My Hawaiian Nostalgia Art and Photo Show Notes

JO JAHNS CACHIA

      Got my first brownie box camera when I was about 8 years old by saving the wrappers off of Scott paper towel packages and sending them in for a free camera!

I caught the photography bug and have never lost it!…I shot everything in sight. Butterflys, cats, dogs, then by junior high school I was shooting for the yearbook and school newspaper.  I was fortunate that my High School had a fantastic photography

Program with darkrooms and a great teacher, Mr. Titus, who nurtured me and told me about Brooks Institute of Photography.  One of the best Photography colleges in the world.  My  career was set.

 

• From 1972 when I made my first trip to Oahu (for high school graduation), to the present day, Hawaii is one of my favorite places on earth.  It is still a joy for me to travel there with my family and share that special ALOHA with my husband and beautiful daughters.
• While attending Brooks Institute of Photography in Santa Barbara, 1972-1976,

I made several trips to Hawaii and in particular the NORTH SHORE.

• In school we shot nothing but large format cameras: 4×5 and even larger. But whenever I traveled I took my 35mm Yashica. Travel photography became a passion.
• In those days I mostly shot Kodachrome and Ektachrome slides and Tri-x 400 asa black and white film.
• The surf photos in this show were from negatives that I experimented with by over developing them to attain a grainy look.  (the old fashion way! No photoshop then!)
• I would always collect puka shells with my Hawaiian friends, from the north shore beaches , so I could make necklaces and take them back to the Mainland and sell them at UCSB.  Then I would pay for my next vacation to the islands! I did this several times during my College years. But nothing was more special than the winter of  ’74 for me.

 

• Usually I would travel with a friend or two that had “connections” and a place to crash somewhere on the North Shore. We’d walk or bus everywhere.
• The year I shot these photos I was there for the month of December 1974

And was focusing on fun probably more than focusing on my camera J

• And was staying with a lifeguard at Kawela Bay.  Unknown to me my favorite uncle Boscoe Burns, was living just about 10 houses away!
• Not until more than 20 years later did I realize it!
• My Uncle Boscoe was a glasser and also lived for many years up on Pupukea and we became very close in later years until his death
• His son was Ronnie Burns, who was a fantastic and well loved surfer who grew up on the North Shore. Tragically Ronnie passed away 1990 at 27 yrs old..
• I only surfed with Ronnie once…but he was a joy to watch.
• Life is like a box of chocolates….I feel mine has been especially blessed.
• Suntanned body, warm surf, white puka shells and a bright smile made a happy heart.
• I have so many fond memories of the North Shore, and I feel lucky to have been able to document the unbelievable Gerry Lopez…at Pipeline.
• Future Foto shows?:  Guatemala, Mexico, Sunsets, EURO, Fiji, Australia’s 1987 AmericasCup,  Tonga, …….????