Franco Salmoiraghi on the best photograph he ever made

In 1977, revered cultural icon, educator, kumu hula, chanter, and composer Aunty Edith Kanaka‘ole asked Franco Salmoiraghi to photograph her and her daughters Pualani Kanahele and Nalani Kanaka‘ole for Ha‘aku‘i Pele i Hawai‘i, their album of the chants of Pele. Salmoiraghi was becoming known in the Native Hawaiian community for documenting the occupation of Kaho‘olawe the year before. 

Everyone involved in the photo sessions, done over the course of several days, lived on Hawai‘i Island at the time, and the trio chose Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park, near the rim of Kīlauea, as one of the settings. “We made a whole bunch of photographs there,” said Salmoiraghi on a recent afternoon in the Robert Allerton Art Library. One of those images—a powerful portrait of powerful women—graces the cover of the album.

Then Aunty Edith then decided she wanted to go to Kīpukapuaulu, known locally as “Bird Park.” She had been so busy teaching at the University of Hawai‘i at Hilo that she hadn’t been able to visit the koa forest in a long time.

“She loved it,” said Salmoiraghi. “The three of them just sat down and started chanting.” He just watched for about an hour. “Then Aunty Edith got up and she looked at me and said, okay, you can make the photograph now. I jumped up and got my camera. It was a sunny day.”

Salmoiraghi remembers holding his camera upside down to get it up high enough to get Aunty Edith’s face as she continued to chant. She lifted her head. “And that was the photograph,” he said. “That is the best photograph that I have ever made. Ever. And it’s not because of me. It’s because of her.” Salmoiraghi has a large print of the image hanging in his home.

Aunty Edith gave the photograph its title—Ulu A‘e Ke Welina A Ke Aloha, with the translation “the growth of love is the essence within the soul.”

See this seminal photograph in the exhibition Franco Salmoiraghi: Photographs of Hawai‘i from the 70s, 80s, and 90s, on view through Oct. 12, 2025.

Image credit:
Franco Salmoiraghi (b. 1942). Ulu A‘e Ke Welina A Ke Aloha, 1977. Gelatin silver print. Honolulu Museum of Art: Gift of the Contemporary Museum, Honolulu, 2011, and gift of the Honolulu Advertiser Collection at Persis Corporation (TCM.1983.5.502)