Meet Hilton.

He paints beautiful waves.

And he paints massive waves.

I met Hilton last weekend. One of our mutual friends, Ken, started posting photos of Hilton’s paintings on Facebook and I was drawn to his artwork. I’ve always wondered what it’s like to be a surf artist in Hawaii so I asked Ken if we could set up a meeting and Hilton was nice enough to agree to chat with me. We talked for a couple hours and I got to find out that this dude is incredibly interesting.

Hilton first came to Hawaii from Brazil to enter a stand up paddle race. He was supposed to stay for three months but, like many of us, he took a liking to Hawaii and never left. Now he lives in Kahuku (on Oahu’s north shore) with his wife who is a high school teacher.

He’s a surfer, competes in stand-up-paddle (SUP) races and pays the bills by selling his art at Wyland Galleries. And, a big focus in his life right now is a social project he’s been developing called SurfArtKids. It’s all about connecting with the community through art.

See more »

Waikiki.

PanAm.

Lanikai.

Fisherman.

Classroom.

Kilauea.

These photos come from a wonderfully curated Tumblr blog called “OLD HAWAII – Nostalgia in Photographs”.

To see more and learn more about the photos, visit OldHawaii.Tumblr.com.

See also:

• If you’re on Tumblr, you can follow and reblog my photos at UnrealHawaii.Tumblr.com.

I got a really cool gift for Christmas last year. A set of some vintage photos of Hawaii.

Lanikai. (Compare to this.)

View of the Pali Lookout into Nuuanu Valley. (Compare to this.)

I think this is where the Pali Puka is. And I think the cars are on what is currently now the Pali Lookout. (Compare to this.)

Not sure where this one is.

Diamond Head. (Compare to this.)

So where can you get your hands on these vintage photos of Hawaii? Talk to the Hawaiian Superman. You can browse through the collection at HawaiianSuperman.com.

Kaleo Lancaster, owner of the popular hiking blog Island Trails, just released his 2011 video summary. And once again, he kills it. (You can watch the 2010 video summary here.) I’m amazed at what he’s able to do with a GoPro.

I hope you find this video is as inspiring as I did.

* * *

See also:

• Watch video in HD on Vimeo (it deserves a second viewing).
• Visit Kaleo’s blog Island Trails (in my opinion, the best resource for info on hiking in Hawaii).
• “Like” Island Trails on Facebook.