"Jurassic Coast" - the absolute highlight of my entire 6 weeks exploring the Hawaiian Island culminated with a boat trip to see the Na Pali Coast from the water. This is easily the most beautiful, impressive landscape I experienced through all of the islands and is a place worth visiting by land, boat, and air. The savage cliffs and vibrant colors are pure eye candy, and you just feel like a brontosaurus may pop its head up at any moment!
"Kona Volcanic" - The Big Island's distinct flavor comes from its recent lava flows and newest-formed beaches. The sunsets are also spectacular in Kona each and every night. This is called The Essence of Kona because, to me, this IS Kona. Sharp, cluttered lava rock butting into beautiful tropical palms and cloaked in perfect golden light each night.
"The Breach" - Shot from the shores of Maui, a mother whale and her calf play in the sunset light. Every so often, the baby calf would come up for a breach, producing one amazing photo!
"Black Sand Paradise" - There are a few black-sand beaches in Hawaii, but my favorite was this one near Hana on the island of Maui. In addition to the deeply black sand, the lush greens and aqua water contrast in such an amazing way. Waianapanapa State Park is also a fantastic place to camp!
"Hawaiian Postcard" - Very little needs to be said about this one; Lanikai Beach is the most beautiful, picture-perfect beach on ANY island in Hawaii.
"Sunset Symphony" - One of my most popular photos to date, this was taken at a Secret Beach on my first day in Maui as part of a burst series. OF the 100+ photos snapped off, this one was chosen as the moment when everything was lined up: the swirls of receding waters, a perfect sunstar, the wave cresting... all combine to form a symphony!
"Mystic Mountains" - Perhaps the most pleasant surprise from my time on the islands was Oahu. I expected a touristy, artificial island devoured by vanity and money, but instead I found a jurassic paradise with some of the most interesting landscapes Ive ever seen.
"Honu Vibes" - Tuckered out from a long day of turtle-ing, another postcard moment presented itself as this beautiful "honu" crawled onshore to rest in front of the palms and ocean.
"Kona Sunset" - Back to Kona for another perfect sunset. My goal is to capture the essence of a place, and I feel like this photo does a great job of that; lava rock foreground, palm tress swaying, and a gorgeous golden light throughout!
"Green burns to Black" - Another view of the black sand beach, Waianapanapa, from the other angle. The color in the water was not as obvious in this photo as it was taken before the sun was completely up and providing some luminosity to the waters.
"Resilience" - This black-sand beach is on the Big Island, and provides a very different feeling from that on Maui. While there is still nice water color and shades of green, the sand is far more course and the vegetation much more sparse. Still, it has a charm its own and this photo of a lone palm standing resilient could be a metaphor for the islands of Hawaii.
"Life on Maui" - Though perhaps the homeplace of the most successful photographs from my trip, Maui was my least favorite island as it felt the most disingenuous. So much of the island has been bought up by resorts and wealthy people who live there just days of the year. While each island has its resorts, Maui was the one that felt the most overtaken by them. Still, one look at this paradise and its not hard to see why.
"Jurassic Paradise" - the coast of Oahu is such a unique brand of beautiful. The savage mountainscapes that decorate the background of some of the most beautiful beaches in the world combine to create the most picturesque scenes of all the islands.
"Deep Blue Oahu" - When we started our first drive around the island of Oahu, the last thing I expected to see was this standard of beauty. The spectrum of color between the blues, aquas, and greens all complimented each other in such a way as to demand a postcard.
"Rainbow State of Mind" - The state known for its rainbows did not disappoint! Each day you would predict at least one truly vibrant rainbow; the only question is, where?
"Red Sand Beach" - Can you believe such a place exists? This jaw-dropping scene looks like Mother Nature spilled her paint palette and never bothered to clean it up! This beach is a hidden gem with no signs and is located near Kaihalulu Bay in Hana on the island of Maui.
"Sacred Pools" - The small national park of Haleakala located near Ohe'o just past Hana is home to bamboo forests, waterfalls, and the "seven sacred pools." Though they were mostly dried up, this stunning little falls created a beautiful scene and provided a nice place to cool off with a quick swim!
