The Magic Of Waikapu Valley

 
Was recently on Maui for a couple of weeks mostly working at the new aFeinberg Gallery Wailea.  On the few afternoons I was able to get out I found myself playing ultimate (frisbee) on the North shore in Paia.  This of course meant I was traveling across Maui.  As usual the camera gear is almost always in the trunk, especially while traveling.  While Maui as a whole is a different beauty to Kaua’i, the West Maui’s are so dynamic with the weather they effect.  Over the course of the 2 weeks I actually ended up pulling over and photographing them 3 different times on my drives back and forth.  Here, the light was magical and even though I was in a rush to get to the field had to make sure I stopped to get the shot.
 
Enjoy here but the detail on the large scale is amazing! 🙂
aF
 

Beams of light coming from the clouds over Waikapu valley on West Maui.
“Waikapu Wonder”

Secrets Of The Milky Way

 
It’s amazing how images to come to life.   Sometimes they are the work of years of planning coinciding with perfect conditions.  This very well may have been one of those photographs….had I actually knew what kind of conditions I was to expect this evening.   After spending the afternoon and sunset exploring the southern coast of Maui in the La Perouse area and photographing down there I packed up and started the drive back north.  As I made my way down the bumpy road the stars were absolutely blazing.  With only a crescent moon hanging in the western sky I was still able to see the landscape but the Milky Way was clearly visible arcing all across the sky.  I pulled over to the side of the road and took some images of the scene facing Haleakela.  Of course at this point I realized my battery was hanging on to one bar.  Uh oh.   Change batteries.  Dead.  Crap.  I forgot to charge everything after Burning Man.  Back to the first battery and now with every exposure I’m worried about my evening ending early.  Especially with night time images they take more power as the exposure times are around 25 seconds.  I make sure to only take a few shots on the side of the road and continue up.  Next stop Secrets beach.
Normally Secrets is not so secret.  There are weddings almost every day of the week and it’s a great spot to hide out and watch the clouds pass by.  However, at night, it is a different story.  As I walked down the path and to the shore and set up the waves were pounding pretty good.  Lessons learned in the past means keeping my bag well above the high water line.  Then approached.  At this point I heard voices…what?!  I looked around in the darkness.  There were houses around so maybe it was there.  Then again.  Finally I noticed a couple tucked in the back corner of the beach near the wall enjoying the evening as well.  Not even alone at night!
Of course the obviously difficult thing of shooting stars is that it’s freakin dark out!  With the little bit of moonlight I was able to get my composition pretty close and fired off a test shot.  Keeping one eye on the ocean to my right I spent the next half an our or so adjusting and trying again.  With each shot worried my battery was going to kick out on me.  After seeing this one pop up on the back of the camera I was pleasantly surprised.  The little but of moonlight was enough to give enough color and definition to the landscape without hiding the blazing Milky Way.
Whew.  On ward to my next stop where fingers were crossed I could get a few more shots before I had to call it quits.  What an awesome night!
Enjoy!
aF
 

Milky way over Secrets beach in Makena, Maui, Hawaii
“Secrets Of The Milky Way”