Maine Media Workshop in Rockport, Maine was a terrific week. You could ask anything more for the experience. There was hard work figuring out what you where going to shoot to having a lot of fun with the people in the class. It is one of the workshops I will go back to again. The Main Media workshop gives you so many subjects to choose from. The Maine Media Workshops is an international non-profit educational organization offering year-round workshops for photographers, filmmakers, and media artists. Students from across the country and around the world travel to the harbor village of Rockport, Maine to attend courses at all levels, from absolute beginner and serious amateur to working professional. The Young Artists Program offers creative course opportunities for high school students. Professional certificate and MFA programs in photography, film, and multimedia are available through Maine Media College. The school’s curriculum honors historical forms and practices of image making while embracing new technologies and modes of creative expression.

Arthur Meyerson is recognized as one of America’s finest photographers. Since 1974, this native Texan has traveled throughout the world, creating award winning advertising, corporate and editorial photographs, as well as an extensive body of fine art imagery. A three-time winner of Adweek’s “Southwest Photographer of the Year” award, he is on Communication World’s list of top 10 corporate photographers and was named one of the 30 best advertising photographers by American Photo.

Arthur was my instructor for the workshop. The workshop was challenged us to ease out of our comfort zones and abandon our familiar habits in order to introduce new ways of shooting our photos. Once we started to realize Arthur’s method of encouraging creativity through fresh ways of thinking, it became more and more enjoyable.  Group critiques took place the day after shooting  and they reinforced this, as well as brought fresh perspective to our work. The highlight for me was when I had a one-on-one session with Arthur the third day of class. That hour really helped me to see the good, the bad and the ugly of my work. Arthur’s influence has shown me how to elevate the way I see, think and shoot my photos.  Overall, the collective nature of this particular workshop energized me and helped me to visualize my photos in innovative ways.

Just look at it this way; as a photographer I got dull after a while and had bad habits. Arthur has shown me how to improve my photographs. The rest is up to me.

See the photos at Photography by McGraphics
For sale at –  Stock Photo

The island of Maui is the second-largest of the Hawaiian Islands at 727.2 square miles (1,883 km²) and is the 17th largest island in the United States. Maui is part of the State of Hawaii and is the largest of Maui County’s four islands, bigger than Molokaʻi, Lānaʻi, and unpopulated Kahoʻolawe.

Polynesians, from Tahiti and the Marquesas, were the original peoples to populate Maui. The Tahitians introduced the kapu system, a strict social order that affected all aspects of life and became the core of Hawaiian culture. Modern Hawaiian history began in the mid-18th century. King Kamehameha I, king of Hawaii’s “Big Island,” invaded Maui in 1790 and fought the inconclusive Battle of Kepaniwai, but returned to Hawaii to battle a rival, finally subduing Maui a few years later.

On November 26, 1778, explorer Captain James Cook became the first European to see Maui. Cook never set foot on the island because he was unable to find a suitable landing. The first European to visit Maui was the French admiral Jean-François de La Pérouse, who landed on the shores of what is now known as La Perouse Bay on May 29, 1786. More Europeans followed: traders, whalers, loggers (e.g., of sandalwood) and missionaries. The latter began to arrive from New England in 1823, settling in Lahaina, which at that time was the capital. They clothed the natives, banned them from dancing hula, and greatly altered the culture. The missionaries taught reading and writing, created the 12-letter Hawaiian alphabet, started a printing press in Lahaina, and began writing the islands’ history, which until then was transmitted orally. Ironically, the missionaries both altered and preserved the native culture. The religious work altered the culture while the literacy efforts preserved native history and language. Missionaries started the first school in Lahaina, which still exists today: Lahainaluna Mission School, which opened in 1831.

At the height of the whaling era (1843–1860), Lahaina was a major whaling center with anchorage in Lāhainā Roads; in one season over 400 ships visited Lahaina with 100 berthed at one time. Ships tended to stay for weeks rather than days, which explains the drinking and prostitution in the town at that time, against which the missionaries vainly battled. Whaling declined steeply at the end of the 19th century as petroleum replaced whale oil.

Kamehameha’s descendants reigned until 1872. They were followed by rulers from another ancient family of chiefs, including Queen Liliuokalani who ruled in 1893 when the monarchy was overthrown. One year later, the Republic of Hawaii was founded. The island was annexed by the United States in 1898 and made a territory in 1900. Hawaii became the 50th U.S. state in 1959.

In 1937, Vibora Luviminda trades union conducted the last labor strike of an ethnic nature in the Hawaiian Islands against four Maui sugarcane plantations, demanding higher wages and the dismissal of five foremen. Manuel Fagel and nine other strike leaders were arrested, and charged with kidnapping a worker. Fagel spent four months in jail while the strike continued. Eventually, Vibora Luviminda made its point and the workers won a 15% increase in wages after 85 days on strike, but there was no written contract signed.

Maui was centrally involved in the Pacific Theater of World War II as a staging center, training base, and for rest and relaxation. At the peak in 1943-44, more than 100,000 soldiers were there. The main base of the 4th Marine Division was in Haiku. Beaches (e.g., in Kīhei) were used to practice landings and train in marine demolition and sabotage.

See the photos at Photography by McGraphics
For sale at –  Stock Photo