Mele Kalikimaka....

 

....from a lazy photographer!

I spent Christmas Eve watching a beautiful sunset with a very good friend and I can't think of a better way to have spent the evening. Neither one of us had our cameras with us so I had to resort to a cell phone photo. It's a terrible thing when that happens but we had worked three art shows in a row and we decided Christmas Eve and Christmas day would be a no work zone. 

Today will be an all day at the beach. They call it the three B's here. Beach, beer and a babe. Yes, it's probably a politically incorrect statement but it does seem to fit and the babe part of the saying doesn't mind in my case. There will be photographs today since she will be trying out a new GoPro 7 so hopefully I can post a few in a couple of days, providing she let's me play with the new camera!

Merry Christmas!

Fogbo

Merry Christmas!

I'm Back!

 

My apologies for being gone so long, it has been a little hectic the last couple of months with storms and work and life.

This is my version of a selfie with a honu, Hawaiian green sea turtle. This was taken last night on a beach on Maui during the full moon.

Spidey chandelier...

Imagine the poor spider, worked all day to build this perfect web only to wake up the next morning to find dew drops on every thread! Not going to catch any flies with this...

Hurricane Sunset

I took this photo from my lanai last night as the weather man on the TV said we were getting torrential downpours. Don't these guys ever look out a window??

 

I was lazy last night and took this with my cell phone. Had I been more enthusiastic I would have been on a beach in Kihei taking photos with a real camera. In my defense I blame the weather man who said it was going to rain constantly so I didn't expect to see a sunset.

 

Maui has been lucky with this storm as it appears to be sheering apart and might not get to us at all. The poor folks on the Big Island have been suffering though. Some spots there have received over 30 inches of rain in the last two days and they are having massive flooding.

Smokey Moon...

Yesterday I posted a couple of pictures of a very red sun seen through forest fire smoke. Here is a picture of tonight's moon. No end in sight for smokey skies over here on the West Coast of Canada...

Tonight's apocalyptic sunset...

If you've been following the news at all you'll have seen coverage about the incredible number of forest fires in Northern California and also in British Columbia. Smoke from several fires nearby on Northern Vancouver Island made for a rather spectacular / apocalyptic sunset this evening!

Full Moon on Haleakala

 

I went to the top of the volcano a couple of weeks ago to get a few shots of the full moon. It was an interesting learning experience trying to get the moon and the ground with just the right amount of light.

 

This was shot with a 20mm f1.8 lens and that is why I ended up with the star burst around the moon.

It's a holiday!

 

Today is Hawaii Statehood day so the government offices, schools and some businesses are closed today. I decided to spend the day at a friends "satellite office", AKA the beach!

 

I'm headed to Kihei to spend some time in the sun and water!

 

The shot above is the black sand beach In Waianapanapa State Park along the road to Hana during a sunrise a couple of weeks ago.

Big Beach - Little Beach Maui

 

A couple of friends of mine wanted to go see the milky way at Makena Beach Sunday night. Makena Beach is also known as Big Beach because, well, it's big!

 

There is a smaller beach over a lava hill to the north that is known as little beach for the same obvious reasons.

 

We got there just before the sunset and relaxed on the beach and enjoyed the sunset and then it was off to work, photographing the milky way.

 

There are usually fire dancers at Little Beach on Sunday night and we had planned on taking photos of the fire dancers from the hill with the milky way in the background but we discovered the police had shut down the fire dancing so we didn't get to take that shot.

 

This shot was taken at the top of the hill that separates the two beaches and I painted the beach with a flashlight for a couple of seconds when the wave came in.

Underwater on Maui

 

I decided to go snorkeling on Thursday at Po'olenalena beach near Kihei not thinking about what the hurricane would do to the waters. Even though it was more than two hundred miles away the weather created a south swell which churned the waters up pretty good close to shore.

 

I had to swim out about 100 yards off shore before it cleared up enough that I could actually see more than 10 feet in any direction. I ended up with two decent turtle shots and that was it.

 

In hindsight I probably should have just stayed on shore and worked on my tan. The number one rule here is don't swim into the sandy/murky waters because the sharks can't tell you're not dinner and you could get eaten.

These are from my previous trip to Cancun Mexico.  First time going vacation without my big camera!  I like the quality of underwater photography of this small camera rather than on land.
 

Red Sand Beach

 

Something a little different that you just don't see every day. A red sand beach!

 

Reminds me of the red dirt in Oklahoma!

 

This beach is in Hana. I was headed back there this week but I think the hurricane is going to make the surf a little rougher than I want to deal with. Maybe....

Balck & White or Color?

 

This is a banyan tree we came across while hiking to the bamboo forest. I tried to put a little bit of an "artsy" feel on it.

Into the forest

 

I'm headed back to Hana tomorrow for a few more days in the forest and swimming at some different beaches. More photos to follow soon!!

When it rains in the rain forest

We were headed to this very tall waterfall on the Hana side of the island and it had been raining off an on during our hike but nothing too major.

 

We had just crossed the creek that is fed by this waterfall and stopped to take a quick photo.

 

Before we could get to the pool at the bottom of the falls it became obvious it was time to get out of Dodge quickly! It was like someone turned on a spigot. All of the sudden the water volume of the falls quadrupled from rain farther up the volcano.

 

We had to cut that part of our trip short and head back across the creek before we got stranded by rising water. Within ten minutes of us crossing back over the creek the water level in the creek had rose by about 3 feet an was still rising.

 

I will be going back to this waterfall for better photos but on this day common sense prevailed, for once!

Can I borrow a lawn mower?

I went on a hike with a friend through the rain forest near Hana last week and...

 

...it rained!

 

We also came across some very tall grass, a bamboo forest and a very tall waterfall.

 

More photos to come!

More from Secret Beach

 

A second nighttime shot from the beach.

 

 

And a shot before the sun went down.

Truly Paradise

 

I went shooting with a fellow photographer last night at a spot called "Secret Beach" here on Maui. There is a tiny hole in a rock wall that you walk through to find this little gem. The milky way and my light painting partner were both perfect last night.

Crimson and Clover...

Acutally a Columbine and a Clover but the Crimson part made for a better post title! 

These are both hand held but it was a nice bright day so the shutter speed would have been fairly high making for nice sharp captures.

I'm a day late but....

 

...Happy 4th of July!!

 

I spent the day working an art show on Ka'anapali beach. It was great to be able to walk out of the booth and into the ocean and then right back to the booth selling again. I couldn't ask for a better job!

 

I know, you feel sorry for me for having to work on a holiday don't you? LOL

 

After the show another photographer and I spent some time on the beach watching an amazing sunset. Since we both were working the show neither one of us brought our cameras so we looked like a couple of tourists with our cell phones taking photos.

Big bird, little bird...

Two of ninety odd pictures from the "Airport Beach" in Port Hardy. Push the shutter button enough times you're bound to get a good picture or two. Kind of like playing the lottery with much better odds! :)

Windows to the world, windows to the soul...

Composition Mistake!

This is what I get when I'm lazy or in the rush.

Hawk yes, but what kind?

Usually I have no problem identifying what kind of bird I've taken a picture of but this Hawk has me a bit buffaloed... Might be a juvenile Sharp-shinned Hawk or might be a Cooper's Hawk or it could be something altogether different. Any ideas?

What a beauty!

This beautiful old wooden vessel was built in 1960 and served as a Forestry Patrol Vessel for 37 years before being retired. After that the vessel went into private ownership and is used as a yacht.

Smoked Salmon first batch of the year...

Secret recipe brine, light Alder smoke and honey glazed but you wouldn't like it, it's an acquired taste... :)

West Coast kindling...

I only got a few pieces of firewood today, can't understand why I'm sore and tired! 

Minutes old...

I came across this Doe and her just born Fawn this morning and took a few pictures. Later as I drove back past this same place I saw that she'd had twins.

Iris in the rain...

Whenever I see one of these beautiful Lilly's I am reminded of these two verses from the "Sermon on the Mount": 

Mathew 28 And why are ye anxious concerning your clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: 29 yet I say unto you, that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

Just a splash

I went out last night to shoot the sunset but it was less than spectacular so I started focusing on the waves and splashes.

Sunsets here are always good but the ones I want to photograph are the amazing ones that everybody talks about. I will get some more of those in the future.

McGregor Point, Maui

I've been having an itch to do some more night photography, especially since the core of the Milky Way is now visible above the horizon.

This is a small lighthouse on Maui that I photographed during an almost full moon last week. You couldn't see the milky way because of the moon but I was running some test shots for when the moon is gone. I will be returning for this shot again during the New Moon with the milky way across the sky.

Happy Aloha Friday!

Sunset in Kihei on Wednesday night. 

Sitting on the beach listening to the ocean and watching the sun go down never gets old. It's one of the most relaxing things I have ever found to do. I've started to do it a lot more lately and I would recommend it to everyone!

Cookies? What cookies?

No VOG on Maui

Nothing but clear skies here even though the volcano on the Big Island is making a mess of things there.

I just took this photo yesterday morning. This is actually 35 photos made into one. I wanted to make a panorama of the top of Haleakala and because of the lighting I shot it in HDR. This is 7 pieces, 5 frames each layered and stitched together to get the one image.