A few weeks months ago (time flies, am I right?!) we had the amazing opportunity to go to Honolulu, Hawaii for the HI on Life Photography Conference!! We had such an AMAZING time hearing from world renown photographers such as Erika and Lanny of Two Mann Studios, Dave and Abby of Abby + Dave, Trevor Dayley, Susan Stripling, and so many others! Jenna of Jenna Leigh Photography put it all together and did SUCH a fantastic job lining up such amazing speakers and coordinating such a fun conference!!
One of the main things we have implemented is having our images critiqued before blogging them! It’s so good to have unbiased eyes that are not emotionally attached to the images look them over and critique them! It has been so helpful for us and we would highly recommend that everyone has their images critiqued – either a portfolio critique by a photographer you look up to, or a group of photographers you trust where you can critique each others’ images regularly.
We also took the opportunity to enjoy the beautiful island of Oahu! We mostly did “touristy” things which I was totally OK with! We went snorkeling at Hanauma Bay which was honestly the best snorkeling I’ve ever done! We rented full-face snorkel masks and they are AMAZING! So amazing that when we got home we ordered our own! I just wish we bought our Go Pro before this trip so we had some footage of it!
We spent the day at the Pearl Harbor visitors center where we had the chance to see the U.S.S. Arizona Memorial and tour the U.S.S. Missouri! It was definitely one of the most somber places we have been, but it’s part of our history and we are so glad that we took the time to visit it.
One of the things we did that we (kind of) regretted was visiting the Dole Plantation. You guys. This place is a tourist TRAP. ha! It didn’t help that it was H.O.T. outside and we were both tired- so tired that Devin fell asleep on the Pineapple Express. Yes, that’s what it’s actually called.
We visite Lanikai Beach which was so beautiful and pristine! Neither of us are really “beach” people, especially when there isn’t shade so we didn’t stay there too long 😉
We drove up the North Shore and ate at some awesome food trucks!! We totally felt like we were on an episode of Hawaii 5-0!
One of the highlights of the trip was hiking (ok, walking on a paved road) to the Waimea Falls where we swam under a waterfall! It was F-R-E-E-Z-I-N-G but a nice break from the heat! Then I got sick, so we took a shuttle back down the mile hike haha!
We also got to have our pictures taken by not 1, but 2 of our photographer friends!! Jeff Cooke of Cooked Photography and Jenna and Michael of The Beards Photography snapped some SWEET photos of us. It was awesome being on the other side of the camera and we love having pictures of us when we visit new places!
All in all, it was an amazing trip and such a nice treat to be able to have some R&R before wedding season started!
