While visiting the Big Island of Hawaii, I experienced a lot of crummy, winter weather, but these conditions allowed me to photograph a variety dramatic sunsets. This area of lava ledges and blowholes along the Kona shoreline has always been one of my favorite locations. I composed this scene while standing very close to this series of lava tubes that would flood with the incoming waves and then suddenly drain to expose these dramatic waterfalls. On this particular night, the setting sun flooded the sky with golden light and turned the clouds neon red. This entire composition briefly came together for 1 second in time.

This spectacular sunset took place during my recent visit to the Big Island of Hawaii. The weather that day was miserable, but like any dedicated landscape photographer, I kept hopefully checking the satellite view of the islands. I could see that there was a cloudless sky just beyond the horizon. It was pouring rain all day, so when I finally announced to my brother and sister-in-law that it was time to go shoot the sunset, my optimism must have made me sound like a deranged prophet. I rushed down to the shoreline just as the sun started to poke beneath the clouds and a dramatic double rainbow appeared behind me, but my real prize was the heavy low hanging clouds out over the ocean. I originally found a scene that I liked and set up my camera while trying to keep it dry with my under performing umbrella, but the clouds were moving so fast and the light so dynamic, that I quickly had to reposition my gear and settled upon this nearby composition. The entire light show lasted less than 10 minutes, but it allowed me to produce a number of dramatic photos during this orgy of light.