Kanikapila is a pidgin-english term rooted in Hawaiian, and used to describe informal music jam sessions, exactly like the ones that legendary Hawaiian musician Gabby "Pops" Pahinui held in his backyard in Waimanalo during the 1960s and 1970s. Years later, Cyril, one of Pop's ten kids who launched the now annual event. In the spirit of his late fathers jam sessions.

Hana Hou, the Hawaiian Airlines Magazine commissioned me to photograph the music festival to accompany a department story by writer Liza Simon. While the assignment itself was pretty straightforward, the weather would prove somehwat challenging as it was uncooperative. Stormy weather never makes for good features to go along with a airline magazine travel story, but as any good photographer will tell you, you have got to think on your feet and make the assignment work for you. I decided to get my establishing photos of the crowd, and focus more on the intimate atmosphwere of the the behind the scenes at the Kanikapila. The story runs in the August/September 2016 issue of Hana Hou.