Being a part of HVN Apparel was always one of my dreams. They are a Hawai’i lifestyle brand for ocean enthusiasts and conservationists. Their mission is to remove a pound of trash from Hawaii oceans for every shirt sold. I loved their design of shirts and what they do within the community to help encourage people to think about preserving nature. When HVN Apparel founder, Travis Ito, asked me to do a t-shirt collaboration in 2019, I was shocked and surprised! I never thought that my photo would be on a t-shirt and get to see people wearing my work.

Surfer: Toots

Location: Queen’s at Waikīkī.

Camera & Lens: Nikon D610, Tamron 35mm

Housing: SPL Water housing.

The picture I chose features a longboard surfer named Toots at a beach called Queen’s in Waikiki.

It was one of the summer days, I was driving back from Sandy Beach from the east shore of Oʻahu at 5:30 pm in the afternoon. Stopping by at Waikīkī was a spontaneous decision because I thought the sunset was going to be nice. I remember parking my car at Kapiolani park and started walking down towards Kalākaua Ave. to get my camera set up for the sunset. But instead, I started checking out the waves in front of me and how they were breaking. It was 2-3 ft face nice fun size at all spots at Waikīkī beach. I was nervous swimming out at Queen’s because I had never been there before, didn’t know any of the people who surfed there and wasn’t too familiar with the ocean currents there. But I went out anyway and saw 7 people riding a same wave. I was a bit surprised, but then I saw a guy who rides nothing like other surfers. He was riding a traditional longboard. It was a guy named Toots. I knew of him because I read about him on different surfing magazines but I never seen him surfing in real life. I took a couple shots and it was my lucky day capturing him with my one of my favorite landmarks in the background, Kaimana Hila (Diamond Head).