Paradise Found with Easton Kawawaki

Easton Kawawaki is a photographer and artist with a passion for people, travel, and all things outdoors. Her work spans across a variety of mediums but recently she has been focusing on film photography and painting. 

When did you get into photography and art? 

I have loved taking photos ever since I can remember. I think my first camera was a little neon green point and shoot and I would just go out in the backyard and go to town taking pictures of everything. That spark carried me through high school and on to studying visual arts in college. I got a little burned out of photography at one point and felt a lack of inspiration. So I put my camera down and took up painting. I can tend to be a perfectionist and so I felt this medium really helped me let loose, work with mistakes, and just have fun. When I took a film developing class, I saw such a cross over from painting- instead of painting with a brush on canvas, I was using light in the darkroom! I feel that when I do them simultaneously, they compliment each other well and help me see composition, color, and textures from different angles. Taking a more expressive, painterly approach to photography has reignited my love for it. 

Where have you found Paradise?

Travel is a huge part of my life and I’ve been pretty fortunate to have seen some incredible places around the world. I’ve also done a handful of solo trips and in those times, I remember feeling ‘this would be even better with someone to share it with’. So I realized it wasn’t as much the beauty of the place that created a sense of paradise for me, but it was more so the feelings that accompany sharing that experience with someone. A friend to freak out with when seeing a new place, someone to challenge your limits and then be there to congratulate you when you succeed, someone to cheers a beer, have a meaningful conversation, or just sit in silence, taking it all in. 

So regardless of where I am, I think a sense of paradise can be found when I am doing what I love with the people I love. It’s not hard to find glimmers of paradise when you have some solid people in your life to join you, and for that I am the most fortunate.

Check out Easton's work & connect with her for her paintings as well as photography here on her website or through her Instagram here.