Naupaka Makapuʻu

Naupaka Makapuʻu

There's a certain kind of summer that only happens on the east side.

Hawaiian blue skies. Light trades skimming the water. The kind of crystal clarity that makes you want to stay in the ocean until your fingers prune and the lifeguards go home which, honestly, was always the plan.

Naupaka Makapuʻu brings me back to that feeling.... To Makapuʻu in the summer, when the waves are just right and the shorebreak is doing something wild and beautiful that you absolutely should not paddle into on a shortboard but you do anyway, because you're with your people and nobody's watching and the water is that sparkly blue.

Naupaka graces shorelines all around the island, but this flower has always meant Makapuʻu to me. It grows right there at the edge of everything — salt air, lava rock, that perfect view. Quietly framing one of Oʻahu's most beloved spots like it's always known something the rest of us are still figuring out. The half-flower, the Hawaiian legend behind it, the way it just belongs to the shore. There's no other flower for this print.

This piece came from a season of obsessions: chasing shortboarding dreams I was never quite built for (a longboarder at heart, always), ducking underwater with a camera to try to catch the shorebreak doing its thing, and spending long afternoons at Makapuʻu with a good friend and two siblings who were always down for one more wave. Bodysurfers, bodyboarders, the occasional stubborn shortboarder. The best kind of crew.  Good memories in this special place.  Also a place I started my photography career. 

Naupaka Makapuʻu captures the light, the color, and the quiet wildness of that coastline and the summers that made it unforgettable.  Thank you Makapuʻu.

Details:

Printed on photo paper. Hand Signed.  Open Edition Print.

Standard sizes ship matted and ready to frame:

• 5×7 image in an 8×10 white mat
• 8×10 image in an 11×14 white mat
• 12×12 image in a 16×16 white mat

Need a different size? We'd love to help — reach out to us at hello@lolapilarhawaii.com 

Custom sizes are 4-6 weeks to ship and are non-refundable.