Vast Visuals

Text by Rae Sojot | Images by Josiah Patterson | Source: Hale Season 10

Drawn to its rugged beauty, a photographer captures the wonders of the West Side.

Mākaha-based photographer Josiah Patterson was always fascinated by cameras. As a child, the various shutters, lenses, and levers intrigued him with their ineluctable draw of both mystery and mechanics. The birth of his own child, and the desire to document his growing family, prompted a more serious turn toward the art.

Patterson’s West Side surroundings provide much of his inspiration today. He is especially drawn to spaces void of people or things, where solace and wonder reside among the sea, forest, and sky. “It’s that unfiltered, raw beauty here,” Patterson says of Waiʻanae. “The landscape is rugged yet full of life, with a unique energy that can be felt.”