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Tanner Mason

@tannerr_mason

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After almost 3 years in Hawaii my time on the island has come to an end. It’s been hard to decide how to post about the life changing time spent there. I shot a ton of film but didn’t post, at all really… I just felt less connected to technology/social media than ever before. I hit a 700 day streak on my Instagram app blocker during my time on island. I just kept shooting film and doing my best to stay conscious in the moment, that’s what felt aligned.

Now that I’m going through all the content, something I already knew in my soul has become very apparent to me through the pictures I’ve captured; the thing that had the biggest impact on me during my time on the island…. THE PEOPLE. My favorite thing to shoot wasn’t the beautiful beaches, massive mountains, the sunsets, or the scenery people travel all over the world for… my favorite thing to shoot was my people, their smiles, our moments, the family I found here.

It’s hard to find the words to explain the connection this group of people has but all of us in these pictures know the feeling. Maybe it’s the fact that we all know our time on the island is limited and this could be the last sunset we get with the person next to us, the last 3am campfire chat on the beach, the last shirtless potluck in sandals & wet trunks. Maybe it’s the concept that we’re in the middle of the ocean, our family and friends back home are on different time zones and different phases of life so we feel like this group is all we have in the moment. Maybe it’s the shared feeling of wanderlust, the dare to do the unthinkable and swim upstream from what society expects life to look like. I’m still working on my thesis of what makes the connections so powerful but what I know so far, is I felt a version of love from these people I’ve never experienced.

This family taught me so much and reminded me of so many things my spirit knew deep down. The idea that love can be instant with the right friend, that our souls are destined to find certain people in this lifetime, and to always follow your heart. I took a leap to leave my life behind and come to Hawaii and these people welcomed me with open arms. I’m forever grateful.

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104 days of summer vacation

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Wild Child ☀️🌺🤙🏽

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Photo dumpppp

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Dear Hawaii,
Thank you for the love, the experiences, the memories, the people you brought me, the story’s, the lessons, the good days, the bad days, the perspective, the lessons, the laughs, the tears, the late nights and early mornings, the conversations, the connections, the friends, the dances, the loud music…
Thank you for embracing me, with love❤️🫶
- Your favorite white boy

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My kind of “going out”

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Gratitude levels: aggressively topped off.

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Man this past half year has truly been some of the best times of my entire life. I’ve been traveling off island every month since September and it has been nothing less than phenomenal. Time to see friends and family, celebrate the holidays with my loved ones, travel for a couple dubstep shows, Watch Bo Nix win an all time Broncos classic vs the Bills, and I even got to hold the American Flag on the field during the national anthem of the AFC Championship game!

March was the first time I’ve been able to stop, breathe and get myself back into a solid routine. It’s been a great time to express gratitude for the life I’ve been so blessed to live recently and set my sights on the rest of 2026. I have really big things planned for this year and I want to lean into this fun adventurous lifestyle I’ve been creating for myself.
So much of this opportunity has been granted to me because of my new job on the catamaran and I can’t even describe the blessing that that new role has been to me. I genuinely get brought to tears with gratitude for the position I have found myself in and there is not a day that goes by where I don’t appreciate the fact that I’m quite possibly living in the best days of my entire life right now. I want to soak it all in and continuously romanticize every detail of my day to day experience.

I’m truly in a very special Big Country era ❤️

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Week long layovers >

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I love you big island.

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That’s a wrap on the ‘25. This year is going in the books for sure. #onward

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2025 told a story. A damn good one.

This year changed me. From start to finish.
Gratitude became the foundation. Pain became the teacher.

I heard a line early this year by Steven Colbert in an interview with Anderson Cooper that rewired how I see life: “what punishments from God are not gifts?”… In other words, what feels like punishment can actually be a gift. Since then, I’ve learned to use discomfort, failure, and pressure as tools, NOT roadblocks. To see pain as proof that I’m alive, growing, becoming. I will never look at life the same.

I stopped calling my “flaws” flaws. I started using them. Even the things I once fought, like my OCD and heartbreak, became fuel. In the gym. In life. In discipline. In perspective.

More than anything, 2025 taught me to live as the man I want to be before I get there. The friend. The partner. The father. I picture my future kids on my shoulders during those early morning walks, and now I can confidently say that I move differently because of it.

This year was about filling my cup…so the overflow can pour into others. And none of it happens alone. The people who stood beside me made all of it possible.

Gratitude is the word of the year.
2026… onward. The year where dreams WILL become reality.

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