Olokau Race, Maui Hawaii May 2012

May 12
2012

Took a couple hours off today to drop by Kanaha Beach to meet a new friend and fellow photographer- Tanya and her husband Paul visiting from Vancover, BC. It was great to meet some new friends as well as see some people I’ve haven’t seen for awhile.

Each May, the Olokau race is held in Maui’s north shore. The Olokau race is a downwind run from Maliko to Kanaha Beach park. The official name of the race is called, Olukau Ho’olaule’a. From what I understand, Ho’olaule’a means “celebration”. The event is a competition with family-friendly cultural activities and gathers some of the world’s best SUP and OC1 paddlers to race the legendary 8-mile Maliko downwind run.

Since the race was on, I decided to take along my camera and catch a few shots while I was there. As a Maui wedding photographer, it was nice to go back to my roots and shoot some action shots.

Here’s a few shots of some of the top paddlers and of course the top woman paddler, my dear friend, ” Andrea Moller”.

Congratulations to the winners and Andrea, your awesome!

A Maui Beach Wedding

May 12
2012

It was an intimate Maui Beach wedding at Mama’s Fish house, with two of the nicest people I’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting. A fun easy going couple who are not only in love but, also are best friends. I wish you nothing but happiness, it was an honor to be your Maui Wedding Photographer. You both a truly special people.

http://nvspics.smugmug.com/Sports/Blog-

Wedding Traditions Of A Polish Wedding

May 10
2012

Wedding Traditions Of A Polish Wedding

The wedding traditions in Poland are much steeped in history. The engagement in Poland was known as the Zareczny, which is similar to getting married. In Poland, once you got engaged, you were getting married and ending an engagement was nearly unheard of. The ceremony for the engagement was to invite their friends and family over and tie their hands together with a whiten-scarf over a loaf of bread. In doing this the couple was showing how they got food together in the hopes that they would never go hungry.

The tradition of Polish weddings would usually last three or more days and on the wedding day itself musicians would come and play at the bride’s home. Everyone would gather at the bride’s home where the parents would give a blessing to the couple before they went to the church. If a parent had passed away beforehand, they would stop by the grave site to get a blessing from the deceased parent. The whole wedding party would go to the church in style with decorated wagons, while the band played music all the way to the church.

The Wedding and Reception

The couple would have their wedding, usually a Catholic ceremony, early in the morning. After the wedding at the church, they would head to the reception hall to partake in a breakfast of sausage, roast chicken and some desert, like Kolaczki. Kolaczki is a pastry that is filled with fruit jam and cream cheese. During breakfast an accordion band will usually perform. It was considered that if the bride did not cry at the wedding itself, it was said that she would cry the rest of her married life.

At about two in the afternoon, the band and all the people would leave to take a nap so that they would be refreshed and ready to party at the Bacchanalia that night. At about 5 o’clock in the evening is when everyone would return to the reception hall, where the bride and groom would be greeting them at the door. Afterwards, they would do a Zapicie, which means to “wash it down,” in other words, they would pass around a beer or some vodka and everyone would take a drink.

After awhile of dancing, talking and drinking, the dinner would be served. Then the band would play while the couple entered the dining hall, where they would invite the guests to get in line behind them to eat. Usually at polish weddings there are so many people that the guests would have to be fed in batches.

The Oczepiny

The wedding cake at polish weddings is never served after the dinner, but rather is wrapped up for the guests to take home. After the dinner a lot more dancing takes place, then half way through the reception, the mother of the bride would remove the bride’s wedding veil and put on a pretty cap called a Chusta. The ceremony was known as the Oczepiny and it was to let everyone know that she was now a married women. Instead of having the usual wedding dance that we think of today, they would tie an apron on to the bride, which was decorated with babies. An elder man would hold a baby doll and ask for people to give it money for its cradle.

To get more money for the couple, the men would have to pay to dance with the bride, similar to what we know as the Money Dance. The party would continue until the owner of the hall turned off the lights. Then they would all go the bride’s parents home for an all night eating and dancing party called the Poprawiny. The Poprawiny started back in the old days when the bride’s parents bought the food from the caterer, so in essence, they owned it. Not wanting any of it to go to waste, they would keep having parties until all the food was gone.

The Gifts

After the reception the bride and groom would go to their new home, where they would meet their parents and while there they would give them wine, bread and salt. The salt would be a reminder that, though they will have tough times together as a couple, they must learn to cope with the issues together. The bread represents the parent’s great hope that their children would never know the pains of hunger, while the wine represented the parent’s hope that they would always have good health, be happy and have many friends to which to share it with.

Vidal Sasson, Dies

May 09
2012

In my other life, I worked for numerous Haircolor and haircare companies in a Education Training Manager capacity. I was employed with one of the largest Hair color companies in the world, ” Wella International”, for over seven years.

Throughout that time in my life, I had the privilege of meeting the best hairdressers from all over the world. I attended the Hair Olympics, Hairworld and numerous other high caliber events known in the world of hairdressing. I even had the pleasure of meeting the master of haircutting, ” Vidal Sasson”. I remember having a extensive conversation with him at a dinner event in London. I recall walking away thinking, “wow” what a great man.

Vidal Sassoon reportedly had long battle with leukemia Died today,
May 9, 2012 | 1:13 pm

Famed hair stylist and fashion icon Vidal Sassoon died after a long illness, and the Los Angeles County coroner’s office has plans for an autopsy.

Law enforcement sources did not disclose the nature of the illness, but numerous media organizations have been reporting for some time that Sassoon, 84, was battling leukemia. The sources said he died at his Mulholland Drive estate and that his doctors will make final death notifications.In 1954, he opened his first salon in London. “I gave myself five years. If I couldn’t change anything, I was out of there.”

“When I first came into hair, women were coming in and you’d place a hat on their hair and you’d dress their hair around it,” Sassoon said. “We learned to put discipline in the haircuts by using actual geometry, actual architectural shapes and bone structure. The cut had to be perfect and layered beautifully, so that when a woman shook it, it just fell back in.”

He eventually opened a New York salon. In 1973, his hair-care products debuted to the trade. A couple of years later, he moved to Los Angeles, and by 1980, he even briefly had his own American television talk show. It was quite a life for a poor boy from London’s East End.

Sassoon was married four times. He met his current wife of seven years, Ronnie, when she was running a graphics design firm in Cincinnati 10 years ago. Procter & Gamble was one of her clients.

According to the Biography Channel, Sassoon was diagnosed with leukemia in 2009.