Sunset

Photo: Maui Sunset

The sun sets along Maui’s west coast as a dinner cruise ship approaches.

Back Story

Admittedly, it doesn’t take much to grab a great sunset like this on Maui, with only a little bit of help from the clouds and mother nature. It’s really more about spending the time to scout a good location and something to frame the shot with, and deciding whether you want to go warm or cool with the sky.

Still, I have a big thing for palm tree silhouettes (more on that in a second) and in the process of shooting that night, I found myself shooting next to an older gentleman from Arizona trying to capture his little digital memory of the golden moment. We started up a conversation, shared a few of our camera settings while the light was still just right, and then spent maybe another 20 minutes afterwards just talking story (as they say in Hawaii).

Although the Maui Photo Festival hadn’t officially started yet, and this person wasn’t an attendee, it was great to already be sharing stories and taking about camera gear and creative tastes with another photographer. Something I probably wouldn’t have done a few years back before first attending the workshops in ’09. That’s a pretty neat change, for me.

Those #MauiSunset Photos

The other reason I wanted to get a few good sunsets this trip was to help support the #MauiSunset Catalogue project that I began earlier in the year. The concept, unbeknownst to me at the time, started two years ago when I begin using the #MauiSunset hashtag on Twitter. I even wrote a post over at my Maui by Photo site trying to help spread it’s use at the time.

Fast forward to about this time last year when I formally re-branded my Maui photo day calendar to the Daily Maui Photo website that exists today, and the creative juices started flowing.

Not long after that, when trying to come up with ideas on how to expand to more than just one Maui photo a day, it occurred to me to have a Maui sunset photo every night. Well, short of relocating to Maui (a whole separate topic altogether) I had to rely on others to help source those special, magical moments every night. At that point, I decided to head over to Flickr and create the #MauiSunset group and start inviting photos that I found on the service.

From there, I put together a simple catalogue page that lets people browse different sunset photos by the night they were taken. There’s over 250+ photos so far, and even though it’s not as real-time as one could wish for, it’s been a neat little experiment to put together.

Now I just need to get sometime together to help promote it and get the word out. So if you happen to be still reading this, would you care to help?

Poster: Golden Hour

Poster – Golden Hour.

The image is one of the posters featured in the new eBook, Maui by Poster.

You can read more about this photo and poster on my Maui blog, and the original version of this photo here.

– Kris

Photo: Maui Sunset

Photo: A colorful Maui Sunset over the island of Lanai as seen from Maui’s west coast in Ka’anapali.

One of my favorite sunsets from Maui – and there are many to choose from.

No two sunsets on the islands are ever the same, so when you see the colors and clouds like this, you can’t help but grab a camera and try to capture it forever. You never know if you’ll see one like it again!

– Kris

Photo: Sunset at Sea

Photo: The sunset from a sailboat out just off shore in West Maui.

One of the things that captivates me about sunsets in Maui – which I’m sure can be said elsewhere in the world, too – is that no two are ever alike.  Compare this one to the golden sunset from yesterday, and you see exactly what I mean. If you check them out on Flickr, you’ll notice they were taken on consecutive nights. How’s that for variety?

There is so much variety, in fact, that sunsets even made it as its own subject on my Viewfinder page. Now, I’ve added quite a few images to my collection since that page first went up, including views like this this one from Door County, so don’t yawn too loudly when you read that page. I promise to update it when I get more time.

Your Favorite Sunset

Do you have a favorite place for enjoying the sunset? Perhaps you have a spectacular image of your own to share? Leave a note and a link in the comments, I would enjoy viewing and reading about them.

– Kris

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