Big Island Valley

I was on the Big Island of Hawai’i for the last week and today finally got to go play a little bit. We hiked down into the Pololu Valley on the northern tip of the island and then continued on to climb the ridge on the opposite end. I was photographing the forrest and its floor covered in lush, green vegetation. The light was dappling through the leaves, real pretty. A fellow hiker approached me and we started chatting. Turns out he has been hiking and managing the land in and around Pololu Valley for a couple decades now. Found myself the perfect tour guide, how convenient. We climbed the ridge together and he filled me in on historical facts as well as geography of the valley and its neighboring valleys. When we reached the top and looking down into the next valley he told us about ropes that allowed to hike into this valley. We parted ways but Don and I continued down into this next valley, soon finding ourselves dangling off of ropes making vertical headway very quickly. At the bottom of the valley we found a bamboo forrest which we walked through in amazement and which led us to a dried out riverbed. From there it wasn’t far to the ocean. That’s where the image above was taken. Beautiful, remote and peaceful.

Last year my image of my buddies flying son got published in the book Friendship, Family, Friends and Laughter a M.I.L.K. publication. The image is actually on the right sidebar of this blog. Click it and you’ll get linked to the publishers site. Now I received an email from Chronicle Books that the image will also be published in a book called Dear Dad in the next months. Neat. Below is an image of the cover of the book.

Book cover "Dear Dad"

and here is the image:

flying monkey

Never thought I’d do this but I’m sitting on a plane to Kona, Hawaii and have nothing better to do. So I just created a mini portfolio from images taken with my iPhone. The images got worked on the phone and this very post is coming from the phone as well. Pretty amazing. Still like my Hasselblad better though…

Four Seasons at Hualalai, Kona

Sculpture I built on the beach.

at the Getty Center in Los Angeles

stack of (heavy) rocks at the beach

at the Atlanta Aquarium

Also at the Atlanta Aquarium

Roman

the racecars…

Southern Cali is getting drenched right now, feels good but it also reminds me of why I moved away from Germany and to sunny California. The weather actually convinced me to take the Pacific Surfliner (train) down to Los Angeles to view the LA Art Show. Can only recommend it, only thing is that it takes a while (Santa Barbara to LA= 3 hours). Below is an image I took as part of the Isla Vista series before the weather got bad. A tranquil moment on the Santa Barbara coast.

Surfer in Isla Vista

Here is the information for the Los Angeles Art Show.

My images of Isla Vista will be part of a group exhibition called GroupSC2009. Here is a link to the LA Art Show

And here is a link to the press release of the group.

The show takes place from the 21st of January through the 24th.

Jonas Jungblut Isla Vista

Hubertus von der Goltz as seen in the Peanut Butter Sandwich Program. Hubertus is a Berlin based sculptor working with metal. His sculptures deal with balance and silhouettes and his work can be viewed here:  http://www.hubertus-von-der-goltz.de/

I have know Hubertus for many years from back in Berlin and I photographed him last year here in Santa Barbara while he was on vacation with his family.

Hubertus von der Goltz

Another image from Isla Vista. I am done shooting for the exhibition, now its editing and scanning and finishing up. I’ll post info about the LA Art Show and where images from this series can be seen on Monday.

Isla Vista surfers

from the Isla Vista Series

Isla Vista

I have been documenting Isla Vista just north of Goleta for a couple of month now and took this photo the other day. Running around with my son on my back was actually rather awkward, went back to the car and put him in a stroller which felt a lot better. Don’t know why but being around all the students who are all 5-10 years younger than me with the baby on the back felt wrong, like my backpack didn’t fit in, haha… It is pretty neat being able to bring him on these documentary excursions, though.

The images will be displayed in a group exhibition at the LA Art Show (nice!!!) from January 21st-24th. I will post info about it in a couple days but if you are planning on attending, make sure to swing by the SC2009 booth!

Jonas Jungblut in Isla Vista.

I love this image of a group of kids staring at the whale sharks in the huge basin at the Atlanta Aquarium. I was out there a couple of weeks ago and we had a morning off so Kris Houser and I took a cab to the Aquarium and wandered around for a while. Swarmed with kids, crazy, but cool to see the little ones get so excited.

Atlanta Aquarium