shanel + josh + ohana | lahaina maternity photography
“My mother’s family comes from Lahaina. My parents have been growing Taro since before I was born. This Kuleana land parcel is my own. My parents, myself, my brothers and sisters, even Shanel and the boys have all spent time to work this land and restore the Taro patches that once were. My parents have spent countless hours cutting, clearing, and rebuilding the patches we have today. My parents grow several varieties of Kalo (taro), including piko, lehua, manini, eleele, mana and Chinese (Bun-Long). There is a new patch planted just above the patched we photographed in. This new patch will be harvested shortly before Saffrey (our baby) turns 1, and used to make poi for his birthday. My dream is to pass this land on with my children, to watch it grow and prosper with my children and for it to remain in our family.
The trail we photographed on was cut by the early plantation workers, tracing and leading to the upper stream diversion. The trail sits up in elevation around 1800ft. Kahoma, like many valleys across Maui has a series of trails, tunnels, even development tunnels that once supplied plantation operations. Today a balance is being sought to restore customary cultural practices. Above kahoma valley sits Pu’u kukui.”
– Josh
enjoy this special family + maternity photography session in lahaina with Shanel, Josh, and their ohana. we even got his parents in a few shots! very excited to photograph their wedding this fall on maui.
big thank you to haku maui, who has created beautiful floral pieces and haku lei for my clients for years now. I appreciate you!
I’m currently wrapping up my west coast road trip, and will be available for photo sessions in southern california for the month of august 2019. booking from september 1 back on maui! for more details, peep my travel schedule here.
