There are mornings on Kauaʻi where everything seems to line up — the swell, the light, and the time you happen to look up from the water.
For Pickle, this was one of them.
He’d just finished a session at a north shore break the locals call Summers — a spot that only really works in the summer months, when trade swells wrap in just right. A long, easy longboard morning on a personally shaped log, with the mountains of Hanalei behind him the whole time.
Between waves, he kept watching the ridges. The light was moving across them, sharpening the cliffs and lighting up the green.
By the time he was out of the water, showered, and had the board strapped into the pickup, Nāmolokama was glowing.
He grabbed his camera and a telephoto lens, walked around a few coconut trees on the side of the road, and waited until the trunks framed the mountain the way he wanted them to.
“[This image] reminds me of the crisp morning summer sun, the gin clear water and the ever enduring joy of sliding down a wave face on a personally shaped log.”
That’s really what Nāmolokama is. Not just a mountain. A collision of two of his favorite worlds — Kauaʻi’s landscape on one side, surf on the other — caught in the few minutes after the session ended.
A reminder, as he puts it, to be present and thoughtful, and to find joy in the simple things.
Nāmolokama is available as a Framed Fine Art Print and Metal Print. [Shop the print].
About the Photographer
Pickle is an eclectic nature photographer with a passion for capturing the unseen wonder in everyday sights. Rooted in a lineage of photographers, Pickle brings a lifelong love for the lens to both serene natural scenes and high-energy surf action shots. When not behind the camera, Pickle can be found riding waves or shaping custom surfboards—blending art, nature, and movement into a singular creative vision.
