CASSIDY WAYANT - Portrait and Wedding Photographer Captian Cook Hawaii - Cassidy Wayant Photography

Loins, and Tigers, and Crocodiles, OH MY!

11/20/2018

Since being in Florida, I have developed a bit of a fascination with crocodiles. My local friend, Kelley, took me on a little adventure day to the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge. Where I got to see these beautifully intense creatures up close. As we slowly drove through the park, we kept our eyes open for a pair of dinosaur like reptile eyes peeking through the shallow swap lands. I spotted the first one, a little guy chilling next to a large tuff of grass. Kelley spotted the next much larger one, gracefully gliding through the water. As I jumped back into the car after snapping a few shots, I excitedly announced:

“Now we just need one to jump out of the water and snatch up a bird!”

Kelley laughed, “No, not gunna happen.”

With the magic hour of sunset quickly approaching, we stopped at a lookout area and started to stroll around the narrow paths. Suddenly, I heard Kelley yell for me to come over. She was motioning at the ground in a Vera White fashion.

“Look it’s a slide and a big one! He’s gotta be near by.”

I stared at the smashed grass and the obvious entrance point the gator had taken. Then as if we had stepped into a national geographic, I looked up just in time to see a very large crocodile leaping out of the water with a medium sized brown duck just barely escaping his razor sharp teeth. The large beast slammed into the water continuing his hunt. Within seconds we watch as he disappears behind a large tuff of tall grass, the green foliage shaking and thrashing as the enormous creature devoured his pray.

Kelley and I bravely walked around the view blocking plant in hopes of seeing more. Being not more than five feet away, the entire body of the six/seven foot gator was completely exposed. Kelley and I stood frozen staring at the intense animal as he glared back at us, with one leg propped on shore, he leaned the slightest bit closer in our direction. With hearts racing, we scurried away from the scene of the crime and I declared to Kelley, “Yeah, I don’t think I want one as a pet after all.”

Corn Muffins and a Rainy Day

9/2/2018

My life has been so crazy lately that I haven't had many moments to myself. But today gave me a much needed gift, the gift of rain. With clouds rolling in left and right, sailing didn't seem like much fun. Instead, I spent the day baking, editing, writing, and cooking.

A much needed day of relaxing, gave me inspiration to do one of my favourite pass times, baking. Our oven is very small, which means I can only bake 6 muffins at a time but I I can't complain since they came out so lovely.

I found this wonderful recipe on https://www.errenskitchen.com/

In normal fashion, as well as a still broken refrigerator, I had no milk to work with. So I subsituted with a can of coconut milk. This gave them a nice buttery, sweet favor.
I also made a spicy, vegetarian chilli to go with my mini corn breads. Perfect meal for a rainy day.

Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Total Time 25 minutes
Servings muffins
Calories 174 kcal
Author Erreb @ Erren's Kitchen
Ingredients

2 cup all-purpose flour
2 cup fine cornmeal
6 tablespoons granulated sugar
2 tablespoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
4 eggs beaten
2 cups milk
1 stick salted butter melted and cooled
4 tablespoons vegetable oil

US Measurements - Metric MeasurementsInstructions

Pre-heat oven to 425 f/ 220c Prepare a muffin pan with 12 muffin liners.
Mix dry ingredients in large bowl and form a well into the middle of the mixture.
Mix egg, milk, melted butter, and oil in a large mixing bowl. Pour into the well of dry ingredients; mix well.
Divide batter into the lined muffin pan, filling them 3/4 of the way. This makes a large muffin. (20 - 24 muffins).
Bake for 12-15 minutes, or until light golden brown.

The Start of Dock Life at the Yacht Club

7/13/2018

Living aboard a sailboat is not always the romanticised notion of cocktails at sunset, cool sea salt breezes, starry night skies, and perfect gentle rolling seas. It is also rough waters, un-marked entrances with broken depth sounders, sleepless nights, rotten food, broken equipment, and rainy days.

I first arrived in Grand Cayman a few short months ago. We had sailed in on a 41 Morgan Classic from Bocas Del Toro, Panama. It had taken us nine days and eight nights to sail the 1000 nautical miles north to this small island chain snuggled between the smokey hills of Cuba and the tropical mountain tops of Jamaica.
Living on a solid lean for over a week, had all of us craving hamburgers and ice cold beers when we first arrived full sails, and salty. From afar, Grand Cayman looks like tiny boxes dotting the horizon line, slowly growing into large buildings and a long sandy beaches with every mile we came closer.

After a painless check in and one night on a mooring ball in Georgetown we made our way around the north west corner of the island to Governor’s creek. Where we anchored in front of the Yacht Club. We spent the next couple weeks familiarising ourselves with our new surroundings. Taking the dinghy up every canal, looking for empty docks, grocery stores and places to rinse off our salty skin. Even though, we had provisioned well in Panama, we needed fresh vegetables and meats.

Living on the hook is not glamours to say the least, between lack of water and power combined with the rocking wakes of tours boats. We decided to trade dinghy rides and rolling seas for a sturdy dock and an unlimited power source. We moved into the Yacht Club to start a dock life.

New Opportunities

5/23/2017

As you may or may not know I took a position with Jonathan Davis doing real estate photography back in January. It's been an interested six months learning everything there is to know about this business. Jonathan is an extremely talented photographer who knows his client like the back of his hand.

I started out this venture by taking over his social media and providing 3d virtual reality tours using the Matterport. Jonathan has slowly been teaching me how to use my artistic background in compositions of space and I am now also doing stills for him.

Here are some shots I took from a resent shoot with this awe inspiring house located in Kohala. The home was built to look like a bird perching on a branch. I also managed to capture a few shots of Jonathan in her element.

Let me know what you think and any questions you may have in regards to this home or my new job below in the comment section. Visit PhotoKona.com to take a look at Jonathan's work. Also follow Photokona on Instagram.

Kirsten

5/23/2017

"I just wanna let you know that I'm horrible at having my picture taken," Kirsten tells me as she pulls off the highway next to a poplar tourist attraction, a large lava tube.

"Do you know how often I hear that?" I reply to this common statement.

"No seriously!" Kirsten exclaims, "I'm horrible. I make this weird fake smile. Just wait, you'll see." I roll my eyes and giggle a bit because there is no way someone as beautiful as Kirsten could take a bad photo.

"Don't worry Kirsten, it's me. I can get a good shot." I reassure her as I jump out of the lifted jeep. Nether of us had ever stopped at the lava tube before so I wasn't completely sure what to expect. You could still see the top of Hualalai in the early morning light, the lava field soaking in the warmth of the sun.

We started by walking down into the tube, the floor scattered in broken lava. Light glowing through the end of the tunnel revealing a beautiful sky light where the roof had craved in. As we climbed around the tube we decided to take this adventure outside to use the morning light to our advantage. I followed Kirsten as she throw off her shoes and carefully tip toed about the cracks in the field.

"Should I climb down?" She asked me as we both starred down into the collapse lava tube.

"Only if you feel comfortable doing so." she nodded. Picking up her dress and slide down the side of the tube standing on a pile of large boulders I captured her in her pink dress as she told me about her love life and her decision to move off island.

As the morning sun got brighter and the tourist started to arrive we decided to venture to a new spot. Just across the street is a long bumpy road that leads through a lava field to a beautiful beach called Mahaiula's. With both my hands on the built in handle bar of the jeep, we rambled down the long road. It was still early in the day so not many people were at the beach yet. We started with a shady spot under a tree where I captured a moment with Kirsten. She told me stories and I gave advice. I was prefect.

"I brought this sequin dress and I really wanna put you in the water wearing it!"

"Lets do it!" Kirsten said as her eyes grew bigger and sparkled in the sunlight.

We found an area in with no people, she slipped into the dress and eased herself into the water. I joked that she should swim up to a group of guys that had dragged a large float down the beach.

"I think they would really like the sequins!" I joked as the sequins sparkled in the sunlight.

"I'll tell them I'm really a mermaid." We laughed as Kirsten drove under the water.

"I'm really glad we did this," Kirsten tells me as beads of water roll down her forehead, "it's been really fun."

I show Kirsten a preview of one of her photos. "See I told you wouldn't make a funny face."

Ocra's in Hawaii

5/23/2017

When I was a little girl I learned about the Orca whale in school. This marine mammal quickly became my favorite sea creature and I would spend my afternoons dreaming about swimming with these amazing creatures. I developed my own fantasy island called Orca Island where I could swim and play with hundreds of Orcas. They would let me rub their noses and would carry me on their backs. Obviously this was a fantasy developed from my favorite movie at the time, Free Willy. Non the less, I would draw cartoon like Orcas and hang my drawings in my room as a reminder of my dream to see them in reality.

It started out as a normal Sunday, I was preparing breakfast when Justin got a phone call:

"Hi Jim, please don't tell me your with Orca's right now?"

The Orcas had been spotted early that week so it wasn't a huge surprise that a friend of ours happened to stubble upon them. With this information we enlisted our roommate and friends to get on a boat and head seven miles off shore in hopes of getting to see these amazing mammals.

"Over there!' Justin pointed to a boat far off in the distance, "I think I saw something."

With that we reeled the lines in and took off. At first all we saw were a couple of boats and being that we had to be in international waters by now it seemed odd to have two fishermen next to each other so we wanted to check it out. As we got closer we could see something in the water. Sure enough they were Orcas!

Smaller then the Orcas of Alaska but just as beautiful, mom and baby swam close with the bulls near by. Like dolphins the Orcas are very curious and seemed to come straight up to the boat as if to see what we were doing. They would ride our wake and play in the displacement. We stayed with them for a bit taking photos and videos enjoying this rare opportunity and before we new it we looked up to nothing but ocean. The island had completely disappeared.

With the Orcas heading further out to sea we decided to head back towards the island. We dropped our lures back in the water and enjoyed the rest of our Mother's day, fishing, drinking and jumping off the boat into the deep blue.

Flash forward twenty plus years to my life here in Hawaii were I had the opportunity to swam with dolphins, manta rays, and even a hump back whale (swimming with hump back whales is highly illegal in the state, however, I was lucky enough to be swimming with dolphins when two curious hump back whales decided to come check out all the commotion) but never had I seen an Orca whale and didn't imagine I would get an opportunity since the Orca is so rare in Hawaii. Then it happened, on mother's day I got my opportunity.

Within half an hour we were on the water in one of the fastest boats in the harbor. The water glistened in the early morning sun. The sound of the three motors flooded my ears as the wind rushed through my hair. This was really happening! I was going to see Orcas.

We headed south since the last we heard they were spotted off Kealakekua. As we rounded the fishing boey we saw no signs of Orcas. So rather then feel as if we were hunting for these elusive orcas we decided to drop some fishing lures in the water and crack open a nice cold beer. With Bob Marley singing through the speakers and the children playing tag on the bow, we drifted further and further off shore, the island slowly disappearing. Then suddenly Justin saw something.

Day Light Mind Round 3

10/17/2016

Happy Hour is not to be missed at Day Light Mind. Chef Ash has brought in his famous Avocado fries and has added many fresh fish options. Prefect fusion of fresh farm to table with a wonderful Hawaiian twist. The poisson crus with in house made coconut milk is one of my favorites but I have yet to find something I don't like.

True Love

7/21/2016

I had so much fun with these two. It was such a pleasure to photograph the pure love they have for each other. They giggled like school children and held hands as if it was the first date. Carol told me that they met when she was only 15 and I was the lucky stranger to get to see how in love they still are forty years later.
Congrats you two!

Expecting Baby

7/10/2016

This beautiful Momma is due any day now! Sam was a pleasure to shoot and I can't wait to get a photo shoot with her beautiful baby girl!!

A Conversation with Nature

7/10/2016

I find myself revisiting this self portrait series I first started many years ago, time and time again. The concept seems so simple yet becomes complex in it's delivery. To place the human form in nature, becoming part of the tree, to blend into it's roots and lets my finger tips become the bark and my arms the limbs. As I began the process of wrapping myself around the large roots of this historic banyan tree, I started to realize that this series was so much more then just fitting the human form into nature. We as humans are natural creatures that not longer belong in nature. We live in boxes where we control the type of air circulating through it, we buy our food from stores with no windows and we have no problem bulldozing the nature elements of this world just so we have a flat path to drive our un-natural automobiles down. Global warm? People still question it even though it is happening all around us, yet we still put plastic straws in our cocktail and get to go meals in styrofoam. This self portrait series has now become an ode to nature. it touches on how much we as a society have lost sight of where we really came from, the earth. I became the tree because I wanted to know the tree, I wanted to feel the tree. Because that tree is why we are here.