No Ka ‘Oi Media Works

Full disclosure… I’ve got a professional camera with all the best lenses. For the past 10 years, photography has been a hobby of mine. I also do all my own editing of RAW photos, so I kind of know what I’m talking about when it comes to evaluating a photographer and his/​her style.
We decided at the last minute during our vacation in Hawaii to do some family portraits. We now have two young kids and thought it would be wonderful to capture some memories. Reaching out to a few people that we found on Unilocal proved unsuccessful… they were either booked or asked for enough money to put as a down payment on a new car. Plus getting a response during the labor day weekend was brutally painful.
Desperate, I placed an ad on Craigslist. I went through about 20 portfolios of those that responded and found a handful that were just okay. Of those that I called back, they either didn’t respond back or I decided it wasn’t going to work out because I didn’t love their work. My biggest fear is finding someone who was going to tell us to stand in front of a gorgeous ocean view with a boring grandma pose. That isn’t us and that’s not the style we wanted, even if it meant not having any pics at all.
Then I got an email from Marina and her portfolio looked great. She was super responsive with text messages and with calling me back as agreed. After some back and forth, we agreed to shoot early the morning before our flight out. I liked that she was very responsive, accommodating, and on time.
The photo shoot lasted about an hour and she took about 350 pics. You know you’re working with a pro when she is able to find the right moments and angles. More importantly, she’s able to work with an 11^th month old baby and a wild 3 year old boy. The results were a mix of portraits with foliage, pics on the beach, and just natural photos of us playing in the waves.
I can’t stress enough how amazing our family portraits turned out. These are pictures we will definitely cherish for life! We even enlarged one of them for my baby girl’s first bday party.
Her customer service doesn’t end at the time you pay, which I love. Although we didn’t agree on any editing, Marina took it upon herself to go above and beyond by editing about 20 pictures that she thought were great, this was after a long weekend of wedding shoots and she crammed the editing in so we could see our pics as soon as possible… how awesome of her.
Lastly, because she wasn’t able to upload all the photos for me to download, she paid for the CDs and postage to ship to me despite my many offers to reimburse her, which she politely declined.
I can’t recommend Marina enough. It’s rare to find a photographer that knows what she’s doing and doesn’t try to nickel and dime you about everything. If you have young kids, if you love a photo journalistic style, if want memories that you’ll look back on 20 years from now and still love it, then give Marina a call.
Thanks Marina! We’ll be contacting you the next time we visit!
Kevin

I had been searching around for an exceptionally talented photographer to take some portrait shots for me, when I an into No Ka ‘Oi Media Works. After reviewing some of Marina’s previous shoots I was extremely impressed with her talent at such a great price and decided to contact her, she got back to me promptly and we began planning. I could tell she has a passion for photography right off the bat. Come photo day we met up and she is very professional kind and as a subject made me feel extremely comfortable in working with her. The session was fun and upbeat had a great time and could see in person her true passion and talent shining! The very next day she was able to show me a few sample shots and I’ve got to say WOW I could not have expected more. I’m so happy to have had the experience with Marina and can’t wait to work with her again! If you are looking for beautiful photos and memories you can spend a lifetime enjoying I would HIGHLY, HIGHLY recommend No Ka ‘Oi Media Works with Ms. Marina!!!

Marina was fabulous to work with; great and very professional communication from the start. Photos were amazing, they captured all the little moments we wanted — and more! The day of the wedding — she and Jacob showed up on time, allowed us to enjoy the wedding without going into photo overdrive. They were even very flexible with start and end times — we just negotiated any additional charges ahead. We had all photos (and select retouched images) only days after our wedding and all retouched images after only a week. Everyone raved about the artistic nature, and moments captured by Marina and Jacob. A thumb drive is in the mail and I cannot wait to share all images with our family. Services were very economical and there were no additional fees — only what we agreed on, per hour photography and amount for retouched images that we would own. We are very pleased. Working with Marina was a great experience, would highly recommend to any other couple or family looking for those moments to treasure for years.

I was referred to No Ka ‘Oi Media Works through a classmate at UH Manoa. I was in need of a fashion photographer for my retail website and knew they would be great based on the online portfolio. Their website {
} shows the various types of photography they’ve done and I was drawn to the urban rustic feel and used the «contact us» page to get in touch with them.
Marina got back to me within a day, and asked me a few basic questions of the shoot I was looking to schedule. We sat down once to discuss exactly what style I was going for, and she was able to suggest location spots and the best times to shoot for my vision. Marina is soo down to earth and sincerely cares about her client’s ideas. She quoted me 3 ½ hrs –4 hrs for 20 – 25 outfits between 3 models, in 3 locations which seemed reasonable.
The day of the shoot went very smoothly. We started at 6am to get the best lighting for the style of photography I wanted, and boy was she right! Between the 20 outfits we were able to finish in 3 hours. I credit Marina because she was able to adjust to the wind and rising sun while pose the models to accent the featured pieces. My staff and I could relax knowing she understood the «fashion» aspect of my vision. I received my photos fully edited and ready to be posted within 2 weeks of my shoot! Which I thought was quick.
Definitely would recommend No Ka ‘Oi Media Works for any of your photography needs, even if you think you’re not photogenic, Marina will put you at ease and guide you to get the best shots.