Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 4, Number 1, 1 January 1987 — Denise Marie Luko [ARTICLE]

Denise Marie Luko

Internationally-published photo journalist Denise Marie Luko is no malihini. Although born in Florida, she and her family moved to Honolulu when she was 11. She attended Aliamanu Intermediate and Radford High Schools and the University of Hawaii for two years. Moving to Los Angeles, Luko honed her photography skills while working in the wholesale jewelry and real estate fields. On the mainland, she did a considerable amount of portrait photography. Returning to Hawaii in 1982, Luko was anassociate with the David Cornwell Studio, then went out on her own. In addition to free lanee work, Luko currently is a contributing photographer for RSVP Magazine. Other credits include stints as photographer for Govemor Jerry Brown's Senate campaign and work for numerous other loeal and mainland publications such as Aloha and Billboard magazines and the daily newspapers. Her celebrity photo portfolio includes Tom Selleek, John Hillemnan, Jack Lord, Don Ho, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Allen Carr, Ellison Onizuka, Press Secretary Larry Speakes, Russ Francis, former Governor and Mrs. George R. Ariyoshi and Mayor and Mrs. Frank Fasi. She did the photography for a Men of Hawaii Calendar and for a series of post cards. Currently Luko is working with Nona Beamer on an educational children's book. She hopes to build a reputation as an internationally commissioned portrait artist and photo journalist for nahonal magazines such as Life, National Geographic, Interview and Rolling Stone.