Meet Kristen Reyno | Fine Art Photographer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Kristen Reyno and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Kristen, what role has risk played in your life or career?
Risk taking is in our daily lives, you don’t really think about it but it is. I think a small portion of being an entrepreneur is being able to take risks, to me it is a calculated risk. I hear people all of the time saying that they have this great idea but they are too scared to put it out into the world. They don’t want to be humiliated or disappointed. If you don’t take risks then you may have the regret of never knowing where you could be in life. In my life, taking risks has played a huge roll in my career. My father always said “If you aren’t comfortable trying something new, then that means you are learning and growing.” Risks are a huge part of growth.

My business Lola Pilar Hawaii has been a very slow progression. In High School I was interested in Film and Photography. When it was time to go off to college I had no idea what I wanted study, but my interest was Film. So I took the risk of majoring in Film and ended up with a degree in Film and Emphasis in Commercial Advertising.
While I was in college, I interned with Roxy and Quiksilver in Huntington Beach, CA. I drove down to Huntington Beach once a week from Ventura and worked as an intern in the photo department. Back in 2005 their photo department was not much of an in-house photo department, I was mainly prepping clothes for the photoshoots and culling images that came back from photoshoots. I remember a few of my fellow peers in school saying “why are you interning with them, you won’t get to work in the film or photography industry”? I just new in my heart that I loved fashion and the behind the scenes part of still photography. Long story short, I worked in the film industry in Los Angeles as a Production Assistant for a few years and eventually got a call back from Quiksilver for a freelance job as a photographer which eventually landed a job as a full-time staff photographer. If I hadn’t taken this risk of driving over 2.5 hours one way in LA traffic once a week, then I most likely wouldn’t have started my company. It was a huge learning tool for me in what I am doing now.
My career with the surf industry, lead me to moving back to my hometown of Kailua on O’ahu to start my own photography business. I started that business in 2010 specifically to photograph weddings, portraits, and freelance with local companies. In 2018 I was getting a little burnt out so I started experimenting with floral flat lays using knowledge and techniques I learned in a commercial photo studio setting. I had this idea as I needed something to bring me creativity and bring my passion for photography back to life. About 6 months later, I met this lady and her husband whom were opening up a shop in Kaimuki. They had mentioned they were going to have an opening party and were looking for an artist to also have an art show on the opening day. I ended up putting my artwork in there and we nearly sold out the first day. It was so eye opening, that I just kept going and creating new things. Taking risks is a huge part of where I am today.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
At Lola Pilar Hawaii we create Fine Art Photography using locally sourced flowers found throughout Hawai’i. The fresh flowers are foraged, cleaned, cut, and arranged in designs that are inspired from traditional Hawaiian Quilt patterns. For each design we source the flowers from local farms, friends / neighbors yards, local farmers markets, anywhere around the island. Often times when creating a piece, I have a general idea of what flowers I want to incorporate. However the design itself comes organically. My process is using all of the plants and flowers I foraged as my palette, much like a painter uses colors and a brush. Getting the flowers in the exact position until we have the final image can take up to 7 hours. We love that through our artwork we are supporting other local businesses while also meeting new friends.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
If my best friend came to visit, I would start off with taking them to all of my favorite places but some of them I have to keep secret. =). Here are the ones I would like to share.

Day 1: Start in my hometown of Kailua

– Start the morning off with a sunrise walk on Kailua Beach
– Grab Acai Bowls from Lanikai Juice
– Shop around Kailua town and hit up some local shops such as Olive Boutique, Oliver, and the Aloha Home Market (some Saturdays and Sundays)
– Grab my old 1960’s schwinn tandem bike and ride around Lanikai Loop
– Take a dip at Lanikai beach and soak up some sun
– Ride bikes over to Island Snow for a lilikoi, guava, li-hing mui shave ice
– Have cocktails and dinner at Buzz’s Steakhouse

Day 2: Drive up to the North Shore and take the coast

– First make a yummy Papaya Bowl at home with yogurt, coconut, Mac nuts, drizzled with local honey on top.
– Hit the road and drive up the coast from the east side of Oahu, stopping along the way to take photos
– Stop off at the local fruit stands just past Turtle Bay Resort
– Check out Pipeline and Waimea (especially in the winter time during the big swells and surf contests)
– Go to my favorite secret beach 😉 for a little downtime
– Head into Haleiwa for lunch and shopping. For lunch head to Waialua Bakery for a sandwich, smoothie, and the most delicious homemade cookies!
– Drive back home through the Pineapple Fields !!!!!

Day 3: Head to Waikiki (on a Friday)

– Grab a treat and coffee for breakfast at Kona Coffee Purveyors in International Marketplace
– Rent boards to go for a surf at Canoes (rent boards so you can have a full day in waikiki doing stuff)
– Grab lunch at Dukes and ask for a table by the water
– Get a little pick me up coffee at Honolulu Coffee Company and go sit in the rocking chairs at the Moana Surfrider Hotel
– Do a little shopping at House of Mana Up at the Royal Hawaiian Shopping Center
– Take a stroll on the boardwalk down by the water and then take a sunset ride on the Matai Catamaran. This is a 1.5 hour sunset sail along the coast in waikiki, and on Friday nights in Waikiki the have fireworks.
– Grab dinner at Rigo off of Kapahulu Ave.

Day 4: Drive to Kakaako and Chinatown

– Grab a coffee at 9Bar HNL at SALT in Kakaako
– Get inspired by the beautiful flowers and home goods at Paiko
– Head on over the the Kakaako Farmers Market (Saturdays) to find some local crafts to bring home.
– Stop by “Hawaii Modern”, (my husband) to see beautifully restored danish modern furniture and snag him to break for lunch. =)
– Eat lunch at Istanbul and then head over to Chinatown
– Explore Maunakea Street flower shops and pick out some beautiful leis
– Go shopping at Roberta Oaks for a locally made Aloha shirt.
– Head back over the hill to Kailua but stop off at the Pali Lookout to view the east side and gorgeous Koolau mountains.

Day 5: Island Hop over to the Big Island (2-3 day trip)
– Fly into Kona and explore the beachside of old Kona Town
– Drive up the coast to Waimea
– Head over to Hilo, the Hamakua Coast, and the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I want to shoutout to my parents for encouraging me to find a career that I would enjoy doing.

Website: www.lolapilarhawaii.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lolapilarhawaii

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lolapilarhawaii

Image Credits
Photo Credit: Kristen Reyno