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About

Aloha and mahalo nui for visiting my website, as I am fairly new to wordpress, blogging, and photography. I often use Instagram (@alohafrom808) post my adventures, but have been pressured by my peers to post my adventures where they could be appreciated at a higher resolution. hehe. I am not a professional photographer by any means, but just an outdoor enthusiast who’s tired of just taking mental pictures of all the beautiful sites and experiences I have while outdoors. I’d like to share them with my friends and others… and hopefully inspire them to put down their gaming controllers / remote controls and motivate to get outside. Hawaii is such a unique place, and whether you are a resident or visitor, we should always be able to enjoy the outdoors equally.

Lifestyle

As you may have imagined, most of my time is spent outdoors, whether it being recreational or for my 9-5. To pay the bills I am an environmental researcher where my time is split into being a aquatic biologist, doing outreach education with K-12 students, deploying and maintaining wireless sensor networks for environmental monitoring, and portal-website design. In my spare time, you will usually find me fishing, diving, kayaking, gardening, brewing beer, or canyoneering.

Outdoor Photos

As I mentioned earlier, I am not a professional photographer and have only been playing with my Canon DSLR for a few years now. Living in Hawai‘i all my life, I’ve found that the photos you may find common amongst other photographers include surfers/waves, portraits and wedding photos, or macro-shots of small, interesting things. These are great types of photography, however, there are not many open niches for photographers here in the islands… thus I have tried to be a little different. I often follow cyclical climatic events (e.g. weather, sun/moon-rises/sets) and hike a dslr to remote areas to get a specific azimuth alignment with a particular foreground. Adding such elements may be difficult or time consuming, but can really add style to any photograph. I really enjoy scenic night photography and how the moon can be used to illuminate a landscape. If you would like a copy of the low-resolution digital files as seen on this site for your personal use then please, at least have the courtesy to ask first! Low-resolution images from this site may be saved to your own computer for your personal use, but they remain copyright to Cory Yap and all rights are reserved. They may not be printed, copied, transferred to any other person or used on any web sites unless they are accompanied by a clear link to this Web site and/or a copyright notice like this example:

“Photo © Cory Yap – http://www.alohafrom808.com“

Responsibility / Respect

Hawai‘i is one of the most isolated group of islands in the world, and therefore much of the native flora / fauna that have adapted to living here in virtual absence of humans and are found nowhere else in the world. Please do your part to minimize your impacts on the ecosystem, whether it being trying to avoid trampling vegetation, preventing further spread of invasive species or picking up trash (even if it’s biodegradable, PACK IT OUT!). Native Hawaiians and locals recognize several areas, structures and objects as sacred. Though you may not have the same beliefs, please respect what may be culturally important to others. As with any outdoor adventure here in the islands, please know when you are in over your head and know when to turn back. Please properly prepare yourself and venture with others who are capable and who you can trust. Be sure to research as much information as you can about the location you are going and check the weather forecast for conditions or inclement alerts. Please stay safe out there and have fun! Again, thank you for visiting and hope that you come back again soon… Please share with your friends and family, as I do appreciate your support!!!

Aloha nō,

Cory Yap