Kaanapali

Photo: Golden Sunset

Photo: A pure golden sunset looking west from Ka’anapali, Maui facing the island of Lana’i.

I’m sure they have stunning sunsets all over the world, but the place I first truly learned to appreciate the majesty of day’s end and night’s arrival was, of course, Maui.

Of all the trips we’ve taken there (5 and counting), this has to be in the top 3 of my favorite sunsets.  Particularly, I love the distinct shape of the sun and the glowing rim it places on the most adjacent clouds.  Team that up with the strong orange hues and the higher clouds at the top, and you have a pretty nice image (in my opinion, anyway).

Don’t Try This At Home

One of the things that continues to strike me every time I see this image on a computer screen is just how bright that sun is in the capture. It’s almost as if you need to wear sunglasses just to view the photo.

Then it dawns on me (pardon the pun) that I was probably an idiot for looking directly towards the sun to get this shot. Not to mention the fact that it was shot at the long end of my 70-300mm lens, either. It might even be a small miracle that I still have my vision!

In any case, grabbing your longest telephoto lens and running out to shoot the sun is not something I’d recommend without doing research and taking safety precautions first. While shooting the sun close to the horizon is a little less intense than shooting it at high noon, it’s still dangerous and should be approached as such.

After all, the last thing you want to lose as a photographer is your vision.

Sunrise vs. Sunset

On the topic of the sun, I was thinking of trying to find an interesting location to shoot the sunrise while we’re up in Door County this weekend. I’m by no means a morning person – unless you consider still being up at 2am “morning” – so it may just continue to be one of those things I say I want to do but never get around to. Hey, it happens.

Whenever the topic of sunrise and sunset come up, I’m usually reminded of the following post from my favorite Hawaii travel blogger over at Go Visit Hawaii.

Are You a Sunrise or a Sunset Person?

Check out the comment thread and feel free to leave your own opinion if you’d like. In the context of Hawaii, it’s an interesting take from people on both sides. And if there ever was a topic where people were very content on agreeing to disagree, this is probably it.  After all, you’re in Hawaii!

– Kris

Photo: Stars Over West Maui

Photo: A starry sky on a perfectly clear night above Black Rock in West Maui.

Another reminiscing photo from my first ever attempt of shooting the skies back in ‘07. Call it beginner’s luck, or having the perfect canvas to work with.

We’ll be heading back up north to Wisconsin later this week, and I’m starting to think of some of the shots I want to work on this trip.  We have seen some great night skies that far north in previous visits, and especially in the winter if the skies are completely clear.  Sure, there’s about a 60-70 °F difference between this image and anything I see this weekend, but layers just aren’t for Photoshop, you know.

Into the Night

Maybe not as favorable for stargazing, we’ll be staying right near downtown of the biggest city in Door County, WI (that’s Sturgeon Bay for anyone playing along at home).  Still, I’ve been getting more socially active on Flickr lately and some of the night shots I’m seeing in the Night Images group pool have me itching to stay up late and shoot.

I mentioned that a little bit back in September when I said the night was my new golden hour, so it won’t be too far out of my norm.  Plus, we’ll be staying right on the bay, walking distance from where I attempted this shot in Sept. ‘08.

As I like to think that both my field skills and my talents in the digital darkroom are now much improved since this shot, I get excited about the new possibilities this trip.

And, seeing as it’s the middle of January, I don’t think I’ll be worried about getting washed out this time, either.

Back to the Stars

Getting back to the original photo, if you’d like to see more of my night shots of the heavens, click through to my Astrophotography Portfolio. The one of me and the Milky Way is starting a little bit of chatter on Flickr, at least compared to my other images in the past.

Photo: Milky Way above Black Rock

Photo: The Milky Way in the western sky above Black Rock outside the Sheraton Maui Resort in Ka’anapali.

This is the very photo that enticed me into astrophotography in the first place, and was an instant favorite. Possibly a once-in-a-lifetime shot given what little I knew about shooting the night sky 2 1/2 years, but after about a dozen shoots under the starry heavens, this image is still one of my best works.

Photo: View of Lana’i

I had to check 3x to see if I had already posted this image already, and am still surprised that I haven’t so far. Well, here it is.

The view you’re seeing here is of the island of Lana’i off of Maui’s west coast. It was taken from the Sheraton Maui Resort in Ka’anapali, and that rock formation in the mid-ground on the left hand side is the popular Black Rock.

This shot was from our first Maui trip – back when I still knew very little about my first DSLR). I guess it goes to show you how amazing some of the cameras in “Auto” mode were even back then (2006). It immediately was one of my favorites, and actually was displayed in a conference room at one of our old offices that my company used to use. That was kind of neat.

Read More

• My Favorites – Lana’i from Maui
• Comments on Flickr
• Sunday Photo at Ka’anapali Dreamin’

Photo: Ka’anapali Mosaic

I was going through the site and the blog looking at all the things I’m still looking to add here, and that left me feeling just a little overwhelmed.

I came across this image I created last year using AndreaMosaic that I had written about on my Software page. It was composed of hundreds of the photos I’d taken of Maui up to that point, and it was pretty neat to play around with. Seeing that I have photos from 3 other trips since then, I might have to dust if off and give it another go.

If you’d like to see a few more examples of what I did last year, check out this post.