Another day at the office

In the middle of the Pacific Ocean is a place called Kualoa Ranch. It's 4,000 acres of awesomeness. It sits on the island of Oahu and has been family owned for 6 generations. I recently had the opportunity to experience this location for an entire day. I was helping to shoot a commercial for the location and in doing so got to do some really cool things!

Perfect spot for a Wal-Mart! Everyday low prices.

This place was used during World War II to spot oncoming attacks. They built some huge bunkers to hold munitions and such. Deeper into the valley are many film locations used for TV shows and Movies. Jurassic Park, Godzilla, LOST, and Pearl Harbor are just some of the projects that were shot here. Up until seeing this place I had only experienced the coastal area of Oahu which, don't get me wrong is absolutely amazing! However, I'm so glad I got to go inland and explore areas that feel preserved and hidden from the world. It's absolutely breathtaking to experience such a place.

This is the log from Jurassic Park... yes there is a specific log. It was used by the actors to hide from annoying dinosaurs. If I remember correctly the dinosaurs ate them all and the movie ended.

Basically Kualoa Ranch has lots of activities that visitors can partake of. I spent the day filming these activities with Devin Graham. The morning started off with a horseback ride through the valley. Devin and I followed in a sweet van getting shots of the ride as it progressed along the trail and eventually back to the ranch.

Horses swam to the island back in the late 1800's during the great horse depression. This is fact.

Afterwords we took a boat tour across a giant Hawaiian fish pond that was built by hand using lava rock. Basically they built it so that small fish would swim in, but would then grow too large to ever get out. On the other side of this pond the boat we were on docked on the edge of what is referred to as "the secret island beach". It is a private island that visitors can pay to spend time on.

This is the same pond used for all the submarine shots from the show LOST.

We walked across the island where we boarded a "catamaran" which is a specific type of boat. The catamaran took us out into the ocean traveling full steam ahead directly into the waves. This was extremely fun because the boat feels like it's catching air as it slams through the waves. With every wave the front of the boat would rise high into the air and then slam down causing lots of water to splash over the edge. It was ridiculously fun. However, I quickly found out that it's difficult to keep your balance and film at the same time. I did my best, but I was almost thrown overboard on several occasions.  Normally they don't let people film on the lower portion of the boat, but they made an exception for Devin and I. It was scary to take my uninsured camera down there with nothing but my rookie sea legs underneath me, although I somehow was able to get some rad shots. Also I didn't throw up, and that's always a solid victory. 

One of my roommates James Choi. This dude can cook up a storm!

This is what a Catamaran looks like.

Upon returning from our Ocean Voyage, we took to the land in some crazy military cargo vehicle that blasted us into the jungle, taking us to the top of one of the peaks. On top you can look out and see both sides of the island, I wish I could explain how amazing it was up there, but alas I lack the writing ability to do so. It was "neat".

This is what "neat" looks like.

Sadly by the end of this jungle excursion I had plowed through all three of my batteries and my camera turned into nothing more than an expensive paper weight. I was bummed out because we still had two more trips to take. That's the problem with being so passionate about film and photography. Sometimes it's hard to enjoy what's around me if i'm not capturing it in some way. I'm sure lots of friends hate going places with me because I'm constantly taking photos or shooting video. What else am I supposed to do!? Anyway, I forced myself to just relax and enjoy my surroundings. I'm in Hawaii for crying out loud!


What followed was a bus tour through the valley that shows off all the TV and Film locations, stopping occasionally to let the passengers exit the bus to check things out. After this we finished up the day riding Four Wheelers around. It was an incredible day that I was lucky to have experienced. I will try and get some video uploaded as soon as I get some time to edit it together! Thanks to everyone for reading, I hope you enjoy the blog!