Lily Yuen sits at the dinner table in her home on Sunday April 28, 2013 in Honolulu, Hawaii.

Shooting film again never felt so good. A few years ago, after taking JOUR307 and ART207 I started a photo project on my grandmother; my Popo. My grandfather passed away over 10 years ago after a long battle with Parkinson’s and Alzheimers Diseases, and it took a toll on everyone, most of all, I believe on my grandmother, whom he had been happily married to for an entire lifetime.

I shot the original project on film and made a set of 11×14 fiber prints that were matted and displayed at school. I was, and still am very proud of the work I did. It showed the presence of an absence, that even though my grandfather was gone, he was very much still present in my grandmother’s life. Recently I’ve started shooting more film again, and after receiving a wonderful photo book from a friend on his grandfather, I was inspired to continue the project with my grandmother.

I’ve been spending time with her every couple of days, we talk about random things, she asks whats going on in my life and my siblings lives. We talk about what shes been doing. She says I look like I lost weight, but I’m still a fatty. After about an hour or two of her making fun of me, she lets her guard down and talks breifly about gung-gung, my grandfater. She talks about the trips they took together. This one time, he wanted to go to Vegas, but was sick as a dog, and even though he had a head cold, they both went together. How in the casino, she’d play on the machine opposite of him , just so she could see him, and not be far. It’s been so refreshing, not to just shoot film, or photograph her again, but just to be able to connect with her, and hear these stories about her, about my grandfather, about their time together.

Really warms my heart.

Someone once told me, “There’s always a rainbow after a storm.”

It’s just one of those cliché’s that has been said time after time after time after time after time…

…after time.

This post actually is kinda deviating from my usual posts about work. I’ve sent the past couple of months really looking at where I am in my career. Where I’ve come from, and where exactly…I want to be.

I’ve been very fortunate to have been given the opportunities I’ve been given, the experiences I’ve experiences, and the people I’ve met, and the friends I’ve befriended. In the short five years it’s been since I bought my first camera I’ve been lucky enough to work in a variety of situations and locations, from the sidelines of collegiate and professional football games, to in the East Room of the White House, and on the floor of the United Nations. I’ve met Kings, Princesses, Prime Ministers, Presidents, Rock Stars, Professional Athletes and Celebrities alike. I’ve also met some of the nicest, hardest working, most genuine people I’ve ever worked with. I’ve stared down the barrel of a gun, had police officers threaten to beat me, and flown down a freeway at 75mph holding on to just my knees.

Yet amidst all of these extraordinary experiences, I found myself thinking and wondering about my future here in Hawaii.

I stepped through the ‘professional’ door quite early in my career. I was lucky enough to be passed some work by a friend, which then turned into an annual thing (and subsequently opened doors for more opportunities) I later got a job with the Honolulu Advertiser which got bought out by the Star-Bulletin, and soon enough I was back to the world of freelance. Thing is, in the midst of finishing up my educational career, I’ve gone ahead to applying for internships on the mainland. Seeking to break out of the nest and fly elsewhere has been on my mind for awhile. Sadly, I’ve either been turned down for internships for being ‘overqualified’ or there being better applicants.

Obviously, mines is not a distinguished existence yet through the maze of internship applications and freelance assignments I can see the career I’ve always wanted. But how to attain that dream? It first starts with self-discovery, and getting out of Hawaii. Yeah, I’ve been rejected by countless papers/internship opportunities, but like they say, when God closes one door, he opens another.

Hawaii is, and always has been, and will be my home. This wonderful island chain in the middle of the Pacific Ocean stole my heart from a young age. I fell in love with the colors in the skies, the warm tropical weather, the sandy beaches and most of all, the Aloha spirit. Yet somewhere in the back of my head, in the depths of my heart, and at the core of my very being, I suffer from a wanderlust, a compulsive craving for travel and discovery.

Gotta keep my head up, I can’t just expect the rainbow to appear after the storm. I need to pack my bags, and go find it. ‘Cause for me, like with so many other photojournalists, it’s all about the going.

A member of the grounds crew works on the field at Wahine Softball Stadium after the Wahine trounced the UC Riverside Highlanders on August 6, 2013 in Honolulu, Hawaii.

I haven’t shot Volleyball in ages. Muchless, men’s volleyball. These guys are all pretty athletic and smack the living crap out of that poor volleyball at a faster rate than the women’s team does. I haven’t even shot the men in ages. Needing to break off the rust early on, I headed up to the concourse level and took control of the central seat opposite of the Hawaii Warriors bench, I had a head on shot of the players, all ready to slam the volleyball into their opponents, the Pacific Tigers! After finding it difficult to get a nice clean shot without the net tape covering their eyes, I headed to the floor to shoot the action hoping I’d get something a bit more compelling. Here’s a set of images from that night. Let me know what you think!

Okay. Full disclosure: i’m kind of a hipstagramaholic.

I sometimes share a bunch of photographs on Instagram. Usually from my travels, and usually shot with the Hipstamatic app on the iPhone.  I’ve spoken about Instagram quite a bit in the past year or so, there’s one rant here.  I’ve even used the iPhone and Instagram/Hipstamatic as a means for story telling; I covered the Conventions with it.

I’ll admit it. Sometimes, i have more fun making an image with Hipstamatic than with a regular camera. Sometimes, my iPhone is the only camera I’ll have on me, and sometimes  it’s just easier to take a picture — un-noticed and unacknowledged — with it.

Instgram, currently valued in the ball park of around $1 billion dollars, has its place in the world of photography — social photography.  It’s a means to share vignettes with your friends and the world.  Organizations from news outlets, to non-profits and commercial entities have started using instagram as a means of sharing news, information and marketing.

Kenneth Jaracke shared some of his thoughts on Instagram a couple of months back, especially after TIME Magazine’s Lightbox sent out a team of experienced photojournalists to photograph Superstorm Sandy making landfall, capturing it on Instagram and stringing together a series of tweets, instagrams and links into what resembled a story. TIME even ran a photograph by Ben Lowy on its cover, for the coverage of Superstorm Sandy.

I digress.

Instagram/Histamatic/VSCO cam/the iPhone have given our society a way of instantly sharing each and every moment of our lives, if not only just the meals we eat. I mean seriously, all I see on facebook and instagram are half eaten acai bolws, steaks, burritos or a metric ton of fries.

The iPhone is great, it produces some pretty decent images, and I’ve even shot some assignments with it (the portrait of Matthew Cheape) but it’s not the tool to use when making great, lasting, or important photographs. It’s the wrong tool for that job. So, I’ll stick to my iPhone being my happy snap camera, and I’ll keep to shooting assignment work, and making pictures that truly matter, with my SLRs.

In the mean time, enjoy some images I’ve shot recently with the iPhone.

All Images ©Kent Nishimura

(From Top Left Clockwise) Dina LaPolt, Areosmith frontman Steven Tyler, Hawaii Senator Sam Slom, and Fleetwood Mac drummer Mick Fleetwood at a Senate Committee hearing at the State Capitol building on February 8, 2013 in Honolulu, Hawaii.

Yesterday, twenty-three of the Hawaii’s 25 Senate members voted in favor of SB465 or “The Steven Tyler Act.” SB465 seeks to protect celebrities from paparazzi by creating a civil violation if people take unwanted photos or videos of others in their private moments. It will now go to the House of Representatives for consideration.

The National Press Photographers Association and other media advocacy groups have opposed it, here is a link to a letter sent to Senator J. Kalani English (D-Maui) and other members of Senate who supported the bill. In addition to Mr. Tyler, other celebrities have supported the bill. They include Britney Spears, Avril Lavigne, and the Osborne family.

The legislation aims to impose stricter penalties on paparazzi who harass celebritiess vacationing in the islands. Among other provisions, it would enable them to seek damages from paparazzi/photographers who intrude upon their privacy.
The bill also expands the definition of privacy invasion to encompass not only physical trespassing but also the use of zoom lenses and sophisticated sound equipment to gather images or audio of celebities during their personal downtime.

While I understand Mr. Tyler’s concerns of being photographed in unflattering situations this bill basically violates first amendment rights given to us by the U.S. Constitution. This bill, even with the replaced language in it, still has fatal flaws. We already have laws in place that protect privacy. We already have laws that protect privacy against the invasion. If they are out in the public eye, “tough shit” is what I say to them.

Baseball is always fun to shoot. Haven’t shot the game in a long time. Three years to be exact. Hopefully the rust breaks off soon.

News happens. When it does, it happens quickly. In the blink of an eye, news can happen and just like that it’s over. Last night, I was heading home from work and I saw the oh to familiar glow of police lights on the side of the road.

“Oh no” i thought to myself. “Hope everything’s okay.”

What it was, was a vehicular accident at the Pali Highway off ramp from the H1. I didn’t see much, just a truck with the front smashed in, and glass, everywhere.

Back to the nature of spot news, in the five minutes it took me to get to an off ramp and turned around to find a place to park and shoot from since HPD had blocked access on the off ramp and there was no ground access.

More golden hour light abounded at last night’s University Softball game.

For some reason, with University of Hawaii Athletics, there is hardly ever opportunities for the players to be playing in golden light. I’m not sure why, but thats the way it is. This frame is from a game between the University of Washington Huskies and the University of Alabama at Birmingham Blazers. There was some amazing light streaming into the stadium, and I quickly switched to my 50mm, racked it to 1.2 and waited from something to happen. I liked how everything lined up and the way the light looked. Thanks for looking!