INhonolulu Magazine Issue #15 - March 2014 | Page 22

METRO
Profile / Treehouse

The Analog way
Richard Melendez
Photos by Chelsea Akamine

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From page 21
But it’s not all keyboard and frolicking in the meadow, as you saw
with the lyrical content. Pillar Point
distinctly designs his beats to have a
certain feel or emotion that interacts
with the instruments he uses and lyrics he sings in fascinating ways.
And that’s the real beauty of this
album. Anyone can enjoy Pillar Point
because it is so diverse; with tracks
that stir and touch on contrasting
feelings, unique and stimulating
beats, a wide array of instrument
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sounds and key changes. You’ll relax
to downtempo tracks such as “Cherry” or “Dreamin,’” gyrate to upbeat
tracks such as “Touch” or “Curious of
You,” and ponder your existence with
lyrically conceptual tracks such as
“Eyeballs” or “Black Hole.”
The album was satisfying from it’s
opening notes until the very end of
track nine, which is also my favorite
song on the album. “Echoes” maintains a steady beat and a calming vocal style, yet throughout the song you
can’t help but feel giddy and excited
for the future. It makes no sense, and

it makes perfect sense. It is an expressive, ethereal exploration of what Pillar Point calls “that apathetic, shellshocked feeling young people have
when they’re trying to figure out what
to do with their lives.”
And we’ve all certainly felt that way
before. But one thing you can do with
your life is download this strange,
complex album and explore it for
yourself. ■
Pillar Point is available on Polyvinyl’s
E-store (CD, LP, tape), or on iTunes.

hen I first heard about
Treehouse, a shop specializing in film cameras, photography supplies and other analog
technologies, I envisioned a crowded,
dimly lit space with pleasantly musty
smells and little rhyme or reason as to
how items were stocked—a hipster’s
cliché. Instead, I found a spacious,
brightly lit store that was anything
but cluttered or musty with a friendly
as well as knowledgeable staff.
I met with Bobby Asato, the owner
and operator of Treehouse, one morning before his store opened. Located
on the second floor of 250 Ward Avenue, hidden one level above the First
Hawaiian Bank and facing an open
air courtyard that I never knew existed until that day, it does kind of feel
like a secret treehouse for an analog
photography and camera buff ’s club.
Like LPs, that never quite went
away and have seen a huge resurgence in recent years, analog photography has experienced a similar

rebirth and rise in profile. Ironically,
this is, at least in part, thanks to the
ubiquity of digital photography and
the analog-simulating filters featured prominently in modern photography software.
“There’s more photographers than
ever because of the smartphone,” he
explains, “and because of apps like Instagram that have filters that actually
emulate what plastic lenses do.
“And because of that, I think people young and old will—the creative
ones—will try to research vignette or
cross processing, then realize that it’s
actually coming from film cameras.”
Yep. Vignette, Fisheye, Diana… if
you’re not well versed in photography, you may not realize those terms
and others—often names for filters
in digital photography apps—refer to
actual analog cameras or film developing techniques. What’s done with a
swipe or click today used to be done
with patience, a deft hand and a bit
of luck. And, of course, the hazardous

chemicals used in processing and developing the film.
It might sound barbaric to some:
Why spend hours or days developing
photos until you’ve got them looking
right when you can digitally filter
photos to recreate dark-room magic
instantly? Why use film with a limited
number of available shots when you
can save hundreds of photos on your
phone’s SD card? Bobby thinks that’s
part of the appeal. “That anticipation
and that surprise—or the happy accident—I think that’s what excites the
creative shooter.”
Prior to opening Treehouse, Bobby
was a freelance graphic designer with
an interest in art and photography. He
purchased a Holga, an analog camera
with a plastic lens. Its low tech limitations give its photos a unique look.
Once dismissed as a mere toy and
criticized for being imprecise, Bobby
found the photos produced with the

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