Tag Archives: ocean

Lighthouse in Oahu

Posted on January 15th, 2018 by

Hiking

This is one of my favorite (very public) hiking places on Oahu. There is a very basic paved up hill path that will really get just about anyone’s heart pumping, including the massive footballer I saw one time doing lunges while hiking up hill! There are also some “not so basic” and somewhat more dangerous, but less populated areas that can be fun if you do your research ahead of time, know the dangers and respect the awesome kill you in a second power of nature. This is one of my favorite spots to just sit and take in the view of the lighthouse.

Lighthouse in Oahu
Lighthouse in Oahu

Photo Technical Info

  • Aperture: ƒ/4
  • Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark II
  • Taken: 19 January, 2014
  • Focal length: 35mm
  • ISO: 100
  • Shutter speed: 1/640s
  • Title: Lighthouse in Oahu

Cliffs in Hawaii

Posted on November 28th, 2016 by

Geologic Beauty

It’s a funny thing, the mind. I have visited this location in Oahu more than half a dozen times. It’s a great location for interesting carvings (probably done by bored kids) and a beautiful introduction to the diversity of landscape on the islands. I had it in my head this was the filming location for From Here to Eternity. I even told my sister how she had to see it. It was only after returning from Hawaii that I realized I was actually at the wrong stop!

Cliffs in Hawaii
Cliffs in Hawaii

Photo Technical Info

  • Aperture: ƒ/8
  • Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark II
  • Taken: 12 November, 2016
  • Focal length: 16mm
  • ISO: 500
  • Shutter speed: 1/800s
  • Title: Oahu Cliffs5

On Living and Dying

Posted on October 31st, 2016 by

Constant Struggle

I miss the sea.

I find a certain solace just being near her. I often just sit and think. Ultimately this leads me to wonder about birth, life and death. I consider the island, born of the conflict of fire and water, made solid into land. The ocean though, does not forget and slowly begins reclaiming the land to its watery depths.

This was once a solid piece of land. The ocean began eating it away, leaving a spike of land that eventually collapsed. Slowly, the ocean will completely devour this too and return it to where it started. The circle is all around if only you wish to see.

On Living and Dying
On Living and Dying

Photo Technical Info

  • Aperture: ƒ/5
  • Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark II
  • Taken: 26 May, 2015
  • Focal length: 24mm
  • ISO: 1250
  • Shutter speed: 1/6400s
  • Title: On Living and Dying

Perfect Beaches in Kauai

Posted on February 22nd, 2016 by

Finding Your Place

It’s no secret that I LOVE Hawaii. It’s not the sun exactly, or the beach, it’s not beautiful people or some island style. It is all of these things, but rolled together and a calm that you rarely see on the mainland. This beach in Kauai is one of my perfect spots. Both times I have come here were early and I had the place all to myself. I don’t think it’s probably every really busy, but I love the way the forest grove shades my pale skin from the strong Hawaiian sun. I can sit here and think, be with myself, be with the ocean. In the world, it is one of my perfect spots just to be.

Perfect Beaches in Kauai
Perfect Beaches in Kauai

Photo Technical Info

On the Beach in Kauai

Posted on January 14th, 2016 by

Crazy Sunset Tones

I have been experimenting again. I almost didn’t share this photo. It seemed too extreme to me when I processes it. I have been playing with some of Trey’s Lightroom Presets. They are surprisingly fun and I love deconstructing them to find new techniques in Lightroom!

Pro Tip…never use any preset on its default values, but rather as a starting point (wedding photographers, feel free to ignore that completely).

On the Beach in Kauai
On the Beach in Kauai

Photo Technical Info

End of the Awa’awapuhi Trail, Kauai, Hawaii

Posted on January 4th, 2016 by

Extraordinary Beauty

There are places in this world that have taken by breath from me. Na Pali coast is one. I started as I often do with a great hiking guide on the Awa’awapuhi Trail from Unreal Hawaii (I can’t tell you how much I appreciate these guys). The trail was a bit wet (expected) and slightly uneventful, but fantastic exercise.

I can’t describe how high I am taking this photo, or how close to the edge I was hiking out on the ridge line. The photo does no justice to nature’s splendor, but I wanted you to see what I can convey.

As a side bit of trivia, this photo is the 400th I have processes for the blog!

End of the Awa’awapuhi Trail, Kauai, Hawaii
End of the Awa’awapuhi Trail, Kauai, Hawaii

Photo Technical Info

On a Deserted Bali Beach at Sunset

Posted on November 9th, 2015 by

Peaceful Wandering

It was peaceful on the beach in Bali. It was oddly quiet when I visited and I was so exhausted that I decided to spend the days I had sitting on the beach at the resort. That is an exceptionally odd thing for me to do…I don’t think I have ever done it before honestly. The ocean in my little cove was calm and the sun had retreated behind the clouds making for some wonderfully warm light. I was walking alone on a beach, halfway around the world for my home. Sometimes, I am in awe of where I have been.

On a Deserted Bali Beach at Sunset
On a Deserted Bali Beach at Sunset

Photo Technical Info

  • Aperture: ƒ/8
  • Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark II
  • Taken: 17 February, 2015
  • Focal length: 25mm
  • ISO: 100
  • Shutter speed: 1/250s
  • Title: On a Deserted Bali Beach at Sunset

Makapu’u Tidepools

Posted on October 22nd, 2015 by

Second Favorite Easy Hike on Oahu

Without a doubt, my favorite “easy” hike on Oahu is the Lanikai Pillbox Hike. Almost every time I visit Oahu I make an early morning trek across the island from Waikiki to Lanikai and hike up the hill to the old Pillboxes. It’s a hot hike, but Lanikai Beach (one of my favorite in the world) is waiting below to wash your hard work away. The problem on my last trip…RAIN!

Never fear, the Makapu’u Lighthouse trail is almost entirely paved! I started up, but realized I had never taken the not entirely sanctioned (or safe) Tidalpool side trail. It’s a wonderful view down on the rocky beach. The blowhole was in good form and there were almost no people around! You can’t tell, but this tidalpool is about two stories down from the cliff I shot it from and could easily hold 100 or more people! You can JUST see the Makapu’u Lighthouse in the background.

Makapu’u Tidepools
Makapu’u Tidepools

Photo Technical Info

A Dead Tree by the Ocean

Posted on October 19th, 2015 by

For the Love of Hawaii

People have stated to notice the frequency of my visits to Hawaii. I go maybe two or three times a year. It’s an easy trip that I often get upgraded on, but there is something more than the 8000 or so miles I earn. Hawaii pulls me back. The Hawaiian islands are paradise, but not for the reason’s people are sold. I was talking with an old friend this weekend and I think we felt similarly. Its not the sun, or the beaches, or the joy of temporary vacation. It is the ease at which everything operates in Hawaii. There is a calm there that is infectious and calm is perhaps the thing we need the most these days.

Speaking to Trees

This is one of my favorite trees in the world. It, for now, sits alone on a beach in Kauai. It can’t speak any longer. It is dead. But it still stands as a monument to itself. A beacon on a cliff that will likely fall into the ocean soon as well. This tree seems to me to encapsulate the spirit of this place. All around is life and death, air, earth, fire and water all in their rawest forms, constantly battling for supremacy. Somehow even in death, this tree speaks to me. I need to go back to hear more of its message, before it vanishes, returning to the sea.

A Dead Tree by the Ocean
A Dead Tree by the Ocean

Photo Technical Info

Sunrise at My Favorite Spot

Posted on August 3rd, 2015 by

Favorite Places

Do you have a favorite place?

I usually have a hard time picking a “favorite” anything. Favorite country, favorite animal, I even find my favorite color problematic! There though is an easy answer to my favorite morning…Lanikai. I exist in a world of movement. I am constantly going places, most of which I will never return to, but I keep going back to Hawaii and specifically back to Lanikai Beach. If I have the morning in Oahu, I will always do the same thing. I hike up the Pillbox Trail, then go and swim at Lanikai Beach. One day, I hope Pamela and I will live out my remaining days on Oahu, watching the most perfect sunrise, knowing, there is no place on this Earth we would rather be.

Sunrise at My Favorite Spot
Sunrise at My Favorite Spot

Photo Technical Info