sunset hula shot was an amazing experience. Eight dancers, most of whom had been dancing since they were keiki (children) posed and danced among a paparazzi-like swarm of photographers for nearly two hours. We were then treated to a movie showing just how Clark Little captures his amazing wave images and a wonderful presentation of travel photographs by Andy Katz.

As the attendees headed off to get some sleep, the hard part of my job began: the photo contest judging. We had nearly 1,000 amazing entries to choose from and the judging went until the wee hours of the morning! We picked winners for several categories including: best hula shot, best aerial, best portrait, and (my personal favorite!) best ISLANDS Magazine cover.

Sunday morning capped off the event with a slide show of beautiful images created during the week and the awards ceremony. There were so many great prizes — camera bags from Lowepro, copies of Adobe Photoshop, and printers from Epson to name just a few. Tracie Dux took home the prize for Best ISLANDS cover with her aerial image of the Maui coastline (taken during the Blue Hawaiian Helicopter excursion).

When it was all said and done, nobody said goodbye. Instead, “A hui ho,” which means “until we meet again,” at the 2010 Maui Photo Festival and Workshops which will be held next October at the Hyatt Regency Maui Resort and Spa. I’ll be there. Will you?

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Kris Nelson of Maui by Photo

Friday was another great day here in Maui! A group of brave souls got up at 3am and spent the morning shooting Haleakala. I was not one of those brave souls. I did, however, attend two wonderful morning presentations: Creative Synergy by Eddie Tapp and The Concerned Photographer by Eli Reed. While I was doing portfolio reviews, attendees had a number of great breakout sessions to choose from including Photoshop Action Scripts by Photoshop guru Russell Preston Brown and Fashion Photography By Lou Freeman.

After lunch, a group headed over to Turtle Town to dive with David Fleetham while another lucky group did an amazing doors-off helicopter tour over the island. The evening session featured the work of three amazing photographers - celebrity photographer David Rose and combat photographers Stacy Pearsall and Andy Dunaway. Rose has photographed everyone from Kanye West to Bruce Springstein while Pearsall and Dunaway (who happen to be husband and wife!) have traveled around the world documenting combat situations from Africa to Iraq. The evening wrapped up with a slideshow of fantastic images created by workshop attendees.

Saturday morning found me and several workshop attendees at Honolua Bay with shorebreak photographer Clark Little. Mother Nature, however, chose not to cooperate and the waves, well, what waves?

It’s hard to believe we’re nearing the end and with so many incredible classes available today, attendees are finding it difficult to choose! Andy Katz discussed Photo Book Publishing this morning while Tony Novak-Clifford demonstrated food photography by shooting some of the Hyatt Regency Maui Resort & Spa’s mouthwatering food. I’m looking forward to the sunset Hula on the Beach shoot with Randy Jay Braun and some fantastic presentations this evening.

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