A Morning At Kaena Point

After spending the last three days on the big island for work, I was able to go hiking with some friends today.  And again, I use the word "hiking" loosely.  Our destination was a morning at Kaena Point, an old friend to us.  The day was stunningly beautiful and we were very glad to be out walking along the coast, watching for whales and searching tide pools for treasures (Betty) and

photographing (Britt and I). 

This is a 2.5 mile (each way) walk to the point, but that wasn't our goal today.  We just wanted to be outside and enjoy the beaches along the way, so we strolled about one mile each way. 

Britt taking photos of the ocean.

What a blessing to be here and be able to see this beauty.  

 Not Much to Say...

Last Friday a group of us from the Oahu photography meetup ventured down to Magic Island.  The goal was to photograph sunset, fireworks and full moon.  Well, the sunset didn't inspire me, and the full moon never made it's appearance while I was there--mostly, I think, because there was a huge bank of clouds at the eastern horizon, and I didn't want to stay long (late) enough for the moon to rise over the clouds.  Besides, by the time it was up over the clouds, it would have looked too small and the sky would have been too dark.

But we did manage to capture the fireworks.  The Hawaiian Hilton puts on a fireworks display every Friday night.  It only lasts about 10 minutes, but it's very nice and there are a lot of oooohs & aaaaahs. 

Photographing fireworks is always an exercise in experimentation, even if you really do know what you're doing, which, by the way, I don't.  So, hopefully, I'll get back there another Friday night and have another go at it.   Bring a chair, something to drink and a friend and you're good to go. It's not a bad way to spend the evening.

Dinner Tonight

Three Sundays a month, our church has an evening study followed by a fellowship meal, for which everyone is supposed to bring an offerng.  Now that doesn't mean that you can't eat if you don't bring something, cause there's always enough food to feed half the neighborhood.  But almost everyone brings something.  One of the women is amazing at devising a "theme" for each week, and then the rest of us try to provide something edible that goes along with the theme.

This week is, drumroll please,,,,, Italian.  I've been dreaming of Spaghetti & meatballs (mine, thank you very much), but that's kind of tricky to make for a group when you aren't able to be in the kitchen watching the pot boil, so to speak.  So I made Lasagna.  Woo hoo~!!!  Not only will I have a small piece of it at dinner tonight, but I'll get to sample the "Italian" offerings brought by the others. And then!!!  if the stars align correctly, there will be a little lasagna left over and it will come home with me and live in the freezer for a while.  Reheated lasagna rocks!!! 

Some Fun....

Hawaii seems to have an exceptionally large number of, what we call in NY, Vanity license plates.  They are so fun and I've only been stumped by a few of them.  Of course, (according to Murphey's Law), most of the time I see them when I'm driving, and it's pretty darned difficult to get a good photo of a plate on another car when you're traveling down the road at 60 mph.  But, truth be told, I've tried. 

These photos, however, were taken when the car was parked and I was on foot, so there was no chance of anyone getting hurt.  That is unless, of course, I walked into a pole or tripped over the curb in my eagerness to get the shot.  None of that happened while photographing these plates.

So enjoy.

Finally, Some Sun

It's been raining a lot lately.  And the forecast is for more rain.  So when the sun was shining today, I decided to head to the beach this afternoon.  I was planning on meeting some friends at the movie theater for the 7:30 show, so I drove downtown late in the afternoon.

I thought I'd miss rush-hour traffic because, I reasoned, I'd be going in the opposite direction.  Fact is...I didn't miss it.  But I made it to the beach in plenty of time. 

Two weddings were taking place on Magic Island.  I just happened to be standing near this one.  The outrigger poking into the groom's back is not acceptable, but when you're being a voyeur and trying to be inconspicuous, you've got to get the shot without being too fussy. 

As I was getting ready to walk back to my car, I turned around and saw the sun setting.  It was one of those times when the sun looked three times larger than it normally does.  I started running to get a better vantage point, but by the time the sun is that close to the horizon, you either take the shot, or you miss it--the sun disappears in just a few seconds.  And the extra complication was that there was a bank of clouds right at the horizon.  Two happy accidents though:  the sky didn't look that golden--the camera did it's magic, and the sailboat floated by at just the right time. 

By the way, the movie I saw was "The Voyage of the Dawn Treader".  Take my advice and go see it.  It was spectacular!!

In Training

Every Feb, The Great Aloha Run takes place.  I've posted about this before.  It's an 8.2 mile run/walk/stroll--whatever you want to do.  I estimate that it's more like 9 miles by the time you walk from the bus drop-off at the start and then through Aloha Stadium and around the perimeter to get your T-shirt at the end.  Whatever the distance, I walk. 

I registered back in December, and so was eligible for an "In Training" T-shirt, which I dutifully claimed today.  I had to drive into Honolulu to get it, so since I was so close to Waikiki, I detoured to the beach.

For a split second, I thought I was on the Maine coast.  Blustery winds, ominous clouds, whitecaps, people wearing long pants and hoodies.  But I quickly came to my senses--ahhhh, Wakiki!  It was still beautiful.  I love being there in spite of the tourists and high end shops and motels/hotels flanking the main drag.  There's just something about it that appeals to me. 


I spent some time walking the main drag, taking pictures.  I found myself grinning several times.  The wind was just about howling, hardly anyone was bathing, but there I was, walking along in shorts, t-shirt and sandals in the middle of January.  Really, who wouldn't grin!

"Several Things You Can Do In Hawaii"  or

"My Friend, the Stalker"

First--let me list the "things you can do"

*hike

*photograph other photographers who are photographing

*stalk celebraties

*photograph celebraties

*watch ships

*photograph the ships you're watching

*photograph sunsets

The day began fairly peacefully. I had plans to meet up with some friends to go hiking.  Now....this isn't like hiking in NY.  It's kind of a stroll with some slight (and I use that word loosely) elevation.  But it was, after all, a sweet walk through the vegetation.  What made it so special though, was the waterfall at the end of the walk (well, I think there was more "walk", but we wound up at the waterfall and that was fine with me). 

You're probably wondering to yourself why there are no photos of the waterfall?  Well, it was actually a pretty nice one, but I didn't have my tripod and I'm not thrilled with the quality of the shots I took of the falls. 

                                                      

After the "hike" we went to Kailua to reward ourselves with ice-cream, and I received a call from my friend Julie, aka, The Stalker.  She belongs to a group of people who are interested in acting and who actively seek out opportunities to be cast in the many movies and tv shows that are filmed here in Hawaii.  Julie wanted me to accompany her to Aloha Towers where the group was giving out T-shirts for the members.  It just so happened that there was a seminar in progress, being given by Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa. 

Now, I know you're probably wondering who this person is.  Well, he's an actor (and a fairly prolific one) who is in movies that I never watch, but he did happen to be in the Hawaii Five-0 episode that aired this past Monday.  So in case you didn't realize that he's the person in the dead center of the image below, let me tell you this.  That's him!!!

The people in the following photo are all those who participated in the seminar, except, of course, Julie, aka, The Stalker.  After getting her T-shirt, we went outside to take some photos, and then she found out that she could actually talk to him even without being in the seminar, so we sat around waiting for the session to end.  When they were getting ready to take the group photo, some of her friends encouraged her to get into the shot.  Not one for needing her arm to be twisted, she jumped right in there.  She's second from left.

Julie and Cary.

After that, we went outside to watch the boats in the harbor and catch some sights of the sunset. 

 This Morning & This Evening

This morning Leah took me to one of the beaches I've never been to.  It's a favorite of hers, and after being there today, I can understand why.  I think it's high on my list of favorites now too.  She did her morning run, while I took photos--no surprise there.  It was cloudy and cool, so there weren't as many peple on the beach as there might have been had the weather been good.  But there were still many photo ops. 

This evening I went to the Ice Palace to watch my friend's son play ice hockey. Quite the contrast in activities...

Dinner

Tonight several of us from church went to dinner in Kailua at a Moroccan restaurant called Casablanca.  It was a very different experience and surprisingly, I enjoyed the food.  Of course, the company was great and we had a very nice time. 

The Tower

As I was driving past the tower this afternoon, I noticed how wonderful it looked in the late afternoon sun, so I made a U-turn as soon as I could.  In the two minutes it took me to do that, the light had changed dramatically, and it no longer looked so "wonderful".  But since I was there with my camera in hand, I took a photo anyway.



Just Random Again

After a morning that began not so stellar, I had the sunset shift at the turtle beach today, which defintely redeemed an iffy beginning.  It was a beautiful day, but there were no turtles to be seen.  Not even any swimming to and fro in the surf.  So there were not too many people at the beach, which meant that we were free to photograph to our heart's content.

My co-volunteer and I both wonder why we continue to even bring our cameras to the beach and take, yet more, photos of the same beach, the same turtles, the same surf, the same sunsets, etc.  We talked about that today, and neither of us could come up with a reasonable explanation.  My answer: we're compulsively obsessed.

So anyway, these are just a few random images that I took today.  I did manage to delete a good number of them before saving the few remaining ones.  That's a step in the right direction, if I do say so myself.  So instead of having 25 images of the waves lapping the shore, I only have 6.  Probably 5 too many, but it's an improvement.

Day 2--It's Tough When They Know You

"Will you take our family picture for our Christmas Cards?"  was the question.  That was three weeks ago...Today was the day it finally worked.  You know the drill, one of them had to leave early and didn't want to spare the 90 seconds it would take, or they were dressed in individually nice, but totally clashing colors for a group, or one of them was in a mood.  So today, with pleading puppy dog eyes, she asked me again if I brought my camera and would I take the family photo for their Christmas Cards?

Twist my arm, would ya.  Of course I would and wonder of wonders, they were somewhat coordinated and in good moods.  Almost too good from the look of the first two images.  But that's better than the alternative!  It's tough when they know you--kind of like the comedian, what's-his-name, saying, "I don't get no respect!"

Believe me, I'm not bragging about the lighting, the posing, or the background.  But there are times when you've got to go with what you've got.  This was one of those times.  All smiling, all looking at the camera and all cooperating.  What more could you ask? Well, don't get me started on that, because in a perfect world (that is...in MY perfect world), this session would have taken at least an hour.  I think this took about 7 minutes because I knew if I didn't hustle, the moment would be lost.  AND I only had my point and shoot. 



Whew, that's done for another year.  Those Christmas cards might just get mailed out in time for Valentine's Day.