Every boy huggles his pretty pussy, part one.

 I only have five more photos left to edit before I'm out from under all of the work that backed up during the move, and then I can get to working on my own photo projects. I have a pretty big one I've been daydreaming about for a few years now, I just need 300 bucks to make it happen. Which seems like nothing, but I'm also putting every spare dime I have toward a two week trip to Ithaca in May, and then a week in Colorado in June, and then a few days in NC in July plus another trip back to CO at the end of the month. It's a fuck ton of travel. 

Anyway. I wanted to compile my favorite shots from 2020 in here, I feel like I do that every year, but I'm too lazy to look. 

So, here are my favorite photos I took for me, not for clients, last year:

Caught this dude surfing at the beginning of the year, during a pretty mild storm. II'm a sucker for monochrome. 

Top of Crouching Lion, after the early ass AM hike. I really miss O'ahu. 

Marching at the George Floyd protests in Honolulu. 

An Empty Waikiki Beach, right after the covid shutdowns. I can't say I was sorry to see the island beaches so empty, honestly. Seeing Honolulu so empty was wild. 

Our second to last time at Ka'ena Point. 

I never did figure out what kind of lichen or fungus or mold or...air plant?... this is. But I loved seeing them all over the hike Derek and I did at...uh....fuck. I can't remember the name. But it was a five mile hike, it was a good one, and there are so many other photos from the hike that I loved, but I never got around to blogging about it. 

Lulumahu Falls. I really really REALLY wanted to do a mermaid shoot here, and I had quite a few people that were more than happy to make the trek to the location and be in the freezing freezing water to make it happen for me. However, each time we tried to set up a shoot here, it rained and I called the shoots off. Should have just gone for it, anyway, it always rains in Hawai'i. I deeply regret it. 

This was a small beach down by Kahe that I loved to take sunset shots at. These are from several different days. 

Makapu'u beach. I did Derek's mermaid photos here, and they turned out magnificently. I just wish I could have done the couples mermaid shoot here that was planned, but got rained out and rescheduled at a different location. Also one of my favorite beaches to photograph surfers at. 

Found this little bloom on the way to Maunawili Falls (which killed my knees. They grind now, very audibly, and the last mile is almost all stairs. It uh...it wasn't great. 

Pele's Well, Big Island. This is the first stop we made after arriving! I wanted to come back to get sunset photos of Pele's Well,  but we ended up packing the trip way too full.

The Painted Church! I gave the entire history on this in my Big Island recap. I truly was smitten with just how ugly this church is. 

Akaka Falls. OF course. 

Volcanoes National Park, which was pretty much fogged out every single day we went, save for one. 

Papakolea Beach! I know nobody notices, but it isn't lost on me that I'm not writing the phonetic markers on the names of everything. I am lazy and sorry. 

Various places around Volcanoes National Park. Which is massive. 

An adorable little saffron finch gets an adorable little nosh in the rain. 

I cannot for the life of me remember the name of this beach overlook. I also wrote about this in the Big Island recap, though...uh...I may never have published that one. Fuck, I really WAS bad about blogging last year. 

We drove by this gorgeous Japanese cemetery, I could have spent hours there. I felt very certain that the tree in the middle was either haunted, or the start of a mythical quest. I didn't get close enough to find out. 

Driving by the foot of Mauna Kea, a storm was rolling in. I really wanted to stop, the colors were so beautiful, but this was the best I could get from the car. 

And now we're in Missouri. No more new Hawai'i photos ever again, there are too many other places to see in the world. 

I fucking love my macro. 

I fucking LOVE my macro. 

I FUCKING LOVE MY MACRO!!!!!!!!

I was so annoyed at Derek when he bought one for himself. So annoyed that I promptly stole it and we had to buy a second one. Seriously, seriously, seriously...I love my macro. 

Aren't Lily Pads neat??? 

Obviously, I am a true artist and everything I do is original and good. 

This is one of the juvenile Ruby Throated Hummingbirds in our backyard. We moved in at the very tail end of hummingbird season, but we spent hours photographing them and being delighted by them. We even befriended a few enough so that they'd land on our fingers. They truly weigh nothing. 

Sleepy little bumbler bee!!! Did I mention I love my macro? I do.

I lied earlier. One more new Hawai'i shot. Our last time at Ka'ena, we took pictures of the salt collecting in the tiny tide pools on the big rocks. I am not great with my macro when I have to point down and keep my shutter speed low because it's getting dark out, but I'm not completely mad at this shot. 

So there they are. My favorite shots of my own from 2020. 

But 2020 was also a really good year for me, professionally. I am going to do that in a second blog, just because there are already 50 photos in here.