Photography Service at Aulani

[jcooper131]

We are wanting to get family pictures made by the beach at Aulani. Is there photography services available through Aulani or is it something we should book ahead of time with someone else? If we buy the Disney Photopass will they take pictures by the beach? If so are the pictures good enough to where we don't need to hire someone? If you have hired someone who do you recommend or who should we stay away from?

 

[rnorwo1]

We will be there in two days, so I can give you some more info in a couple of weeks. We wanted to do not only pics while in HI, but we also just needed good family portraits, it's been a long time, and we thought this was a great place. So, I did a lot of research. I first looked at what the Aulani photographers would do... It's very affordable, but it's a very short session (we have 11 people so I think we needed more time, and even their longer time was short), there's no editing (so I thought the quality may not be that good for very rarely taken family portraits), and the portraits in their gallery all looked the same to me, just people lined up with paradise in the background. So, that's why I ruled them out. But, if you are "just" wanting decent looking pictures in paradise, I am sure these will be beautiful and it's very affordable.

I then just googled "ko olina photographers," and many options came up. I called or emailed each, and the vast majority of them had similar options to Aulani, give or take a little on session times and fees. We ultimately decided on Hi Little Bird photography; she was a lot more than the others, but we got a lot more for the money, including hours for the session time, editing, etc. her gallery just looked amazing, lots of candid shots and they were just beautiful. She called after I sent an email and talked to me for about 45 minutes, and she followed up with lots of emails. She is going to meet us at Paradise Cove, which is next door to Aulani.

Again, I'm sure all the cheaper options are fine if you just want some photos to remember the trip, but check out her website if you think you want something really special. If you're interested, I'll report back next week and let you know how it goes!

 

[jcooper131]

We are arriving on Friday. I will look at Hi Little Bird. We will probably want more than just than just pictures without editing.

 

[rnorwo1]

Oh, well we are doing our pics on Thursday, we have her reserved for sunrise (hoping we won't be tired with the 5 hour time difference!). I'll post back after the session.
There's one at the Marriott next door that did offer some editing, it was just still limited for such a large group. By the time we paid for the extra, it was going to be up to what little bird was.

 

[ngl]

There are Disney Photo Pass photographers all over Aulani (we were there in March of this year, fyi). If you stop at the store, they will give you a map as to where the photographers are generally located. In addition to that, you can schedule a professional shoot. This is with a more "advanced" camera it appeared and with photography lightning, etc. If you want to do the sunset times, I would recommend calling a month or so ahead to schedule. The sunset shoot was $275, which included a dvd with all the photos (we had about 65 I think). Then you can get the rest of your Aulani photo pass photos for $49 instead of $99 (due to the purchase of the "formal" shoot). Also, I think if you get a non-sunset time it is $50 cheaper (don't quote me on the exact discount). That is for a 20 min session. They have a 40 min session too - I think that tends to be for the larger groups. We were VERY happy with our sunset photos. They did a great job. Some by the beach just with regular Photo Pass photographer were good too but not as posed, etc.and could have people in background (maybe not just depends how busy beach is at that time).

 

[DixieDelights]

We bought the 20 minute session and loved our pictures! I compared prices to off site photogs and am very happy I just went with the photo pass people.

 

[LittleStinkerbelle]

We were at Aulani in April and originally had booked an early afternoon private PhotoPass garden session (ngl was correct, $50 cheaper for non sunset time). However, once we got there and saw how windy it was during the day (and winds were predicted to be even worse the day we had the session booked) I ended up cancelling the session. I just don't have the type of hair that can keep any kind of order in the wind and I knew I'd be unhappy with the pictures if my hair was completely wind-messed (I feel vain saying that but it's the truth). The PhotoPass folks were very nice and helpful and told me the photogs who do the private sessions are experienced in working with the wind but I didn't want to risk investing the money and time to be disappointed. We did end up going down to the beach at sunset on two different nights and got some very nice shots from the regular PhotoPass photographers that are on the beach - I have two framed in our house right now and one will be our holiday card. The first night, there was no one else waiting for the photographer so he spent quite a bit of time with us. I'm bummed that a private session didn't work out for us but happy that I got some very nice photos still through regular PhotoPass. I would like to do a professional session next time we go back, which will hopefully be for longer than four days so we'll have more time to work with.

 

[gortman65]

I found out yesterday there is a new option for private photo sessions at Aulani. Because the portrait sessions are so popular and fill up quickly, just last week Aulani started offering an alternative private photo session using the PhotoPass photographers. It's $100 for 20 minutes and the photos are put on your PhotoPass account (so there's another $99 for the PP CD). The cast member told me that standard PhotoPass cameras are used so the resolution/quality isn't quite up to the level of the portrait sessions. Seems like a nice alternative if you miss out on a portrait session. Reservations are now being taken if anyone is interested.

 

[James Logan]

We were there a couple months ago and used Carson James Photography as a recommendation from a friend. My wife and I were happy with the results and it was pretty easy to set up. We found a great beach near and it was kind of nice to explore outside of the resort. It was about the same price, and I think we got a little more time and photos.

 

[ebenmax]

We were there a couple months ago and used Carson James Photography as a recommendation from a friend. My wife and I were happy with the results and it was pretty easy to set up. We found a great beach near and it was kind of nice to explore outside of the resort. It was about the same price, and I think we got a little more time and photos.

We booked with Carson James based on your recommendation!! We will be there in
June. I’ve read though that outside photographers are not permitted on Aulani grounds/beach for a formal session. Is this true? On which beach did you have your pictures taken?

Thanks!!