Hawaiian Landscapes: Waimea Canyon
We drove along the edge of Kauai’s Waimea Canyon a couple of days ago and clearing rain created a trail of a rainbow to frame an image around. The rain cleared out of the canyon and blew over the ridges into the Kalalau Valley. Bobbi and I both took turns photographing the short breaks in the clouds when you could see down the valley to the ocean and the Na Pali coast. I have yet to work through those images to see if there is a set of pictures for a post on the Kalalau from this trip.
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Hawaiian Landscapes: Hanalei Bay Sunset
The sunset over Hanalei Bay on Kauai’s North Shore is remarkable in the summer I was told by a local photographer, Daniel Lane, last night when we met while shooting the sunset from one of the lookouts over the Bay last night. In July the sun sets in line with the mouth of the bay. At this time of the year, the sun hides behind the edge of the Na Pali coast before setting so that you can’t see it hit the ocean from Hanalei. Nevertheless, I really enjoyed the shoot last night watching the subtle color come in while dodging the steady blasts of rain. A great spot to photograph the bay and a good chat with a fellow photographer.
With the sun having set for about 20 minutes when I photographed the image above, the purples had taken over as the dominant color. The rain settled in after this or I would have enjoyed watching the night come in more.
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On the Hawaiian forest floor
Before I was mesmerized by the Rainbow Eucalyptus trees at the Keahua Arboretum in Wailua’s highlands, I walked through the forest paths to get a feel for the area. There was one spot near the stream that divides the park where Hibiscus blossoms were spread across the ground below the trees they had fallen from. This flower was tucked into a curve in a tree root. With the humidity, I don’t know whether the flower had just fallen or had been on the ground for a few days. Either way it was beautiful and fun to photograph.
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Hawaiian Treescapes: Rainbow Eucalyptus
I went upland to the Keahua Arboretum in Wailua yesterday hunting for a native species that I wanted to shoot. Of course by shoot I mean photograph and the target species was a type of tree. The Rainbow Eucalyptus, Eucalyptus deglupta, is one of the most incredible trees I have ever seen. The bark is made of multicolored hues ranging across bright green, red and deep purple. The trees are tall and slender with branches only starting about 40′ up. The patterns in the tree trunks are beautiful and I spent a couple of hours alternating between composing images and ducking under shelter from the intermittent rain showers.
The gnarled roots share the distinctive colors and seem to provide a shelter for new growth at the base of the trees. These micro landscapes presented interesting elements to work with.
The stand of trees are clustered around a grassy slope that is part of the 30 acre forest park. The park is divided by the Keahua stream with the stand of eucalyptus being on the far side. You can drive across but I didn’t want to take chances with my rental car so I walked across the foot deep water. A very small price to pay to see these amazing trees.
The trees can be found alone or in small groves around the island but I enjoyed heading up to this retreat in highlands at the base of Mount Wai’ale’ale. Aside from the rainbows, there are mango and monkeypod trees that stand out from the verdant forest. The arboretum is a special place with an appeal that stems not just from the trees but also the solitude and peacefulness that you can find there. When the sunlight broke through the clouds and filtered down it created great spot lighting on the trees which kept me there a while longer.
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Hawaiian Landscapes: Rainbows in the clouds over Hanalei
My kids and I were up at dawn this morning and my daughter noticed a rainbow overhead as the sky brightened. Rainbows are not in short supply on the north side of Kauai and with last night’s rainstorms clearing it was inevitable one would appear somewhere. Really wonderful to have this one right in front of us to start the day.
The rainbow faded to just a faint outline for a few minutes and then came back just after my daughter said, “come back Mr. Rainbow I miss you”. A little child magic never hurt my photography – lucky me!
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Hawaiian Abstracts: Leaves
Kauai is also called the Garden Island. The lush vegetation that blankets the land from the edge of the beaches and up to the peaks of the mountains makes the name an obvious choice. I’ve spent a couple of mornings on the grounds photographing the leaves of the plants that line the walkways and the paths. The patterns and colors are amazing and I will definitely spend more time with them over the next couple of weeks.
I haven’t learned their names yet so my apologies for not being able to provide a little more detail about the species. I have a book of Hawaiian trees and shrubs so, if there are quiet moments, I will endeavour to shore up that gap.
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Hawaiian Landscapes: Sunset in Hanalei
As a good friend said while writing me birthday wishes today, I’m a lucky duck. We landed in Kauai last night so I was able to spend my birthday touring the island’s eastern and northern areas. It was a great day in the forests, on the beach and in the water with my family. I started the day making abstract images of wet leaves with my son and finished the day photographing in the Taro (Kalo) fields in the Hanalei Valley with my dad – both very special moments. A wonderful day for a fortunate web-footed broad-billed bird like me. Thank you for all of the very kind messages and warm wishes.
