Star Power
Photograph by Carl Yoshihara
Sony A7r3, 1/8 sec., F/2.0 ISO 250, 85mm lens
Carl Yoshihara has been snapping photos his whole life, but don’t call him a photographer; he’s an artist with a camera.
Versed in multiple creative mediums — digital, graphic, oils — the Pukalani resident is drawn to photography as a way to talk story without words. A single image, he believes, can tell much about a place, a people, a culture — a moment.
Chasing Comet Neowise, the newly discovered ice ball that streaked across the heavens for a week during the summer of 2020, Yoshihara captured this stunning scene at Baldwin Beach Park on July 21.
Dwarfed by the comet’s luminousity, the tiny lit figures below — other photogs just setting up — add a touch of contextual irony.
“That happy accident provided just the right amount of human drama,” he said of having first dibs on the money shot.
Yoshihara credits Maui’s brilliant night sky with documenting this once-every-68,000-year occurance. Part of the world’s most remote inhabited archipelago, the island’s negligible light pollution and location 20 degrees north of the equator invites viewing of almost all 88 constellations throughout the year.
For seasoned and budding astrophotographers, few locations on the planet can rival Maui’s night-time show, Yoshihara said. “It’s where the stars and celestial bodies come out to play.”
