Plumeria
Waikoloa, Hawaii
Most of the blooms were gone. But this little Plumeria flower stood out like a star. It was like a magnet to my camera lens. It brightened my day.
A Little Beauty Brightens My Day
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Tag Archives: Hawaii
Patterns in Stone
Pahoehoe Lava Sculpture
Kilauea Lava Flow, Hawaii
Pahoehoe lava flows and cools slowly. It forms ropey type patterns as it cools. Walking over the Kilauea lava flows provides an infinite source of vignettes for creating images. My mind wanders as it gazes over the terrain. I discover pattern after pattern. Each one is unique and my imagination goes wild. I get lost and lose track of time. Each time I have walked the flows with travel partners, they have patiently(?) waited for me with stern faces by the car ready to drive to the next stop.
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A Foggy Morning at Kilauea
Kilauea Crater Edge
Kilauea National Park, Hawaii
We checked the weather forecast before we started a two hour drive to the Hilo side of the island and up to Kilauea. Everything looked good for a nice day. By the time we reached the top, it was heavily raining with dense fog and wind. We could hardly see the bottom of the crater, but decided to make the best of the day and drove down the chain of craters road down to the ocean.
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Welcome to Paradise
Sunset over Anaeho’omalu Bay
Wiakoloa, Hawaii
We were gifted a beautiful sunset on our first evening of our 2024 Hawaiian vacation. It was like a movie, with a colada in our hands we toasted to a beautiful welcome to Hawaii. It was followed by a romantic dinner with a local musician playing near our table and the gentle tropical breeze flowing through the palm trees.
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The “Painted Church” – 2
Honaunau, Hawai’i
While the interior of the little “Painted Church” is lavishly colorful, the exterior is a simple white structure. I could feel the history surrounding the church through it’s old, but well maintained, grave yard and gardens. It is a beautiful and peaceful site on the gentle sloping sides of Moana Loa.
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Little “Painted Church”
Honaunau, Hawai’i
The “Painted Church” is a must see little gem in the heart of Hawaii’s Kona coffee plantation area in South Kona. The church is on a peaceful hillside overlooking the coastline below. It was built by Belgian Catholic missionary Father John Velghe from 1899 – 1902. Father Velghe painted scenes of biblical stories along the church interior walls. He used the scenes to deliver his messages since most of his native Hawaiian parishioners could not read.
A history of the church can be found at the following link: https://keolamagazine.com/art/painted-church/
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When Something Catches My Eye
A splash of white and pink,
Against a sea of red, blue and green,
Is a pleasure to be seen!
Clusters of orchids were everywhere. Tourists and other photographers were lined up to get that “perfect” orchid image. I stepped back and walked away when I saw this lone flower standing out all by itself. Behind it several feet, were other blooms and foliage of various colors. I walked around the flower to get an interesting combination of color as a background. I used a wide aperture to separate the flower and blur the background. It looked great on my camera display. I was happy!
But when I got home and viewed the image on a large monitor, I was disappointed. By using a wide aperture and blurring the background, the flower itself was not as sharp as I would like. I could not give up on the image and used a little Topaz Impression to add an artistic perspective.
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The Little Blue Church
Kailua-Kona, Hawai’i
This little church was built in 1888 next to an ancient Hawaiian heiou. It is currently a Catholic mission and holding Sunday services.
When I drove past the church, it was late afternoon. The front of the church was in deep shadows. The sun glare dominated the background as it reflected off the ocean. It was a great opportunity for a B&W photograph.
Silent and serene the little church stood
against the brilliant glow from above.
What history does it have to tell?
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Fishing in the Deep South
Hawai’i, the Big Island
You can’t get any further south in the United States than this. The southern tip of the big island of Hawai’i is the most southern point of our country. I guess you can consider it the deep, deep South.
This image is the second of a series of Black and White photographs that I will post from my recent trip to the Big Island. In each of these images, I purposefully took my time to try to catch a specific moment and/or composition. Each one had a specific intent when I began the process of recording what my eyes were seeing or what my mind was feeling.
I stood and watched this boy for several moments before I put my camera to my eye. I could have just stood and watched much longer as he patiently cast out and reeled in his line, repeating the process over and over. Each time he cast out, I was hoping that a fish would take the bait. What a a glorious way to spend a late afternoon!
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Creating a Feeling
Hawaiian Tropical Botanical Gardens
Over the years, I have visited the Hawaiian Tropical Gardens on the big island of Hawaii four times. Located near Hilo, it gets around 160 inches of rain a year. It is a tropical RAIN forest. Every visit has been on a brilliantly bright day, no clouds and no rain. This visit I was hoping for at least a cloud cover to help darken the gardens like it typically is … no such luck!
Onomea Falls is one of the special beautiful places in the garden that I enjoy most. My intent was to create an image of the falls in a dark setting as it typically is in. It was dark, but bright hot spots from open spots the canopy were located all around the area. I was not going to leave disappointed again. I took my time, worked my way around the area, played with filters and exposures and left with something I could work with. Back at home I combined images to reduce the hot spots and keep the shadow details. I converted to B&W (as was my intent when I took the images) and did a little selective dodging and burning.
The result to me was well worth the extra time!