Kaanohi Kaleikini | Honolulu Magazine

Paulette Kaanohi Kaleikini is a Native Hawaiian Cultural Practitioner whose dedicated her life to her kuleana, protecting the iwi, which means to honor and take care of the bones of Hawaiian ancestors and protect ancestral burial sites which are now being threatened and desecrated as retail outlets and the rail projects are built up throughout Honolulu. We photographed her at the Walmart and TJ Maxx burial mounds and as she oversaw trenching for the new rail constuction for this Honolulu Magazine feature.

Burial materials used for iwi kupuna reburial ceremonies.

Kaanohi at the TJ Maxx burial mound site.

At the Walmart burial mound site.

Kaanohi talks with her cousin, cultural monitor, Kaleo, while overseeing trenching at a rail construction site.
The Walmart burial mound.
TJ Maxx burial mound
Trenching at a rail construction site.
Kaanohi talks with her nephew JR, cultural monitor at the rail construction site.

Golf | Four Seasons Resort Hualalai

Scenes at the Jack Nicklaus Signature Golf Course Four Seasons Resort Hualalai on the Big Island of Hawaii.

Chaminade Statue | Honolulu Magazine

The Father Chaminade Statue being erected at Chaminade University, photographed for Honolulu Magazine.

Makahiki Ceremony | Kaanohi Kaleikini

We were so moved watching this sacred traditional Makahiki ceremony on a misty morning in Makua Valley with Native Hawaiian Cultural Practitioner Paulette Kaanohi Kaleikini and members of Malama Makua for a profile feature about Kaanohi in Honolulu Magazine.

Kaanohi's tattoos symbolize her lineage and her kuleana for protecting iwi kupuna.

Paulette Kaanohiokalani Kaleikini

Taking in the mana

Offerings for the Hawaiian god Lono

Marine Mammal Responders | Honolulu Magazine

It was fascinating learning about the great work of Hawaii's Marine Mammal Response Network, and photographing Ed Lyman and Kristi West for Honolulu Magazine. Ed Lyman is the Disentanglement Coordinator for NOAA at the Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary in Kihei, Maui, and he told us amazing stories about whale disentanglements while showing us the types of debris caught on the animals and the tools they use. HPU Professor Kristi West is the director of the response network's stranding program and performs necropsies on the dolphins and whales who die near shore. We photographed Kristi doing a stomach content analysis of a Pygmy Sperm Whale with her assistants Elyse Kohli and Su White.


Squid beaks found inside a Pygmy Sperm Whale stomach

Dolphin dorsal fin specimen

Ed Lyman demonstrates using a grappling hook with fishing gear removed from a whale

Pygmy Sperm Whale stomach content analysis

Looking for specimens in the freezer


Fishing ropes caught on a whale

Kristi, Su and Elyse demonstrate a necropsy with a plastic dolphin

Pygmy Sperm Whale stomach


Large Whale Disentangler, Ed Lyman, with the fishing gear he's removed from whales, along with the buoys used to slow the whales down and a transponder.

Courtney and Kolohe | Dolphin Training

Senior Dolphin Trainer Courtney Yanovitch works with dolphin Kolohe at the Kahala Hotel and Resort's Dolphin Quest encounter. Photographed for Hana Hou! Magazine.