I had heard about Pono’s funny antics from my friend Tracey for some time, so I was very happy to finally meet him on the day of this shoot. It was February, but you would never known it in Paradise. We met at Nu’uanu Valley Park, which is located off the Pali Highway, just behind Queen Emma Summer Palace, in Honolulu. It is one of my favorite places to shoot at because it looks like your regular public park, but it is filled with lots of magical corners, like the stunning big banyan tree where I photographed Pono.
This very strong and very gentle creature is playful to the point of goofball. Somehow we managed to get him to pose, and we even got smiles out of him. I say somehow, because he wanted to play all the time.
A little bit about his name. Pono in Hawaiian is a big word. It is possibly one of the biggest words after Aloha, and it has as many translations, if not more. It is one of those words that changes slightly with the content, but essentially means “to make good, to be upright, in balance.” The Hawaiian dictionary also lists these words: righteous, goodness, uprightness, morality, excellence, well-being, prosperity…. So basically all the good things one achieves when in peaceful balance.
The Hawaiian traditional practice of Ho’oponopono is one in which, when something has happened to make things wrong, the people involved come together and talk peacefully until everything is right again, until everything is Pono.
“I am sorry, please forgive me, thank you, I love you.” It is very healing.
I hope you have enjoyed meeting sweet Pono. As you can see, he turned out to be a natural poser who gives great smiles and big slurpy kisses, too. Who knows, maybe he will become a calendar boy. I will keep you posted if he does.
Here are some more Tales of Tails for you to enjoy:
And these are my Boyz:
