JUST LIKE THE MOVIES: JAKE ASKS PAIGE TO THE PROM – January 19, 2012

Jake “James Bond” Ryan has to be the coolest kid I know.  Take all the negative stereotypes of teens nowadays and throw it out the window with this guy. Genuinely nice guy. Great manners, very respectful, and loves his mother.  Drives a Lahainaluna red Ford Mustang.  For me, a source of Filipino pride as he has some Filipino blood in him. Always takes the time to say hi to me without being overly Eddie Haskell-like about it.

So here I am on the makai baseline seats of the Civic Center, getting ready to shoot the Lady Lunas basketball game. He comes up to me and tells me he is going to ask Paige Casil to the Junior Prom and could I take a picture of that moment. I’m thinking to myself, how are you going to do that? Sure the Lahaina Civic Center is known around the world as the home of the Maui Invitational basketball tournament shown on ESPN during Thanksgiving, but it does not have a jumbotron, a video scoreboard or a full-time public address system. Moreover, I only shoot action shots! Then he tells me his plan and reveals a big red question mark painted on his chest and I laugh  - this guy is CRAZY! Being the old-timer that I am, I immediately liken this situation to the scene from “Ten Things I Hate About You” – when the late great Heath Ledger  belts out Frankie Valli’s/The Four Seasons’ “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You” at the top of his lungs in the football stadium, while accompanied by the high school marching band, and being chased by campus security guards. All to impress Kate/Julia Stiles. With a smile on my face, I say “Of course I’ll shoot it for you!”

So I go back to doing what I do – which is take pictures. Unfortunately, I didn’t bother to ask him WHEN he was going to pop the question! So for most of the game, I’m taking pictures of the game and looking side-eye into the stands to see where Jake was and try to figure out when he’s going to ask the question.  Fortunately for me, I saw him setting up at halftime – way up on the top row of seats at mid-court, surrounded by his friends and supporters and rolled up signs.

At the final buzzer, I was still wondering when Jake was going to put his plan into action. When Paige and Ana were summoned to mid-court, that’s when I realized that the moment was here. I had been on the baseline but quickly realized that the angle would be bad because I would catch the side profile and not the front. So I quickly jogged to mid-court by the scorer’s table. I inadvertently got in the way of a woman videotaping the moment (it turned out to be Jake’s mom, Kay) but I managed to quickly get into position to get these shots.

Fortunately, I had changed my lens to my new Nikon 24-70 f/2.8. If had left my 70-200 2.8, I wouldn’t have been able to catch the entire event – heads and limbs would have been cut off the frame. Unfortunately, I was still dealing with a back-focusing issue on my camera so the focus on the shots are not as crisp and sharp as I would’ve wanted them to be. In any event, I was happy that Jake filled me in before hand on what he was going to do and that I was able to get into position to capture the moment. Most fortunate of all, Paige said Yes to Jake’s question! Whew!

Needless to say, Jake was the talk of Facebook that night. Thanks for letting me in on your secret and letting me be a part of a memorable moment!

For more photos, click here.