Summer Sunsets
Summer sunsets on Oahu, Hawaii crowd my memories even though ski adventures of today fill my spare time (little of what I have, and thus no special photo updates of late).
With January almost out of the way here this year, how is your 2010 coming along? Whatever you do - make it the best day today for you and your family.
EXIF:
Exposure Program: Aperture priority AE
Exposures: 7xp JPG, handheld
Aperture: f/5.6
Focal Length: 50mm
ISO Speed: 200
Exposure Bias: 0
View on Flickr
Turtle Blue
Snorkeling at the North Shore’s Shark’s Cove was one of the highlights of our trip. We’d be there for a few hours each day swimming around with turtles, seeing Hawaiian Monk seals, and enjoying all of the other sea life. It was magical!
EXIF:
Camera: Canon PowerShot SD1000
Exposure: 0.004 sec (1/250)
Aperture: f/2.8
Focal Length: 5.8 mm
ISO Speed: 80
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
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Where’s the Seal?
A big surprise to us this trip was seeing a special species of wildlife close up on the beach of our favorite snorkeling spot.
The Hawaiian Monk Seal is on the "critically endangered species" list, as since 2008 it’s believed that there are only 1200 of this particular kind of seal left around the Hawaiian waters. This seal is indigenous to Hawaii and in 2008, was declared Hawaii’s State Mammal.
This female was about 7 feet long, and must have weighed somewhere between 4-500 pounds. She would dig in the sand with her nose, rest, she burped once (which smelled like 1000 foul breaths) and as pictured was rolling over onto her side, covering her eyes for some reason. She let everyone know when someone got too close - she definitely liked her space.
Not too soon after this photo, the Monk Seal fashion police showed up and got everyone much farther away from her. Isn’t she cute!?
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Exposure Program: Aperture Priority
Aperture: f/8.0
Focal Length: 17 mm
ISO Speed: 200
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
1 JPG exposure
Fiery Sunset
Nearing the end of our trip, we had dinner with some new friends at Shark’s Cove Grill which sits across the street from Shark’s Cove and Pupukea Beach Park on the North Shore of Oahu. As I was eating my wonderful skewers I looked up, dropped my food, excused myself from the table and headed across Kamehameha Hwy with my camera. Mother nature was putting on a show that night.
Although I love the natural rays and palm trees, this shot was tough to process because of camera shake from shooting hand held (after running) and the blue cast in the left of the frame almost made me toss it completely. Anyhow - here it is. I hope you like it!
EXIF:
Exposure Program: Aperture Priority
Aperture: f/8.0
Focal Length: 40 mm
ISO Speed: 200
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
7 JPG exposures (-3, -2, -1, 0, 1, 2, 3)
Aloha Sunset
A month or so back I had the opportunity to go play at Oahu’s North Shore and had a great time snorkeling. I initially was there to surf, but it was flat, and when the swell’s going, I’m not that good anyways - so it’s a hit and miss for me. Either too big or too small.
But the snorkeling, shave ice, and meetup with world famous pro photographer Sean Davey was super awesome, and I couldn’t have asked for a better day in paradise. Sean has been on my list of pros to meet, and he was kind enough to oblige. Be sure to check out his work. He shoots in cool places like Hawaii, Australia, Tahiti, and at most of the other famous surf spots around the world, but is also an amazing landscape photographer (where he actually got his start).
The above photo is over-looking Sharks Cove, one of the best places to snorkel. The area on the left is completely protected water, and a great place for families, where the area on the right goes out to the open ocean. Everytime I’m there, I see something new, and this time it was an octopus. The turtles were out and about, and of course tons of fish and the usual sea-life. Last time it was a Monk Seal and more turtles!
EXIF:
Exposure Program: Aperture Priority
Aperture: f/11.0
Focal Length: 10.5mm
ISO Speed: 200
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
7 JPG exposures tonemapped into HDR