iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Jason O’Rourke @jasonophoto.com · 10/06/2025

Hard to believe this photo is six years old already, with one of our legendary Hawaiian monk seal mothers, Honey Girl. Here she is with her last pup in 2019, Makoa. Unfortunately, we lost him as a weaner and we lost Honey Girl the next year during the pandemic. 📷📸🦭🦊

2232

Jason O’Rourke @jasonophoto.com · 06/06/2025

It’s been a little muggy and rainy the last week here on Oahu, so sharing a rainbow for Aloha Friday in hopes of better weather over the next week! 📸📷

061

Jason O’Rourke @jasonophoto.com · 05/06/2025

Another benefit of being home, I had the opportunity to make the rounds with one of our local @HIMarineAnimal volunteers and observe 21 of our Laysan albatross chicks, including this one sitting out in an open field. Their plumage is starting to shift to the adult feathers. 📸📷🪶

0132

Jason O’Rourke @jasonophoto.com · 01/06/2025

Pulling one out from the archives for Sunset Sunday… a beautiful sunset from Mokule’ia on Oahu’s North Shore! 📸📷

130

Jason O’Rourke @jasonophoto.com · 13/05/2025

On a hike out at the end of the day, long after the monk seal count had finished, I found RL42 where I had seen her at 8 am that morning, snoozing away in a tide pool. In more recent years, I've been able to watch RL42 with her own pups... hopefully, I'll get that chance this summer too! 📷📸🦑🦭🦊

0373

Jason O’Rourke @jasonophoto.com · 30/04/2025

Another beautiful day in NYC and a good excuse to take the camera out to Central Park. This double-crested cormorant was fishing just off the view point where I stopped, which gave me a good chance for a quick portrait. 📸📷🪶

A double-crested cormorant turns to face the camera, with water gliding over its back in Central Park, New York.

161

Jason O’Rourke @jasonophoto.com · 11/03/2025

This Honu paused on the way back into the ocean to take a last look in my direction. 📷📸🐢🦑🦭

0383

Jason O’Rourke @jasonophoto.com · 21/01/2025

I heard rumors of a Hawaiian monk seal on the Big Island that weighed 1000 pounds. Most monk seals are between 450-600 pounds. 1000 pounds? I had to see this for myself, & as luck would have it, while I was exploring a beach on the Kona side in 2021, Waimanu hauled out for an afternoon snooze. 📷📸🦭🦑

An abnormally large Hawaiian monk seal on her side… rumors suggest she weighs as much as 1,000 pounds, but scientists say her blubber isn’t that heavy. She is a big girl!

3528

Jason O’Rourke @jasonophoto.com · 15/01/2025

Any time I visit the Big Island, I always make a stop in at Punalu'u Black Sand Beach to check out the Honu there... on the way to the eruption, we pulled into Punalu'u and that allowed me to capture these three Honu basking on the black sand. 🤙🏼📷📸🐢

1240

Jason O’Rourke @jasonophoto.com · 09/01/2025

Another great spot to watch the power a winter swell brings to the North Shore is Shark’s Cove… the waves hit the back of the reef with explosive results! 📷📸🌊

071

Jason O’Rourke @jasonophoto.com · 26/11/2024

A Honu coming ashore on a remote beach on Oahu's North Shore. 📸📷🦑🐢🦎

080

Jason O’Rourke @jasonophoto.com · 25/11/2024

Before and after his very first molt with Holokai (#MonkSealRG40)... you've seen the "before" as my annual Halloween green goblin photo, but I love the side by side of these two images, taken just a few weeks apart, where the "after" is his fresh coat. 📷📸🦑🦊

2335

Jason O’Rourke @jasonophoto.com · 18/10/2024

A remote and rocky beach in the Kipahulu area of Hana, Maui. 📷📸

0110

Jason O’Rourke @jasonophoto.com · 08/10/2024

A singing Honu at Ho’okipa Beach on Maui on Turtle Tuesday. 🤙🏼📷📷🦭🐢🐙

0327

Jason O’Rourke @jasonophoto.com · 30/09/2024

Bluesky now has over 10 million users, and I was #26,178. Wow… very cool to see the growth here!

A virtual certificate with text "Celebrating 10M users on Bluesky, #26,178, Jason O’Rourke ‪@jasonophoto.com‬, joined on Apr 19, 2023"

020

Jason O’Rourke @jasonophoto.com · 26/09/2024

A dinosaur spotted in White Sands National Park, the Callisaurus… also known as a Western Zebra-tailed Lizard. 🤙🏼📷📸🦎🐢

A Callisaurus… also known as a Western Zebra-tailed Lizard, perches on a clump of sand from a footprint made by someone walking across the white sand dune.

1658

Jason O’Rourke @jasonophoto.com · 17/09/2024

A super rare photo from the archives... does this Honu look like she's enjoying a bath, or trying to get me to help her get out of this little hole on the reef? 📷📸🐢🦎🦑

0233

Jason O’Rourke @jasonophoto.com · 19/07/2024

Before my wife and I got married here in 2014 (ten years ago today), we made multiple planning trips and considered where to hold the ceremony. Shipwreck Beach was just as beautiful when we visited as it was on the day of our wedding.

172

Jason O’Rourke @jasonophoto.com · 04/06/2024

Luana and her pup got separated and she was began vocalizing to get him to come back up the beach to where she was. While she looks a little wild eyed, she actually could see right where he was and like any mother does, was telling him to come back to her. 📷📸🦭🦊🐙

0121

Jason O’Rourke @jasonophoto.com · 23/04/2024

Happy #EarthDay! Here's a shot of one of Oahu's most famous Hawaiian monk seals, Honey Girl, snoozing to the sound of the crashing waves, without a footprint in the sand around her. Hoping we can continue to coexist with these amazing animals, and save the species from extinction. 🦭📸📷🦊

One of Oahu’s most famous Hawaiian monk seals, Honey Girl, is stretched out sleeping on a deserted North Shore beach, with waves crashing behind her.

0160

Jason O’Rourke @jasonophoto.com · 09/04/2024

I feel a little sluggish today after an 19-hour day yesterday, including a brutal 10- or 11-hour drive back to NYC with half the city on the roads with us, but… … it was worth it. 📷📸

Totality as seen at the base of Whiteface Mountain in Wilmington, New York.

051

Jason O’Rourke @jasonophoto.com · 26/03/2024

Hearing about baby monk seals born early in the season in Hawaii (pups can be born any time of year, but typically between May and September) reminds me of when my wife and I got to show her parents this March baby on the Big Island. #MonkSealMonday 📸📷🦭🦊

A baby monk seal snuggles with its mother on the Big Island of Hawaii.

0173

Jason O’Rourke @jasonophoto.com · 19/03/2024

Just before the lockdown in 2020, my wife & I took a hike on Oahu’s North Shore, this little one - RL74, a weaner from Molokai who wasn’t quite a year old. She woke up from an afternoon snooze to spot me and my big lens across the tide pool... what do you think of her expression? 📷📸🦭🦊

An endangered Hawaiian monk seal wakes up from an afternoon nap, looks across the tide pool and sees me, with my large telephoto lens, taking her photograph. To me, she looks annoyed.

0173

Jason O’Rourke @jasonophoto.com · 12/03/2024

While Hawaiian monk seals are often thought of as solitary animals, they do occasionally appear in groups, usually all males, like this one out on Oahu's west side. This is the most Hawaiian monk seals I've ever seen gathered together on one beach. 📷📸🦭🦊

5 male Hawaiian monk seals take an afternoon snooze on a beach on Oahu’s west side.

1213

Jason O’Rourke @jasonophoto.com · 08/03/2024

Sometimes, it’s not what you go looking for, but what you find. At Laniakea Beach, I make the trip to photograph the beautiful Honu resting on the beach… but on the way back to the car, I spotted this beauty. Happy Aloha Flower Friday! 📸📷🌸

A pink hibiscus against a dark background at Laniakea Beach on Oahu’s North Shore.

091

Jason O’Rourke @jasonophoto.com · 08/03/2024

I finally have a shot appropriate for the 🦊 channel. Beat up my knees skiing at the beginning of the week (but the powder was so much fun), so took it easy today and went for a drive with Annie to see what we could find. Good idea! 📷📸🦊

A fox squints over a snow bank at the camera with a thicket in the background.

2324

Jason O’Rourke @jasonophoto.com · 05/03/2024

Happy Monk Seal Monday. I do love the light in this image of La’akea on Oahu’s North Shore. 📷📸🦭🦑🦊

La’akea, a juvenile Hawaiian monk seal, takes an afternoon nap on Oahu’s North Shore.

0305

Jason O’Rourke @jasonophoto.com · 02/03/2024

I’ve been looking forward to seeing this print for a while. Shipped it directly to my collector and planned to sign it on my next trip through Arizona. Took me longer than I expected, but now it’s signed… Aloha! 📸📷

A photo of me with a 32”x48” print of my Lava Drip image, which features glowing lava as it makes the ocean entry on the Big Island of Hawaii.

130

Jason O’Rourke @jasonophoto.com · 01/03/2024

I was leaning out to take a shot of Waimea Valley on Kauai, and looked to my left and found this guy staring at me. How could I resist taking his photo? 📸📷🦊

A goat munches on grass at the edge of the cliffs in Waimea Valley on the island of Kauai.

0185

Jason O’Rourke @jasonophoto.com · 27/02/2024

A flashback to February 2016, when I identified a new visitor to Oahu... while he wasn't seen on Oahu beyond a second sighting later that week, Kauai volunteers shared photos that helped me confirm he is now one of their regular resident seals.

An unidentified juvenile male Hawaiian monk seal with a cookie cutter shark bite on his left cheek, making him very identifiable to volunteers today.

2100

Jason O’Rourke @jasonophoto.com · 20/02/2024

One of my all-time favorite monk seal images, Sole had tucked himself into a little crevice in the reef, and I was trying to carefully find an angle to photograph him, without disturbing him. As I lined up my shot, he turned his head and looked right at me. 📸📷🦭🦑

A Hawaiian monk seal nicknamed Sole peers out of the reef at me.

0475

Jason O’Rourke @jasonophoto.com · 14/02/2024

Happy Valentine’s Day to all the ocean lovers out there. Aloha! 📸📷🌊

A heart-shaped tidal pool fills with blue ocean water on Oahu’s west side.

0152

Jason O’Rourke @jasonophoto.com · 11/02/2024

I Love Waikiki… just a little something for the holiday this week.

The Waikiki Beach and skyline, with an outrigger canoe in the foreground and the hotel lights framed as a bright red heart.

130

Jason O’Rourke @jasonophoto.com · 11/02/2024

Beautifully warm day in NYC was a good excuse to go exploring Central Park today… found a beautiful hawk who cooperated for a portrait session too! 📸📷🪶

A hawk takes a dip at the edge of the water, ruffling its feathers for a quick bath?

1241

Jason O’Rourke @jasonophoto.com · 06/02/2024

Last year, around this time, I was out on a rainy and windy beach, volunteering my time to watch over this mother and pup pair, and so outreach as people hiked out to this remote location.

A newly born Hawaiian monk seal pup looks at the camera past her resting mother in the foreground.

0111

Jason O’Rourke @jasonophoto.com · 23/01/2024

A pair of juvenile Hawaiian monk seals getting to know each other for a little monk seal love, Kimo Kai (Monk Seal RT12) and Luana (Monk Seal RN58). 📸📷🦑🦊🦭

A pair of juvenile Hawaiian monk seals rest on the rocks in a tide pool on a remote Hawaiian beach.

0140

Jason O’Rourke @jasonophoto.com · 20/01/2024

Nice to get out of the city for a drive sometimes… beautiful blue skies today!

A snow covered pond under blue skies just north of NYC.

030

Jason O’Rourke @jasonophoto.com · 18/01/2024

When I lived near Hawaii, I would post my lava shots during the cold winter months to warm up my mainland friends… … after this morning’s commute in below freezing temperatures, I’m posting one to warm myself up. 📸📷

Lava dripping into the ocean on the Big Island, in Hawaii’s Volcanoes National Park.

0101

Jason O’Rourke @jasonophoto.com · 17/01/2024

We've had a bit of snow in the city this week, and there is still the excitement and novelty of it all after almost 20 years in Hawaii. The subway stations looked beautiful tonight with a little white wrapping. 📸📷

The north entrance to the 72nd Street subway station, with snow draped across it and yellow cabs on the street.

The south entrance of the 72nd Street subway station with snow draped across it and people crossing.

The 96th Street subway station at night with snow draping the scene, and city lights reflected in the wet streets.

030

Jason O’Rourke @jasonophoto.com · 15/01/2024

A shot of Ipo snoozing peacefully at her favorite beach from one of the circle island tours I took with friends a few years ago.

An endangered Hawaiian monk seal nicknamed Ipo snoozes on a sandy beach.

180

Jason O’Rourke @jasonophoto.com · 08/01/2024

I often share a snoozing shot of RIP (#MonkSealRR70), peacefully sleeping in a tidal pool. However, there is another side to this big alpha male. Take a look at the size of his head, and the muscles on display here, chasing the younger males out of a ride pool and away from a young female seal.

A Hawaiian monk seal nicknamed RIP (short for Rabbit Island Pup, tagged red R70 for an official ID of RR70) announces his presence to the younger monk seals in a tide pool on Oahu.

010

Jason O’Rourke @jasonophoto.com · 02/01/2024

First Monk Seal Monday of 2024… how about this photo of Sadie (Monk Seal RB12) from January a few years ago. One of my favorites!

Hawaiian monk seal RB12 (nicknamed Sadie) snakes her way back to the ocean, and I snapped this shot in mid-wind, catching her looking right at the camera.

030

Jason O’Rourke @jasonophoto.com · 31/12/2023

A New Year’s Eve tradition… wishing you all a fantastic 2024… Annie and I always liked to celebrate the ball dropping in NYC) from Honolulu, but now that we’re in NYC, I have to see if we’ll make it to the ball dropping in local time. Happy New Year! Aloha! 📷📸

Fireworks exploding above and reflected in the Charles River in Boston. Happy New Year!

030

Jason O’Rourke @jasonophoto.com · 25/12/2023

Mele Kalikimaka! Hope you enjoy the holidays. #Aloha! 📸📷

Shaka Santa and Mrs. Claus at the fountain of Honolulu Hale for the Christmas holiday season.

011

Jason O’Rourke @jasonophoto.com · 20/12/2023

How about a little Waterfall Wednesday? Wailua Falls on Kauai, with just a touch of a rainbow. Been seeing rainbows on Oahu this week… could maybe use a little less rain. Aloha! 📷📸

A rainbow stretches across the pool at the bottom of Kauai’s Wailua Falls.

040

Jason O’Rourke @jasonophoto.com · 19/12/2023

On today’s drive around Oahu, I came across a monk seal, tucked in the brush at the edge of a beach, and her tag identified her as Monk Seal RJ58, better known as Kaimana. It wasn't a great photo opp, since she was well tucked in among the brush, so here's a shot of her at just one week old. 📷📸🦑🦊🦭

0253

Jason O’Rourke @jasonophoto.com · 11/12/2023

I haven’t seen too many Hawaiian monk seals on my trips to Maui, so it was great to get a chance to photograph this 23-year-old female seal, RQ21, a few years ago. 📷📸🦊🦭🦑

Hawaiian monk seal RQ21 rests at sunset on a quiet Maui beach.

0273

Jason O’Rourke @jasonophoto.com · 05/12/2023

I am reminded that today is World Wildlife Conservation Day! I continue to hope that my weekly Monk Seal Monday post will raise awareness for conserving this beautiful animal.

Hawaiian monk seal Aukai rests on a remote North Shore beach on Oahu.

1266

Jason O’Rourke @jasonophoto.com · 23/11/2023

Happy Turkey Day to all who celebrate! 📷📸🪶

060