March 23rd, 2009 aaron
mahalozzz.
its a simply one-word statement but it is truly a heartfelt one.
it was my first large scale solo show…a big effort. 30+ pieces. 250+ in attendance over a 2-hour period.
to all my friends, family, and supporters who were there: thank you, it really meant a lot to me to have you all show up. and especially, a big thanks to the in4mation fam for the support.
one last shout goes to the old USF crew. cheeeeee! for unplanned reunions!
-a
[ click here to jump off to the full image gallery! ]
PS: who has pictures from that night? i need some group shots for a bunch of blogs? i didn’t get any good ones…of course i’ll give you credit for em so please if you’ve got some, holla atcha boy!
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March 23rd, 2009 aaron
my clients/friends over at hawaii red magazine hosted their monthly night market event over at the aloha tower marketplace this past wednesday.
my friend micah at cloth had a few of her pieces in the fashion show…
true to red magazine’s green values, cloth features recycled vintage couture. students from the UH school of fashion were on hand to show a few of their pieces, as well as a few crazy outfits made entirely from recycled found materials.
the fashion was fresh…
and the venue, event, and people in attendance were all great.
-a
[ click here to jump off to the full image gallery! ]
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March 23rd, 2009 aaron
first off, i apologize for the lack of updates…i had a big solo show at in4mation this past friday the 20th and it occupied all of my time.
anyway, two fridays ago i checked out pecha kucha honolulu’s latest installment at the academy of the arts linekona center…
as usual the event featured an amazing variety of artistic, architectual, and intellectual work on a 20-second-per-slide deck. i was privileged to have presented at the last pecha kucha in 2008 and it was a great experience. don’t miss the next one, its a great event!
after pecha kucha, i got to dip out to a surprise birthday party for a buddy of mine. happy belated bday, sonny!
it was a small, intimate house party setting. a few of my most favoritest people were there.
sure, big parties and club nights are fun but sometimes its nice to stay in and have a relaxing evening with those that really matter.
rather than the usual epic party photos the images i took that night were much more intimate, portrait-style, and with feeling and real meaning. and somehow that felt much more..right.
-a
[ click here to jump off to the full image gallery! ]
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March 11th, 2009 aaron
so. i have a solo show at in4mation next friday, march 20th, from 7-9. and you should totally, totally, totally go. please!?
if me saying please was t0o lame to adequately persuade you, then check it: myopenbar.com is sponsoring the event so there will be free red stripe and sake for anyone who shows up. and i’ve got an official after partay at the loft featuring lafa taylor. come on, you know you want to go.
friends, family, myspace stalkers, and twitter followers are all invited to stop by. it really would mean a lot to me. and i think the show itself will be pretty nifty, i’m psyched!
big ups and massive mahalos to ryan, jun, rhandy, keith, todd, and the whole in4mation fam…and muchos gracias merci beaucoup to christa aka supercw and honolulu myopenbarzzzz…..
friday march 20th, 7-9 PM. in4mation boardshop @ward center. be there. tell ur frenz. please!?!??
cheeeeee!
-a
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March 9th, 2009 aaron
this saturday i was invited to a small gathering at a place simply called “the land” in waillua valley. it was a celebration to launch hawaii red magazine’s brand new video section, which featured an amazing documentary on this zero-impact project.
the land is a wonderful, completely off the grid farm. the barn that hosted the launch party was solar-powered and zero-impact. the setting was beautiful, about as picturesque as you could imagine and then some.
it was a great event. we even had pig fresh from the imu. the dinner was amazing, and the setting was intimate and communal.
children played, people laughed, smiled, and ate tons of great food, and a pack of super friendly dogs roamed around at everyone’s feet.
i’d like to extend my most sincere mahalo nui loa to the christensen ohana for opening their home to us, and for tr3ees for their kokua on this event as well…it was a privilege to be included in something so important and special.
check out tr3ees.com for more information about ecologically friendly event planning and more! such a wonderful concept!
support local ecological causes, we can all make a difference.
-a
[ click here to jump off to the full image gallery!! ]
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March 9th, 2009 aaron
my buddy jim browskee of D.O.R.K. and b-ware fame had a BBQ/hot tub/sauna party at his spot on the north shore this saturday night.
so after the red mag launch party and dinner, i rolled from wailua to pupukea…
my friends were there, and it was a great chance to relax. i love chinatown but every now and then its nice to really get away from it too.
i shot candids, mostly in black and white at high ISOs and f/1.4.
its easy to take great photos of friends because: 1.) they know how to be themselves, even when a big ass camera is being pointed at them, and 2.) they’re all so freakin’ beautiful.
my nights out recently have been all about hopping from point a to b to c and saturday night was no exception. it was great seeing everyone, and i really <3 you guys, friends.
-a
[ click here to jump off to the full image gallery! ]
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March 9th, 2009 aaron
i had a random run in with homie jason a.k.a. propaganda of the LA-based tunnel rats crew earlier this week at starbucks.
he let me know that he was doing a show at tropics bar & grill at ward shopping center saturday night. so of course i had to come through.
he held it down, his set was ill as expected. if you haven’t heard his music before, don’t sleep. think elevated beats and lyrics, all on the positive, socially conscious tip…
so this saturday i did…a north shore wailua valley sunset dinner and documentary premier in the evening, a house party with close friends out in the country, and some dope hip hop in the city. can you ask for more? eh brah: lucky you live hawaii.
i’d like to send out a big shout to the folks over at SIQ for supporting underground hip hop, and it was good to see you again jason. one love, fam…
-a
[ click here to jump off to the full image gallery! ]
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March 9th, 2009 aaron
this past friday, i hopped into chinatown to grab a bite to eat, and stopped in on the rock shop at the loft, thirtyninehotel, and of course nextdoor for their house party. sorry, i snapped a few candids but didn’t stick around long enough to really take any photos.
the visit was brief because i had to head on over to olounge to cover glow, the uh school of fashion’s sneak peek/mini fashion show.
it was a brief, fun show…i can’t wait to see every design that these students have to offer! i covered the show (it was very short, sorry for the slim photo selection), and snapped a few portraits after the show was over.
big ups to my assistant for rocking the slave flash, and hey…see ya’ll at the actual show on april 26th!
-a
[ click here to jump off to the full image gallery! ]
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March 6th, 2009 aaron
‘
as an eighties child, i was born on the cusp of a lot of the technologies that define the 21st century. what does that mean? well when i started school, personal computers were unheard of. my first experience with a computer was an amiga, and i grew up learning to code basic if/then language in apple basic, on a IIGS.
i surfed bulletin boards, used gohper, read newsgroups, had a 9600 baud dialup account at UH in the early 90s. i distinctly remember the birth of the then-revolutionary www standard.
i even have the first issue of wired magazine. in high school i had a pager, and although people carried cell phones, it wasn’t all that commonplace until i was midway through college.
i started taking pictures professionally back when it was still all about film, and the medium format camera was king.
i remember the first DSLR i ever saw being 4 megapixels. it took 5 seconds to start up and couldn’t shoot more than 10 frames in a row. it cost $4k or so.
so what’s the point of all of this? well i have and always will have a special place in my heart for film. true, when i shoot it now, waiting for processing can feel agonizing, and most of the prints these days are shoddy 300PPI digital prints output from a slide scanner (i miss you, optical printing….). but.
the warmth, unpredictability, and beauty of knowing you’ve just etched the picture you’ve taken into a physical part of the world….well that never ceases to thrill me
i’ve been toting a lomo LC-A around with me for everyday use. i doubt i’ll ever shoot an event with it (then again, never say never!) but its been a nice way to keep doing what i love to do. without the autofocus, instantly settable ISO, and razor sharp precision, its a simple and easy to love way for me to document my life.
it seems none of us can escape the digital era these days, however. so on that note i’ve scanned most of my images and put them into a flickr set. check it out, it will be a work in progress but a really awesome one, at that.
-a
[ click here to jump off to the full image gallery!! ]
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March 5th, 2009 aaron
this past tuesday, i volunteered for the sons and daughters of the 442nd regimental combat team. they were having a dedication ceremony for a new exhibit entitled “honoring the memory legacy” at central pacific bank’s main branch in downtown honolulu.
the men who served in the 442nd are walking pieces of history, and besides being eager to help the sons and daughters, i jumped at the opportunity to be around these guys. just listening to them talk to each other is a lesson in and of itself.
also my grandfather, george yoshino, is a veteran of the 442nd RCT’s K company so i already had a bunch of reasons to be there.
events like this one really need to be documented, and really in cases like this there’s no such thing as having too many pictures.
i was stoked to contribute in some small way to history by recording this ceremony…it was a meaningful afternoon, and being there was truly a privilege.
i snapped a ton of photos, ate lunch, chilled with grandpops and dad, and checked out the exhibit. if you’ve got a moment, you should stop by the lobby of the CPB main branch downtown and take a look at it. grandpa donated a book to it, and never the shy one, he also ended up on tv that day
-a
[ click here to jump off to the full image gallery! ]
[ BONUS: click here to watch my grandpa get interviewed. ha! ]
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March 3rd, 2009 aaron
served hot, always fresh, and clean from his lab, homie juan p recently dropped a short beat tape. wet shoestrings is a small compilation of beats he produced himself, and it definitely falls into that
“walkman music’ category of -ish you can plug into and zone out to.
it’s free and its a small teaser from this very talented HI-based MC, beatmaker, and producer….in my opinion he’s easily the dopest musician in the state that currently tackles all three of those duties himself. look for a new joint from his group, the perfect median, soon…
cop it.
-a
download wet shoestrings on rapidshare.
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March 2nd, 2009 aaron
local boys pacifica rocked an all-ages show this friday evening at the spot in kakaako. its a new, intimate, all-ages venue that makes music accessible and brings back all the things you used to love about house party garageband shows. the spot reminded me of a miniature after dark…yeah you O.G. radio free hawaii kids know what i’m talkin’ bout.
also sharing the bill were local bands fittedoar, dub phylum, and all heart.
a small, intimate setting, great local music, and none of that pretentious big club show vibe. plus an all-ages venue that lets kids get a dose of decidedly non-MTV music?
what’s not to like?
if you haven’t ever heard pacifica, or any of these other bands, you’re missing out…check out those links and support local music!
-a
[ click here to jump off to the full image gallery!! ]
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March 2nd, 2009 aaron
…so after the pacifica show this past friday, i headed into the bowels of chinatown. it really was a random night, starting with a crazy run in on hotel st. i caught ryan lau and the aloha fixed crew at cj’s market, escorted by the noble air guitar playing beer knight and his neon green and steel fixie stallion. sorry i missed macaframa guys, too much to do!
i sauntered into thirtyninehotel for eskae’s soul clap…
it was on the chill tip but the beats were soulclaptastic as always…
and of course i had to peep out the neighbors nextdoor for a minute.
the best thing bout chinatown is that a lot of the regulars are a genuine part of a community of artists, muscians, and intellectuals. not just barflies trying to win popularity contests at some overpriced top 40 club. to be fair they are artistic musical intellectual barflies but hey…at least they’re interesting and whatnot.
it was a great end to an already good night.
-a
[ click here to jump off to the image gallery!! ]
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March 2nd, 2009 aaron
…done!
in case you didn’t know, aaron martin (angry woebots), aaron lee (mycrytponauts), and i (a.k.a. aaron yoshino, a.k.a. honozooloo) have had a small showing at the borders’ staircase at ward center. three aarons, three pocket full of monsters crewmembers, and i think its a first for borders…three As and PFOM crew representing.
it was a nifty little show. if you checked it out, a big thanks for supporting. also, big ups and thanks to kawika and the borders crew for getting us in there…
-a
[ click here to see all 8 pictures! wow so many. ]
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March 1st, 2009 aaron
it’s human nature to walk right past the familiar on a day to day basis without taking notice of it, until the familiar becomes the unremarkable. the best example of this can be found in your neighborhood. the nice thing about photography is that if you stop paying attention to the fact that its a view you see everyday and start looking at shape, color, form, and composition, you can see an old and familiar landscape from a totally different perspective.
this image is a case in point.
70-200mm lens, 10 second exposure. 1920 x 1200 pix wallpaper.
enjoy.
-a
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