Explorations Blog — Howard Wolff Photography

A Trip to Tuscany

Recently, I was summoned to Italy by Scott Kelby and Mimo Meidany – both well-known shooters and excellent instructors – to attend their 10-person travel photography workshop. Toscana was, in a word, bellissima.

International Geographic, EuropeHoward WolffApril 19, 2024Architecture, Street scenes, Italy, Tuscany, Sunrises

A Trip to Japan

We spent eight glorious days in Japan with Ari and Hannah exploring Tokyo, Hakone, and Kyoto by foot, e-bike, bus, subway, taxi, and bullet train.

International Geographic, AsiaHoward WolffMarch 15, 2024Architecture, Street scenes, Tokyo, Kyoto, Japan

A Trip to Paris

Grey skies created some opportunities for dramatic light and color in my photos during a week-long visit to Paris in October 2022. The place was extremely crowded due, in part, to the strength of the U.S. dollar and pent-up demand for travel post-Covid. I did my best to avoid the tourists and tried not to shoot them.

International Geographic, EuropeHoward WolffMarch 15, 2024Architecture, Street scenes, Paris, France

A Trip to London

“When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford.”

Samuel Johnson

A Trip to Switzerland

We started our adventure in Lausanne, staying in the tower of a lakeside castle at Château d'Ouchy with spectacular views of Lake Geneva (Lac Léman) and the Alps.

International Geographic, EuropeHoward WolffFebruary 16, 2024Architecture, Street scenes, Switzerland

A Trip to Bruges

It was the movie "In Bruges," made in 2008 with Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson and Ralph Fiennes, that prompted us to say, “Let’s go there some day.”

International Geographic, EuropeHoward WolffFebruary 16, 2024Architecture, Street scenes, Bruges

A Trip to the Gallery

Five of my black+white fine art architectural travel photographs were selected by jurors for a show called “Architects as Artists” at Honolulu’s Downtown Art Center.

Europe, International Geographic, AsiaHoward WolffFebruary 16, 2024Architecture, New York, London, Tokyo, Bruges

Tyler

During a portraiture workship in Brooklyn last year, I was fortunate enough to spent a good part of it with Tyler, an extraordinarily photogenic young man. This image of him was my favorite; it’s that moment between poses —the pause—that somehow reveals a soul, in a quiet way.

In the Loupe, PeopleHoward WolffFebruary 9, 2024New York

Waimanalo Gothic

The couple in “Waimanalo Gothic” are actually dear family friends.

When they told us they were engaged to be married, I jumped at the chance to memorialize this milestone. I love that their playfulness emerges without even a hint of a grin in this formal composition.

In the Loupe, PeopleHoward WolffFebruary 9, 2024Hawaii

Polynesian Ponderer

I was able to catch this Polynesian young man – far from home but never far from phone – pondering in the shade before the start of the King Kamehameha Day parade in downtown Honolulu.

In the Loupe, PeopleHoward WolffAugust 26, 2022Hawaii

Kamehameha Warrior

I photographed this striking Hawaiian warrior, wearing a traditional helmet, at the start of the parade honoring Kamehameha the Great, the founder and first ruler of the Kingdom of Hawaii.

In the Loupe, PeopleHoward WolffAugust 26, 2022Hawaii

A Trip to Waimanalo

Backyard GeographicHoward WolffAugust 26, 2022Women, Construction

A Trip to New Orleans

Laissez les bons temps rouler!

Assignment: Capture the carnivalesque essence of the city – its places and faces – in a few short days.

Camera of choice: Mirrorless Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark III with a 12-100mm zoom lens.

I arrived at the Festival Capital of the World in time to catch the Annual Gay Easter Parade, stayed through the French Quarter Fest, and left before even bigger crowds descended for the Jazz Festival.

A Trip to Temple

Backyard GeographicHoward WolffSeptember 4, 2021Byodo-In Temple, Architecture, Portraits, Kaneohe, Black Swan, Hawaii

Through the Window

I was photographing a ground blessing in the Papakōlea neighborhood for a new home to be built for a multi-generation family with the help of volunteers from Honolulu Habitat for Humanity. As I was packing up to leave the site, so was the family.

In the LoupeHoward WolffSeptember 1, 2021

Quiet Power

As part of my “Backyard Geographic” series, I have been looking for opportunities to create photographs without getting on a plane during the Covid pandemic.

In the LoupeHoward WolffSeptember 1, 2021

Hitting Your Mark

Positioning myself at the top of a parking garage, I framed the shot and waited patiently for a passerby to hit his mark. The marks on the sidewalk and the converging lines of the curb cuts suggest that the subject is an actor on a stage, referencing the Hawaii Theater without identifying it by name.

In the LoupeHoward WolffAugust 5, 2021Honolulu

Air New Zealand's Kia Ora

Kia Ora, Air New Zealand’s in-flight magazine, featured this image on their back page. It was one of several that I took from a helicopter on a trip to the northern part of the southern island.

In the Loupe, PressHoward WolffAugust 2, 2021Honolulu, New Zealand, Kia Ora

A Trip to Lanai

In May 2021, my wife and I took our post-Covid-lockdown, vaccinated bodies to a neighbor island to celebrate my 70th birthday.

It was our first time off the rock in 15 months.

International GeographicHoward WolffJuly 28, 2021Lanai, Hawaii, Resort, Landscapes, Horseback riding, Murals

A Trip to Cappadocia

On a pre-Covid-19 trip with my wife to Turkey, our departing flight to Cappadocia through Istanbul (the world’s largest airport) was delayed for over an hour. So… despite running breathlessly through IST from one terminal to the next, we missed our connection. The good news: we got rebooked a few hours later on a flight departing at 1:15 in the morning.

International Geographic, Europe, AsiaHoward WolffFebruary 12, 2021Horses, Hot-Air Balloons, Pottery, Landscapes, Cappadocia, Museum Hotel