The star of Parting Shot was never just the person in the photo, but rather what they were doing and where they were. It was about action and atmosphere — the details in the background, the sense of place, and the moment unfolding. These elements together made each image dynamic, pulling readers into a story that stretched beyond the frame.

Guiding this vision has been our incredible in-house photographer, Aaron Yoshino, whose artistry and instinct shaped the voice of Parting Shot. For this closing feature, Aaron selected a photograph that holds special meaning to him: a 2021 portrait of Pat Saiki, taken for our Sages Over 70 issue.

“Pat’s political service to the state of Hawaiʻi was important, and I loved that I got to shoot portraits of her in her living room, with her dog,” Aaron reflects. “It’s not the usual setting for a retired public figure of her prominence. I was grateful for the opportunity to portray her in such a personal way.”

The image also resonates with our Wahine Issue, honoring women’s leadership and legacy in Hawaiʻi. In that sense, it’s a fitting closing note — a reminder that Parting Shot has always been about capturing not just a person, but a story: where they are, what they’re doing, and what that moment says about who they are.

Though the print feature is retiring, the spirit of Parting Shot will continue on our digital platforms and in the archive of images Aaron has created — a vivid record of the people and places that shape Hawaiʻi.

Founded in Hilo in 1913, the family-owned business now operates warehouses in Honolulu, Līhuʻe and Hilo. Its facilities store a wide range of products, from dry, frozen and shelf-stable foods to paper goods and cleaning supplies.

Its Honolulu location on Sand Island Access Road “is the headquarters, so we typically intake everything here and then distribute it out to the different islands. We send products out via barge or air freight,” explains Preston Keliihoomalu, the company’s senior transportation manager.

The last leg of the journey is transporting products from the warehouses to customers via delivery trucks. Y. Hata’s fleet handles deliveries on Oʻahu, Kauaʻi and Hawaiʻi Island. It also ships goods to Maui, Molokaʻi and Lānaʻi, and works with “third-party vendor transportation companies” to complete the deliveries, Keliihoomalu says.

Pictured, Honolulu warehouse lead Raymark Munoz uses a pallet jack to load a “cube” of products onto a Y. Hata trailer. Keliihoomalu notes that the Honolulu transportation team manages 25 to 30 routes on Oʻahu, with each route having multiple stops.

“Making sure Hawaiʻi is fed, as a local, gives me a sense of pride,” he says.

He says the menu usually consists of 20 to 30 different items. His current favorite: “Our taegu, manchego and spinach croissant, because it’s very local. It’s very unique to Hawai‘i.” Taegu is “fish jerky that’s seasoned with a Korean-type seasoning, like gochujang, so it’s sweet and savory and a little bit spicy,” Sy explains.

Pictured, baker Kari Unebasami brushes a tray of orange cardamom morning buns with vanilla butter, which are then rolled in orange cardamom sugar. “I really wanted to make a difference in what was available here. Making more of what was already available just doesn’t make any sense,” says Sy.

He launched the business with pop-up events before establishing a store in 2018 in Kaimukī. He later relocated to South Beretania Street in Makiki and subsequently opened a second location at the Royal Hawaiian Center in Waikīkī. Ma says he accumulates stock in many ways, but most of it comes from people who bring their vintage clothes and streetwear to him. “They’re just excited that someone else will also get a kick out of wearing it or enjoying it,” he says.

Harbors Vintage also facilitates trades that can be based on customers’ evolving needs. For instance, streetwear enthusiasts just entering professional life can exchange their duds for aloha shirts and office apparel. Or people who collect a lot of sneakers then have a baby, Ma says. “So they sell the shoes and now they’re looking for vintage baby clothes. It’s nice to see customers at different points of their life.”

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“We never turn down anyone on a project. We actually find a way to do it one way or another,” says Son. “I always tell clients, ‘If you have a budget, just let me know, and we’ll work with it. We can still build it for you, the right way, which will last, and you don’t have to worry about it falling apart.’”

Mass-produced furniture does not last, he says, but creations by expert woodworkers provide enduring quality. “That piece will last you forever and [you can] pass it on to your kids probably.”

And except for the plywood he uses, Son says Wood Hi sources locally. “We always try to use sustainable wood. Koa, monkeypod, mango, anything you find on-island that’s a hardwood, we use.”

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“It’s a meditative practice. Putting beads on the string, we have to slow down and focus. We get to put ourselves into that flow type of state. So that’s a huge benefit,” Brendan Barry says.

Located in Kaimukī, Bead It! stocks hundreds of jewelry-making materials and helps patrons create their own unique pieces. On a visit to the store, I carefully selected my beads and then the staff helped me create my charm bracelet.

Bead It! also offers classes that teach the fundamentals of jewelry-making, including wiring, knotting, drilling, bezeling and soldering. Jill Barry says students “always leave with a finished product.”

Brendan Barry says his favorite moments are right when a piece is completed, when he sees customers “light up with the success of their own creation.”

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“There’s no doubt that the success of our business is because of our employees. We have very loyal and hardworking employees,” says Jonathon Ota, the family business’s fourth-generation owner. That includes chef Kathrina Ganotisi, pictured here.

Tip Top has lots of appetizing breakfast and lunch options, but “our bestseller is oxtail soup,” says Ota. “It’s a recipe that was given to my grandfather many years ago.”

He says that while most places have just one vegetable and oxtail in their soups, Tip Top’s version contains Chinese and mustard cabbage, long rice, bamboo shoots, green onion and, of course, plenty of oxtail.

“We do mostly film processing, which is 35mm film and 120 film. We can print it or scan it. We also do a lot of video transfers, old VHS tapes, beta tapes. We do audio cassette transfer, LP record transfers,” says owner Eric Phillips.

Even in the digital age, film photography still has a cult following among both amateurs and pros. “A lot of the younger generation didn’t grow up with film. It’s kind of new to them. It has a softer, warmer feel. It’s not as harsh as a really crispy digital picture, so it’s kind of inviting.”

Brett Sullivan, one of Rainbow’s employees, is pictured holding a strip of negatives. Negatives are “the film inside the canister once you develop it. It has the images on the film,” explains Phillips. “Basically, you put light through the negative and it makes a positive image. That’s what we scan to make the digital files.”

And in a meta twist, photographer Aaron Yoshino shot this image on film, then had it developed at Rainbow. Classic.

But as sugar began to decline in the mid-20th century, tourism became the central pillar of the local economy.

Plantations and mills closed one by one until only Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Co.’s plantation and mill in Central Maui remained.

Known as “the Beast,” the massive Pu‘unēnē Mill could turn 7,000 tons of sugar cane into brown sugar crystals each day. After 115 years of production, its closure in 2016 ended an era.

In 2018, owners Alexander & Baldwin sold 36,000 acres of former sugar cane fields to Mahi Pono, a farming company that aims to cultivate diverse crops on the land. And in March 2024, local construction company Nan Inc. acquired the mill and 300 adjacent acres. The acquisition includes industrial, commercial, agricultural and residential-zoned land. VP Wyeth Matsubara said Nan plans to “maximize the best uses of each property zoning.”

Asked if Nan plans to tear down the mill, Matsubara said, “We’re going to probably have to do some substantial demolition of at least the interior machinery that was done for all the production.”

“Art + Flea is the island’s original makers market, and it paved the way for others. Nowadays, makers markets are everywhere,” says Jeff Sanner, Hawaii Business Magazine’s creative director.

Sanner has been selling his art at Art + Flea for over 13 years. “The space features a diverse range of creators, including illustrators, painters, vintage clothing collectors, cut and sew, woodworkers, crafters and more.”

Aly Ishikuni, who co-founded Art + Flea in 2010, in December opened her latest iteration of MORI, Art + Flea’s permanent store, now inside Capitol Modern. She is pictured in the store with some of the items for sale.

Sanner says the space is a lot “like the Etsy marketplace, but with a local touch. It has provided opportunities for hundreds of small business makers to showcase their goods in a brick-and-mortar setting.”