My name is Thomason Takata but everyone calls me Tom for short. I grew up in the small town of Hilo, Hawaii, home of the most bipolar weather ever. I moved to Oahu in 2015 because of the abundance of opportunities here in comparison to Hilo. One word to describe myself would be adventurous as I am always willing to take on new challenges and “put it all on the line.” I’m currently a third-year undergraduate, at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, pursuing a bachelor’s degree in entrepreneurship. My expected date of graduation is May 2018, a year earlier than most. I recently joined the Hawaii Student Entrepreneurs (HSE) club at Manoa and took on an internship with Sultan Ventures, a venture capital firm. I believe I had an entrepreneurial mindset at a young age as I was always trying to please other people’s needs in order to make a profit. For example, in my intermediate – high school years, I’d jailbreak people’s phones, add music to them, sell musubis, detail cars, basically anything to make a buck.
My hobbies consist of photography, spearfishing, video games, and sleeping. Although I consider photography as a hobby, it is also my profession; whether or not I’m getting paid, I always enjoy capturing the moment. In my perspective, photography is much more than posting the best picture on Instagram. Instead, it is my way to creatively express myself and to share moments with others who might not have the opportunity to see it in-person.
Photography has been a passion of mine for the past 5 years. I decided to learn more about photography while hiking out to the lava fields and all I had was an iPhone 4 to capture the beauty of lava. That same week, I skimmed through craigslist and bought a $100 Canon 20D, a camera which was released back in 2003. Flash forward to 2017; after watching numerous YouTube videos, scanning through many forums, participating in internships, and reading lots of online articles, I can confidently say that the majority of my photography skills have been self-taught. I currently run my own photography business, Tom Takata Photography, specializing in wedding, portraiture, event, and landscape photography. Basically, everything under the sun.