Concept & Astrophotography: Pākē Salmon · Photo: Melanie Bartels
Exhibited at Honolulu Biennial — SaVAge K'lub
The Navigator
PĀKĒ SALMON
Founder · Director · Cultural Navigator
Native Hawaiian filmmaker, director, and cultural navigator with over 20 years of professional experience — from Hollywood productions to the open Pacific. One of the few women in ocean culture to be recognized as a waterman — a title that speaks to a lifetime of mastery in the sea. Featured in Reel Wāhine of Hawaiʻi ▶ on PBS Hawaiʻi (Pacific Pulse, Season 6) — a documentary on her filmmaking career and life on the West Side of Oʻahu. She also served as line producer, cinematographer, and on-camera subject for ABC Australia Foreign Correspondent ▶ — “The Fight To Take Back Hawaii” — filmed in the ocean and at Pipeline.
Her press record spans the world's most respected platforms. For Vogue's editorial on Oʻahu women longboarders and the Mākaha community, she helped produce the shoot, photographed the Mākaha Wahines herself, and is named in the piece as one of the Mākaha women — a rare triple role of producer, photographer, and subject in a single international feature. She is also published in The Surfer's Journal for her role in the Pele Challenge in Indonesia — surfing as the female embodiment of the Hawaiian goddess, as ancient Hawaiians did. That image was exhibited globally and held in the Bishop Museum collection.
Her screen credits span Hollywood productions — Blue Crush (Universal Pictures), where she served as Michelle Rodriguez's surf coach and role model, going surfing together and originally brought on as stunt double; Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Lost, Baywatch, and Doogie Kameāloha M.D. ▶ (Disney+) — where her photography and surfing footage appear in the series. Her first magazine cover shoot was E Magazine (September/October 2009) — invited by actress and activist Daryl Hannah to Malibu to photograph her at home for the cover, a shoot Pākē directed and shot herself. She also filmed Neil Young in concert on Maui, photographed him at a Lahaina farm, and directed and filmed the model for his PonoPlayer campaign — creating the Hawaiian imagery concept that Young personally praised. Her landmark cultural work includes being commissioned by the Bishop Museum to create the large-format video wall installation for "Mai Kinohi Mai: Surfing in Hawaiʻi", personally ensuring Uncle Buffalo Keaulana was honored as a living legend of the sport.
She produced the documentary video honoring Pacific Sisters ▶' 25th anniversary as a collective at Te Papa Tongarewa (Aotearoa) — a landmark moment of recognition for one of the Pacific's most influential art collectives. Her photography of Pacific artist Rosanna Raymond was published in Harper's Bazaar with a full photo credit — the same iconic image that later ran on the cover of Art New Zealand (Issue 178, 2021). She has also collaborated closely with Lisa Reihana and continues documentary work as Rosanna Raymond completes her PhD. In 2026, her images were selected by the British Museum for the social media campaign surrounding King David Kalākaua's historic wooden surfboard.
Press & Collaborations
E Magazine Cover
Sept/Oct 2009
Pākē's 1st Cover Shoot
Art New Zealand
Issue 178, 2021
Also: Harper's Bazaar
Vogue
Mākaha Wahines
Photo: Gillian Garcia
Daryl Hannah & Hillary Shepherd
Malibu Shoot
Photo: Pākē Salmon
With Michelle Rodriguez
Blue Crush
Surf Coach & Role Model
Marika Magazine
Editorial Portrait
Photo: Hélène Delillio
The Pele Challenge
Indonesia
The Surfer's Journal · Bishop Museum
Photo: David Puʻu
Wooden Alaia · Indonesia
Cultural Revival
Photo: David Puʻu
Wooden Board Resurgence
Buffalo's Big Board Classic
49th Annual · 2026
Poster Design: Pākē Salmon
Neil Young — PonoPlayer Campaign "The Sound of Pono"
Director & Cinematographer: Pākē Salmon · Hawaiian Imagery Concept
Invited to speak at the White House on Native Hawaiian health and environmental sovereignty — representing Waianae communities alongside the EPA and Earth Justice's 50 States United for Clean Air.
Award-Winning Production
Silver Telly Award 2022
Social Video — Social Impact
Accolade Award of Merit 2021
Documentary Short
Broadcast
Premium TV — Post-Merrie Monarch
Mana i Mauli Ola — 2021
Screener available on request — Contact Pākē →
Mana i Mauli Ola (2021) — Director, Drone Operator, Cinematographer & Editor. Commissioned by the Office of Hawaiian Affairs to document their 2020–2035 Strategic Plan through Native Hawaiian community voices. The 25-minute film aired in premium broadcast time following Merrie Monarch — the most-watched Hawaiian cultural broadcast of the year.
“Part of what makes this film special is the platform it has provided for Native Hawaiian voices and talents. It's an honor to receive this recognition and have the opportunity to share kānaka perspectives with the world via this film.”
Pākē Salmon — OHA Press Release, 2022
Founder of Mākaha Angels Productions and the Menehune Film Academy — a 501(c)3 nonprofit training Indigenous youth in real-world filmmaking and media.
Like many Native Hawaiians, Pākē knows what it means to fight for your place in paradise — the real fear of being priced off the land your ancestors called home. The agentic era is not a tech trend. For Kanaka, it is a tool of sovereignty. We are not waiting to be saved. We built the system ourselves.
“Thank you so much Pākē for the Hawaiian imagery you created for the Pono Player. It was exactly what we had wanted and envisioned. Working with you is amazing!”
Neil Young — PonoPlayer Campaign
Mana wahine. Waterwoman. Storyteller.
Ready to Work Together?
LET'S MAKE SOMETHING
THAT MATTERS
Whether you're a producer, funder, brand, or organization — if the story is worth telling, I want to hear from you.