Monthly Archives: February 2020

End of the Chain …

Rainbow
End of Chain of Craters Road
Hawai’i Volcanos National Park

All we could see at the top of the plateau overlooking the lava plain at the end of the Chain of Craters Road was a thick bank of fog. We drove down to where the recent Kilauea lava flow blocked the road. We really could not see much and turned around. The fog started to break a little revealing this beautiful rainbow. I hopped out of the car and grabbed my camera. My lens was not wide enough to include the whole rainbow in the frame. I started to change my lens but the rainbow was breaking up rapidly. I grabbed my trusty iPhone and quickly shot a couple of images. The rainbow disappeared. Thank you Apple for the new wide angle lens on the iPhone 11.

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Ridges Into the Sea

Pololu Valley Lookout (2020)
The Big Island, Hawai’i

The last time I was here I hiked down to the base of these cliffs and looked up the Palolu Valley to the south. Waipi’o Valley is in the distance. This trip I did not make the trek down to the bottom.

On previous trips, my interest focused on the bay directly below and closer. The above ridges were in the distant background. This time the ridges caught my eye. I zoomed out to 400m to isolate them.

For reference, the photo below represents my previous focus.

Pololu Valley Lookout (2017)

As seen, this is quite a different perspective. It pays to return to special places and keep an open mind to see new things.

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Bridging Time

“Bridging Tree”
Kailua-Kona Hawai’i

This tree has an unseen story to tell. The photographer did not step back to include the rest of the story. On the tree’s left is the Little Blue Church. On its right is an ancient Hawaiian heiau.

Here I stand, catching the evening’s last light,
Spreading it gently to the souls of the present on my left,
And to the ancient spirits of the past on my right

Lesson Learned: I need to take my time to contemplate what I am seeing and feeling, then raise my camera to record the story. I should have used a wide-angle perspective to include the church and the heiau. Always learning …

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Remnant of the Past

Ancient Hawaiian Heiau
Kailua-Kona, Hawai’i

Just to the north of the “Little Blue Church” is the remnant of an ancient Hawaiian heiau (temple). I came to see the church, but my interest quickly turned to the adjacent heiau. How long ago did the ancient peoples worship on this ground? Was it in use when Cook first landed on the island just a few miles south of here? What do these protruding wood branches and line represent? So many questions …

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The Little Blue Church

St. Peter’s Church By The Sea
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

South Point
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

Onomea Falls
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!

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