PORTFOLIO
COURTESY ED YEE
Capturing a good animal shot takes lots of patience and "luck, a lot of luck," says Ed Yee, photography teacher and member of the Eyes of Hawaii Camera Club. "Animals don't cooperate, so you gotta catch them in the right poses."
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Zoo revue
Ed Yee finds the Honolulu Zoo to be a great place to teach his craft
Think the Honolulu Zoo's just a spot to take the kids on weekends, a place to let 'em run wild and be animals themselves? Well, it is, and Ed Yee, for one, likes that unpredictable element the zoo offers. But for Yee, the zoo's not a place to cut loose, it's a place to learn discipline -- the discipline of photography.
For some 10 years, Yee has been teaching night photography classes at Kaimuki Community School. He takes his students on field trips to Honolulu Zoo because "the zoo presents a lot of challenging situations." Lighting is a big problem. Not to mention the animals.
"You gotta know animal behavior," Yee says, explaining that it's best to shoot right when the zoo opens because it's cooler. When it's hot, the animals hide.
COURTESY ED YEE
Yee's classes share their many animal photographs with the zoo, where they're used in the education center. "It's been really nice to contribute shots," he says.
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Like his students, Yee takes his camera to the zoo, and the shots on this page are from the past year. "The best part about it is it's fun," he says.
A few years back, a bunch of Yee's students were so inspired they formed the Eyes of Hawaii Camera Club. The 40-member group meets monthly and usually takes a trip each year. The club has been all over the United States, from the neighbor islands to Alaska to Yosemite and Monterey Bay. Yee is a member himself.
Daniel Kinoshita and Ricky Oshima, whose works have graced many a "Portfolio" page, belong to Eyes of Hawaii. Expect to see more from the club on these pages.
COURTESY ED YEE
Yee says sometimes the zookeepers lend his students a hand. Once, they cleaned the glass and hid snacks so the animals, who hide away when the weather's too hot, would come out and could be photographed.
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