Tuesday

I was on turtle duty today. The first time in a long time. When I got there, there were no turtles on the beach and the other volunteer said there hadn't been any all day.

There were, however, 5 of them playing in the surf, teasing all the tourists. They were coming in very close, frolicking, then turning back out to sea and swimming a little bit away. Then they happily repeated the scenario.

About 45 minutes after I got there, this one, lone turtle made his/her way up the beach. It's a juvenile, so the gender isn't determined.

As the sun got lower in the sky, I wanted to include the turtle with the stream of sun on the water. Problem: too contrasty, so I started playing around with exposure times. I wound up with this next image. Just a little high key, but I really, really liked it.

Posted at 8:30 on Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Pineapple Anyone?

I decided to take a ride to the Dole Plantation this afternoon. I spent the morning and the early part of the afternoon catching up on emails, bills, cleaning and just puttering around the house. Nathan went to his Grandma's this morning, so I had the house to myself. Glory!!!

But by mid afternoon, I was getting cabin fever. So I decided to take my camera and get some images at the plantation.

When you first arrive, there are several kiosks outside, specializing in Pick-a-Pearl. For anyone who doesn't know what that is, they spin a drum with pieces of paper and then you pick one out. It usually has a price on it or "free". This is the cost of the pearl you get when you "pick your pearl" by choosing a clam.

Once you get a pearl, you're encouraged to pick some jewelry to have the pearl "set" in. The jewelry is truly beautiful, and it's very, very difficult to say no.

There is a large pond on the grounds, filled with koi. I was standing on a small foot bridge and the people next to me were feeding the fish. You can see what a frenzy they were in.

There are many, many things to look at and purchase inside the building, including that delicious Pineapple Ice Cream I treated myself to last week with my friend, Sue. But I didn't succumb today, I was just there to look and photograph. Tucked into a corner, where I wouldn't be seen taking this photo, is this display of beautiful Hawaiian quilt wall-hangings. I just love the patterns and the colors, and you can buy almost any type of item made out of these quilts--purses, pot-holders, bed quilts, throw pillows, etc.

After finishing there, I headed toward the North Shore and stopped at Haleiwa again. Didn't take too many shots, but this sign caught my eye.

As a last resort, I headed to Laniakia Beach to see if there were any turtles basking and to see if maybe, just maybe there might be some kind of sunset. The weather has been so cloudy and rainy lately, that a pretty sunset seems like a thing of the past. This picture gives you an idea of the "grey" conditions this afternoon. But it was still beautiful.

And last, but not least, a turtle for Jayme. The light was pretty flat, but I did manage to catch this guy when he was moving his head. So there you go!!

Posted at 7:55 pm on Friday, Feb 20, 2009

Long Day

Today I had lunch with a friend and then we took a drive up to the Dole Plantation. It's a really interesting place--containing all things pineapple, including Pineapple Ice Cream. So our trip there was really for the ice cream. Yum.

Then I headed up to the North Shore for Laniakea Beach for my volunteer shift with the turtles. You'll probably all be pretty sick of see images of this beach and the turtles by the time I return to NY. I keep telling myself that I'm not going to take any more shots while on duty because I already have a bazillion, but that resolve disappears about 2 minutes into my shift. It's just sooo beautiful.

This one's for you Jayme.

Posted at 8:15 on Friday, January 6, 2009

Hanging at the Beach

I spent the afternoon at the beach. I wasn't on Honu duty, but that's the beach I went to. It's a great opportunity to meet the other volunteers that I haven't met yet. It was a beautiful day, there were two turtles basking and there were plenty of tourists to "watch".

This little girl is just adorable. Another "I just couldn't resist" image.

I brought my blocks to play with. One of the volunteers brought her teenage daughter, also a volunteer, and she crafted this sand turtle. Why waste a good turtle?

Another idea for the blocks.

This guy is mimicking the turtle and his girlfriend decided to pose with him.

This baby was soooo cute. He slept through everything, even his dad switching him from shoulder to shoulder. He was totally out of it.

Posted at 9:30 pm on Wed, Feb 5, 2009

Some Random Scenes

This is not today's real post. I made these images yesterday, but didn't have the time to post them yesterday. I wanted to share some with you. The first two images are from Sunset Beach. I went there because I heard the waves were supposed to be pretty good, and therefore there would be a lot of surfers. Well, take my word for it, my surfing images leave A LOT to be desired. So you get, instead, a couple of beach shots.

After leaving Sunset Beach, I stopped at Shark's Cove. When Leah came to Hawaii for grad school, we stopped here one day and did some snorkeling. It was beautiful. Even without snorkeling, it's beautiful.

On my way home, I had to make one more stop at Laniakea Beach, where I turtle-sit occasionally. There were three turtles on the beach and no monk seals. I stayed just a short while and then headed home for dinner.

My Friday post will come later, as it's only 9:30 am here.

Late Post for Friday, Jan 23
(9 am Sat)

So....here's my story and I'm stickin' to it. I borrowed my friend, Chelsea's, SLR. On the beach I was happily clicking away, but the "remaining image" count didn't seem to be correct. Then I finally realized that I was shooting in RAW. And of course, I couldn't figure out how to change the setting. I also knew that it takes for. ev. er. to download RAW onto my computer. Sigh.

Then, later in the afternoon I promised Kristine I'd take some photos of an event she was hosting at one of the schools.

We didn't get home until later in the evening and by the time I finally got the images on the computer and changed them to jpegs (it took hours), Kristine had turned off the internet and gone to bed. So no post last night.

Honest and true, I took these on FRIDAY.

That's a turtle in front of the lady with the red shirt.

Just some people on the beach.

Another turtle. There were only two on the beach yesterday.

Then we really had a treat. A monk seal came up to bask. We watched it (couldn't determine gender) come out of the surf and make its way up the beach. Once it reached where it wanted to bask, it was like watching grass grow--no activity at all. So I'm glad I was there when it first came out of the water, which was only about 15 minutes after I arrived--good timing!

PS. There's a slim chance that the same thing might happen today with my post. I'm going to an event this afternoon and I don't know when I'll get home, or if I'll have time to post before the internet gets turned off. I will not, however, be shooting in RAW--that is if I can understand the manual enough to change to jpeg.