Tag: Hawaii

Polihale Beach Sunset 1

Polihale Beach Sunset 1

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I first visited Polihale Beach on the remote west side of Kauai in 2000 and last photographed it using my medium format Pentax 67 camera in 2003. It is a lovely beach on the dry side of the island, though, it is often overrun by 4wd vehicles. This makes it challenging to compose an image to say the least. During my recent visit, I was fortunate that it was the low season for tourism, so there were not that many people out there. Still, I had to get down very close to this sand berm in order to eliminate my fellow tourists and a few vehicles from my composition. I visited the beach two days in a row and on my second visit photographed this dramatic light against the cliffs of the Na Pali Coast with clouds billowing in the sky above.

Kee Beach Sunset Aerial 1

Kee Beach Sunset Aerial 1

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I flew my hexacopter almost every day during my recent trip to Kauai, including at Kee Beach my last two sunsets. I have previously photographed the Na Pali Coast from the shoreline rocks on the far right of this image, but this time I flew my copter from the flat heiau hidden just above. Not only was this a perfect landing zone, but I had it all to myself. I find that it is much too distracting and dangerous to fly around people. I lucked out that there was almost no wind and the sun kept poking through the clouds to illuminate the scene. Dappled light underneath dark clouds is my favorite landscape photography situation. I digitally removed the tiny dots of people on the beach and snorkeling in the water, but also kept the original for my editorial clients.

Shipwreck Beach Sunset 3

Shipwreck Beach Sunset 3

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During my most recent visit to Kauai, I was rewarded with this incredible sunset the very first night that I was on the island. I was especially lucky since this was the first time that I had ever tried to photograph Shipwreck Beach. Every once in a while I experience beginner’s luck, but more often I have to return to a location multiple times before I photograph a sky this colorful. During the summer months, the southern swell erodes the sand on the beach and reveals the lava rocks underneath, which I used as my foreground along with the wave action against the shore. As the sun sank beneath the western horizon, I anticipated that these clouds would not only light up, but also perfectly frame my overall composition. I was not disappointed.

Makena Beach Aerial 1

Makena Beach Aerial 1

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Last year, I resolved to learn to build and fly remote controlled multirotor copters in order to create dramatic landscape images from a unique angle. It took me a little while longer than I had expected, but I am very happy with the types of photos that I am now creating. This aerial view of Makena Beach on Maui is a beautiful example of what is possible by merging this astonishing technology with my creative vision. Sure, I’ve seen aerial images of Makena over the years that were photographed from a small plane, but what is exciting to me is that I did both the flying and the photography myself. My hexacopter was hovering about 300m out and 100m up from where I took off when the setting sun briefly shined underneath the clouds to illuminate the entire scene. This is also my edited version of this photo, because I digitally removed the tiny dots of naked people on Little Beach.

La Perouse Bay Shoreline Aerial 3

La Perouse Bay Shoreline Aerial 3

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I’ve been back home for a few weeks now and barely flown my hexacopter. The one day that I did fly, I was amazed at how much the cooler weather shortened my battery life, and thus flight times. When I flew over La Perouse Bay on Maui a few weeks ago, I was conservatively reaching 10 minutes each flight. This beautiful lava shoreline and reef image was created by flying over 400m out and 50m up from the parking lot at the end of the road. It takes my hexacopter less than a minute to reach this distance and altitude. I then hover it in place and move it around to experiment with different compositions. I was especially drawn to the X shape of the shoreline surrounded by the turquoise water.

Poolenalena Beach Palms Sunset 4

Poolenalena Beach Palms Sunset 4

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During my recent trip to Maui, I visited beautiful Poolenalena Beach at sunset and created this dramatic image. Over the years, I have tried to photograph this location several times, so it was especially rewarding to finally see all the necessary elements come together, including the dramatic clouds and golden light. I don’t often have an audience around me when I am working this hard, but there was a small wedding going on just to the left of this scene. Hopefully, I was not too distracting for their ceremony as I constantly shifted my tripod with the incoming waves in order to photograph the reflection of the coconut palms on the wet sand. Several times, a larger wave washed over me. When this happened, I had to run back to my camera bag so that I could dry off my lens and filters and then immediately run back into the surf to continue shooting. I’ve got several variations of this image with varying light and colors, but this is my favorite.

Puu Pehe Aerial 2

Puu Pehe Aerial 2

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Now that I have been successfully flying my hexacopters during my recent travels, I am trying to move beyond the novelty of flying and back to focusing on creating beautiful images. I am especially excited about returning to my favorite landscape subjects and exploring them from this new perspective. This aerial image of Puu Pehe, or Sweetheart Rock, on the south shore of Lanai is a perfect example of the possibilities that I am achieving. I launched my copter from the top of the cliffs on the left, then flew it approximately 200m out and 25m above the ocean to compose this dramatic scene. When I say compose, I do mean compose. While flying my copter, I am viewing the Live View from my camera via a wireless transmitter on my 5″ LCD screen. Once I decide to hover my copter in a particular location, I then remotely trigger the camera to take a picture. Of course, I am still looking for all of the normal compositional elements that I would if I were using a tripod to take a picture, including wave action, dramatic light, and dynamic clouds.

Halemaʻumaʻu Crater Twilight 1

Halemaʻumaʻu Crater Twilight 1

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I recently spent two nights photographing the Halemaʻumaʻu Crater in Volcanoes National Park. It had been several years since I last photographed lava, so it was like visiting an old friend. The first night, I was happy to share some conversation in the dark with my buddy CJ Kale, who also allowed me to borrow his Canon 24mm f1.4 lens. This image was from my second night shooting solo. It was amazing to observe the crater and the steam plume begin to glow red after the sun went down. I framed the crater with this ohia tree located near the Jaggar Museum.

Green Sand Beach Sunset 4

Green Sand Beach Sunset 4

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Lately, I have been rediscovering my passion for landscape photography. It’s not that I ever stopped shooting landscapes, it’s just that I have too many different types of images that I like to shoot in a wide variety of environments. This image of Green Sand Beach located near South Point on the Big Island of Hawaii is a perfect example of my recent focus on dramatic landscapes. The last time that I visited this location was close to 10 years ago with my medium format film camera. Since then, I like to think that I have grown as a photographer, plus camera technology has evolved so that it allows me to better photograph dramatic scenes like this. If this storm front had rolled across the sky 15 minutes earlier, I would have missed my opportunity to photograph the colors in the clouds.

Kona Coast Sunset 3

Kona Coast Sunset 3

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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.