Under a vast night sky, a West Side photographer finds inspiration and direction.

A Google search of “O‘ahu nightlife” yields hundreds of options for Waikīkī nightclubs and Honolulu bars promising the best mai tai in town. Ask astrophotographer Davin Carvalho his favorite place to spend an evening, however, and you’ll receive a different answer.

Photography has long been a creative passion for Carvalho, who grew up documenting his friends skateboarding and surfing near Lualualei on O‘ahu’s West Side. Then, in 2018, a chance job offer as a fulltime videographer afforded an opportunity to transform his hobby into a career. While upgrading his equipment for his new role, he secretly sought a camera that could capture the beauty of Hawaiʻi’s night sky, something he’s always been drawn to.

At the time, Carvalho was in the middle of an eight-month stint of sobriety, avoiding alcohol to instead rekindle his love for hiking, kayaking, and diving. After gradually reintroducing drinking, it became apparent that life was better on the wagon. So, he quit for good. “I had to replace the time that I would have spent getting drunk with something productive,” Carvalho says of his initial foray into astrophotography. “I would go out, catch the sunset, stay until the stars came out, record time lapses, or shoot landscape photos with the Milky Way.”

The more time Carvalho spent away from the bright lights of the city, the more connected he felt to the night skyscape. The first constellation he could identify was Orion, which is most visible during winter in the Northern Hemisphere. Soon, he could spot spring, summer, and autumnal constellations too. Eventually he learned the names of the moon’s craters, something he photographed the most.

With time, Carvalho sensed a strengthening of his ties to his Hawaiian identity. In learning the Hawaiian names of the constellations and navigational starlines, he became more aware of their significance and value in his native culture. To Hawaiians, the stars are guides—not just for navigation but also for telling the seasons, when to grow and harvest certain plants, and even determining periods of peace and war.

For Carvalho, the night sky reinforces his passion for photography and sense of purpose. “To see the same things that my ancestors saw, from the same places that they witnessed them from, makes me feel like I am in the right place at the right time,” Carvalho says. “I’m where I’m supposed to be.”

To learn more about astrophotographer Davin Carvalho and see his latest nightscapes, follow him on Instagram at @davin.carvalho.media