Hawaii

  • Turtle reflected in the underside of the water
    Mar
    2017
    13
    2017 / Mar / 13

    Hawaiian Turtle

    Hawaiian green sea turtle swims near the surface of the water.

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    Every time I go to photograph underwater I realize how difficult it is. Everything is moving constantly, the light is always changing and not as bright, and whatever you swim towards swims away. Not to mention how hard it is to see the camera screen because of the reflection of the sun creating a mirror over the screen. Most of the time I find myself aiming in the direction of what I want to photograph and most of the time I either miss or crop the object in half. Then there are the times I get lucky.

    I was swimming around looking for turtles, but couldn’t find one. Instead I though to capture some patterns and sun rays when this turtle swam under me as if to say hello. The spot I was wasn’t very deep. I could stand up and have my head out of the water, so it was that much more exciting to have that close of a visitor. I followed her around for a little bit and then as sudden as she arrived, she was gone.

    The photograph I came away with is one where she came up for air a was slowly beginning to dive back down to feed. I love how the shell is reflected in the underside of the waves as they pass by.

    © Christopher Johnson

    www.fromhereonin.com

    Purchase a print by visiting my RedBubble page.

     

  • Photograph of the smoke rising from the Hawaii lava flow
    Mar
    2017
    04
    2017 / Mar / 04

    Kamokuna Plume

    Photograph of smoke billowing into the sunsetting sky as the lava meets the ocean.

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    A couple of weeks after the collapse of the shelf the lava now flows directly into the ocean like a raging river. The smoke hid the view of the lava, but with the shifting winds we would get a glimpse every now and then. We weren’t able to get as close as before, but it was still a sight to see.

    © Christopher Johnson

    Purchase a print by visiting my RedBubble page

  • The gold of the seaweed meets the blue water along the Hawaiian shoreline
    Jan
    2017
    30
    2017 / Jan / 30

    Gold And Blue

    The Hawaiian Coastline

     

    I was looking for a new way to photograph the Hawaiian coastline. This time I decided to tilt the camera down to show the foreground and imply the sunset through the warmth of the seaweed as well as the reflected glow of the sun in the water. With a slow shutter the motion of the water streaks and swirls as it mingles with the seaweed on its way back into the large holes in the coastline.

    View a different photograph of mine from this same location… http://www.fromhereonin.com/keahole-sunset-3/

    © Christopher Johnson

  • Lava in the Halemaumau crater at the Hawaii Volcano National Park
    Dec
    2016
    02
    2016 / Dec / 02

    Halemaumau Crater

    Photo of the lava churning and spattering in the Halemaumau crater

     

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    Having heard the lava was very active due to a piece of the crater wall collapsing into the lava lake, I was extremely excited to visit the Jaggar museum that night. I headed out after work with my family and arrived at the Volcano hours later with the unfortunate drizzle of rain. I wasn’t expecting much, in fact I wasn’t expecting I was going to see anything due to heavy fog or rain clouds. On a previous trip I knew we were getting close because the sky had an amazing bright orange glow, however, this trip wasn’t as apparent. My hopes were fading.

    We arrived at the Jaggar museum lookout along with many others. Gathering up our gear took a while, but eventually we set out to the view point. With the glow of the lava and the orange night step lights leading our way to the lookout, we were all amazed at the amazing sight of the active lava lake. Never before have I been able to see the lava lake from the Jaggar museum. Usually just a glow of light as smoke billowed away. There were cracks of bright yellow and orange moving around. Forming new connections with other cracks while closing others. The most mystical sight was the sputtering lava against the crater wall.

    Photographing the lava was difficult. I needed a higher iso in order to stop the motion of the lava, but not too high as to pixelate the image beyond usability. In order to capture the lava up close I needed the full range of my telephoto lens at 300mm. This all doesn’t seem difficult, but adding wind and rain to the equation made this difficult. Any small movement of the lens would move the image drastically, which generated a blurry image. I had to wait for relief in the wind, but then the rain would speckle the lens. It was a little bit of a dance to get the shots.

    For the image above I shot two focal ranges. The trees were several feet in front of me, while the lava was hundreds of feet away. Maybe thousands. It took a lot of blending and luminosity masks in Photoshop to merge the images to one.

    Aloha!

    © Christopher Johnson

     

    Purchase this piece by visiting my RedBubble page.

  • Sunset of a fallen tree along the Honoapiilani Hwy, Maui
    Nov
    2016
    27
    2016 / Nov / 27

    Kailiili Sunset

    Fallen tree along the Maui coastline

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    This is the second time that I visited this location along the Kaliliili coastline of Maui. The long stretch of coastline that runs along the ocean side highway on the way to Lahaina there is a small section of old fallen Kiawe trees that stretch out into the ocean. The black sand of the beach slightly covers the lower branches and they reach out into the air making it look like they are independent of the fallen tree.

    I originally setup further away from the tree to get more of the tree into the photograph, however, the tree flattened out the flow of the scene. Instead I began to work on several different perspectives as well as different trees close by, but I wasn’t feeling that creative spark. As a last minute composition I decided to move extremely close to the tree I started with in order to express the organic detail as it moved into the ocean. At this point the sunset was at a close and I was graced with an orange glow of light along the trunk of the tree.

    After capturing this shot I continued to shoot the ocean with long exposures and experiment with other compositions, but this was the favorite.
    © Christopher Johnson

    Purchase a print by visiting my RedBubble page.

  • Bamboo forest in the Haleakala National Park on Maui
    Nov
    2016
    27
    2016 / Nov / 27

    Leading Lines

    Photograph of the tall bamboo forest on Maui

     

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    The stalks of tall bamboo lean up toward the beautiful canopy of the Bamboo forest on the island of Maui. A hike that I did on the previous visit to Maui and was determined to go back. The drive to Hana isn’t for the faint of heart. It takes an entire day to drive, even if you didn’t stop. This time we went the back way, the ‘Do Not Go This Way In A Rental Vehicle’ way, but it was fine. Way faster if you just go to the Haleakala National Park where the 7 Sacred Pools are. The only crazy part was towards the end when navigating around the steep cliffs on a single lane road. The guard rails had been rusted apart from the insane surf. I was just hoping no one was coming the other direction. I am pretty sure we would have just looked at each other until someone reluctantly decided to reverse to a nearest pull out. Luckily no one came.

    The hike was the same as I remembered. The only difference was that we couldn’t walk all the way to waterfall due to the heavy rains we had this Summer. I love the bamboo. There is nothing like it. The hike is fairly long and uneventful and you almost want to turn back, thinking it won’t change. Then you cross a bridge and enter into the first part of the forest and your breath is taken from you. All you want to do from that point is venture deeper into it and engross your entire self into the forest. When the wind blows there is a quiet and soothing knocking from the hollow stalks that almost stops you in your tracks. Although the wind isn’t what I wanted for photographing the bamboo because of movement, I thoroughly enjoyed and welcomed it.

    The remaining trip back to Lahaina was fun. We ended up going back on the ‘Road To Hana’, which took forever, but was beautiful. It was amazing to see the damage from the Hurricane Darby that I heard so much about on the news. Funny that months later I was having dinner with a mother and daughter that lived in Hana. The mother told me a story of how she came to a van full of tourists that nearly went over the cliff on one of the windy turns. The van had been pinned by a tree and was luckily not going anywhere. While waiting for the tow truck the mother asked the tourists if they wanted their pictures taken while in the van, which they excitedly said ‘yes’. After the picture they all left the van to discover how close they were to falling over the cliff. The funny thing was the tourist driving had a “I Survived The Road To Hana” shirt on.

    © Christopher Johnson

    Purchase a print by visiting my RedBubble page.

  • A palm tree in front of a beautiful starry night sky
    Oct
    2016
    30
    2016 / Oct / 30

    Night Sky

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    I revisited the spot of the previous post “Night Lights” to further explore the night stars and milky way as a backdrop of the beautiful under-lit palm tree. This time I shot with a wider lens in order to capture more of the night sky.

    © Christopher Johnson

    Purchase a print by visiting my RedBubble page.

  • Palm trees standing tall amongst a starry Hawaiian night
    Oct
    2016
    09
    2016 / Oct / 09

    Night Lights

    Photograph of the starry night behind tall palm trees in Hawaii

    This night just happened. The moon wasn’t due to rise until 2am and the humidity was low, all while the wind wasn’t really blowing hard. A perfect opportunity to attempt a concept that I was thinking of for a while now… palm trees in front of a starry night. I didn’t have the energy to drive to a preferred location, so instead I walked to a location close by, which happens to be near a hotel. I thought the lights from the hotel might kill the night sky with light pollution, but I decided to give it a shot first. If I am successful my next attempt would be at the location I had in mind, which would by a long bike ride in the dark.

    I was pleasantly surprised with the shot; even with the red of the nearby lights. The under lighted palm trees really helped bring a lot more color into the shot.

    Prints are available for purchase on my FineArtAmerica store

    Palm trees standing tall amongst a starry Hawaiian night

     

  • Fern in the crack of lava on the Big Island of Hawaii
    Sep
    2016
    08
    2016 / Sep / 08

    Life

    A hike over the old lava flow… and soon to be new lava flow, but don’t tell the fern. A brilliant reminder that life will always find a way.

     

    This image was taken near the new lava flow at Kamokuna in the Volcano National Park… fairly close to the lava flow. I deviated from the gravel road a bit to find this fern growing through the crack in the lava. The vibrant green leaves contrasting against the deep tones of the lava is a great contrast to life growing out of a harsh environment. I was captivated by the way the lava crumbled under my feet and sounded like glass breaking as I ventured to this spot. The wind was blowing and waving the small leaves of the fern making it difficult to shoot. My patience was definitely tested as I waited to the breeze to die down long enough to still the shot. Much more that I wasn’t even to my final destination.  Watching this new life was a bit calming as I began to realize how crazy it is that this fern is growing nearly five miles away from any other plant. I thought to myself how strange and foreign this environment is that is being created by the Hawaiian volcano.

     

    © Christopher Johnson

  • An intimate view of the amazing Akaka Falls, Hawaii
    Aug
    2016
    08
    2016 / Aug / 08

    Akaka Falls

    Akaka Falls framed with the ferns in the foreground.

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    This magnificent waterfall has been photographed a million times and mostly the same way. I wanted to photograph it with a different approach. Framing the waterfall with all of its surroundings in order to accent the subtleties of the area was my goal. The ferns in the foreground, small waterfalls along the left side of the falls, the moss along the walls, and the way the water catches smooth rocks along the cliff walls as it falls were all the details I set out to capture that are normally lost in a wide angle view.

    © Christopher Johnson

  • Tropical scene from the Big Island of Hawaii
    Jul
    2016
    24
    2016 / Jul / 24

    Hawaii

    Golden sunset shines through the beautiful silhouetted palm trees during sunset

     

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    On my way down to the shoreline of Kailua Kona to view the sunset I was taken back by the beauty of the palm trees silhouetted against the vibrant Hawaiian sunset.

    © Christopher Johnson

  • A large sea arch off Noio Point on the Big Island of Hawaii
    Jun
    2016
    08
    2016 / Jun / 08

    Noio Point Arch

    Photograph of a sea arch along the western Hawaii coastline during sunset

    Sunlight streams through the large opening of a sea arch off of Noio Point along the Kailua Kona coastline.

    See the aerial version I shot with a DJI Spark drone, ‘Sea Arch Aerial‘.

    © Christopher Johnson

    Available backlit from Big Naked Wall. Check out the website and see the cool things they are doing for artwork with their interchangeable prints on backlit frames.

  • Waves rush around a large hole in the reef during a golden Hawaiian sunset
    Feb
    2016
    17
    2016 / Feb / 17

    Two Fifteen

    I visited this location two days in a row when the sunset had some promise. The first day was disappointing when the sun popped under the clouds as a dull glowing ball surrounded by the colorless grey haze, blocking any chance of color and light. I was successful when I shot while the sun was high, but during the finale the absence of light pushed my shutter speed too slow. While I wan’t going to compromise any more on aperture and ISO I packed up. However, the next day I was graced with the appearance of the sun. Again I watched as the sun faded behind the low lying haze that trapped the sunlight from under lighting the belly of the clouds, but I was happy to witness some color on the horizon.
    My goal with this shot, against this sunset, was to capture the color and texture of the seaweed with a 1 second shutter. The surf was high and I didn’t want to risk a tight ground shot, so instead, I framed a glimpse of the foreground.
    Enjoy…
    © Christopher Johnson

  • Dense forest of Eucalyptus trees
    Jan
    2016
    23
    2016 / Jan / 23

    Eucalyptus Forest

    Large Eucalyptus trees along the Hamakua coast on the Big Island.

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    I have been meaning to stop and take the time to venture into these trees for a very long time, but every time I drove by I was either in a hurry or the lighting wasn’t right. This time, however, was perfect. The sun was setting making the harsh highlights from the sun non-existent, but instead offered a soft even glow around each tree.

    Entering the forest was a challenge since the grassy trail was taller than me.  As I made my way through the grass and spider webs 🙁 …. and the deeper I went into the forest, the grass was a lot shorter and more manageable to photograph.  With the light quickly fleeting I was able to shoot a handful of images. Two of which are what I set out to capture.

    © Christopher Johnson

    Purchase a print by visiting my RedBubble page

  • Through a rocky inlet to a secluded tide pool along the coastline of Kohanaiki
    Nov
    2015
    26
    2015 / Nov / 26

    Failure to Focus

    After 3 months of not shooting anything I was pretty rusty that I forgot one of the most fundamental steps in photography.

    On November 22, I ventured out to a hidden spot in Kohanaiki with hopes of a great sunset shot. Earlier this year this spot was brought to my attention and on my first trip noticed the sun set just right of the spot that I thought would be the sweet spot. The two rocks converged just below the ocean, leaving a small triangle where I would have the sun set on my next trip. This was my next trip.

    In the rush to make it to the location in time I hurried to assemble my camera and get into the surging water to compose the shot. Now setting up the tripod I noticed I was a month too late because the sun was now setting too far to the left. In attempts to make the composition work I was getting into a rough surging area and with the on shore winds the sea spray was covering the filter. Needless to say I was getting frustrated. Instead I retreated back to explore the composition at my original location, 10 feet back.

    With the hurrying, attempting to set up, and then the filter cleaning I forgot to perform one fundamental step… focus! How could I forget to focus the camera? It wasn’t until I shifted locations to another area 50 feet away that I began to realize I hadn’t been focusing. It didn’t even dawn on me right away. I continued to shoot a few frames when I began to kick myself. “Well it’s nice to be out shooting and enjoying the sunset.” I told myself.

    After I had loaded the images into Lightoom, I was pleasantly surprised that this time I got off with a warning. The majority of my images were in focus and that with very little post processing I had come home with a handful of nice images.

    Cheers to f22!