Tom Carey

Member Artist since 2018

Wood Turner

Photographer

(Our Land and Sea guy)

Tom became interested in photography while he was in junior high school in Southern California, just taking pictures of his friends surfing and skateboarding. As an adult, living in Ventura, CA, he was close to the beautiful Channel Islands, only eleven miles off the coast. Tom began SCUBA diving there in 1976. Soon after he bought a Nikonos III underwater camera. While diving for lobster, abalone and scallops, and spearfishing with his friends, he would dive with his camera instead of a spear gun. Quickly becoming more serious, he bought a used Oceanic housing for his Nikon F-2 camera, which allowed the use of many lenses and gave him more creative control.

After retiring and moving to Hawaii in 2004, Tom had more time to follow his passions, traveling the world to take marine photography underwater and topside, travel, landscapes, and portraits.

Tom’s photos have been featured in publications such as: Skin Diver Magazine, Sportfishing Magazine, Nat Geo Explorer and California Fish and Game Magazine.

Tom’s other medium is wood turning in his home studio in Kona. He specializes in Hawaiian woods, including Koa, Mango, Norfolk pine, Milo, Monkeypod and whatever nature generously provides. His work includes traditional bowl shapes, such as Umeke, used by Hawaiians for centuries, as well as more modern vases, platters, hollow vessels and spheres. He allows the wood to suggest what shape the finished piece of art will be, always looking to enhance the natural grains and swirls that are loved by collectors of fine wood objects.