Roadside Attraction

Red Dirt Falls, July 5, 2009
Waimea Canyon Drive, Kaua'i, Hawaii
Nikon D80, Tokina 12-24mm (AT-X 124 II) f/4.0 @ f/16.0, 1/4s, ISO 100
Developed in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2.4, ACR 4.4 Profile

Back at home now. We really didn't want to leave Kaua'i. Sure, we wanted to see our kitties (who have been terribly affectionate and purry), but whatever magic is in the Hawaiian islands seems to have taken hold of us. Yes, we discussed the practicality of moving to Kaua'i several times. No, I don't think we were serious. Yet.

This photo was an awesome opportunity that we caught on the drive up to Waimea Canyon. (Ignore any bunk you hear about Mark Twain's "Grand Canyon of the Pacific" quote. He never set foot on Kaua'i.) This slash of dark red cut through the otherwise brown and green roadside landscape. There weren't any signs or much room to park, but stopping the car was mandatory.

This shot was almost a blessing. A couple of days before we had driven to two different waterfalls on the island, only to be disappointed by low waterflow and poor sightlines. Despite dragging my tripod to them I didn't take a single photo. Now, here at this little natural wonder, I was glad that I had brought the tripod all the way from Seattle. To get the optimal shot I had to set up in soft soil on the side of a hill. It was slippery and difficult to get the perspective I wanted, and maintaining my body position was painful for my feet. But I got my Hawaiian waterfall shot, so I'm happy.

FYI - I processed this photo on the flight back home, cramped up in an economy seat with a 17" laptop. I don't recommend this as a regular work environment.

Pointy Things

Cathedrals, July 2, 2009
Na Pali Coast State Park, Kaua'i, Hawaii
Nikon D80, Tokina 12-24mm (AT-X 124 II) f/4.0 @ f/8.0, 1/160s, ISO 400
Developed in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2.4, Camera Landscape Profile

Here, as promised are pointy things. Enjoy.

More specifically, these are the Cathedrals formations on the Na Pali cliffs of Kaua'i. We saw them from a catamaran (not unlike the one in the lower right of the photo), which took us around the western side of the island for snorkeling, dinner, a sunset, and a hell of a lot of fun.

I had to whip this out quick, as tonight is our last night on the island and I really ought to be packing. Tomorrow we make the sad, sad trek back to our regular lives.

Fresh Fish Foto

Bluespine Unicornfish, July 4, 2009
Po'ipu Beach Park, Po'ipu, Hawaii
Canon PowerShot SD700 IS
Developed in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2.4

E. None of the above.

Since only one of you (and I'm tickling her toes right now) responded to the last post's poll, the results will be postponed. Instead I bring you this tasty tidbit straight from the ocean.

Snorkeling is tons of fun. Especially when you have an inexpensive underwater camera case and lots of fish swimming around you. I even spied a humuhumunukunukuapua'a, but he was a bit camera shy. These unicornfish were plentiful, and tended to stay in one place long enough for me to get good shots.

Incidentally, Happy Fourth of July from our 50th State.

Island Life

Island Life, June 30, 2009
Kiahuna Plantation Resort, Po'ipu, Hawaii
Nikon D80, Tokina 12-24mm (AT-X 124 II) f/4.0 @ f/11.0, 1/80s, ISO 100
Developed in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2.4, Camera Landscape Profile

Ah, you can feel the warm, tropical breeze blowing around you, can't you? You can feel that, right? It's tickling my ankles right now.

Here the wife is kicking back with one of her favorite hobbies, but still playing model for me. Until my intervention she had been sitting about ten feet to the right, in a less photogenic spot. Such a sweet girl.

Two bits of trivia about this photo. One, notice the moon between the fronds of the palm tree. Two, the building in the background is not really tilted like that. When shooting at extremely wide angles, straight lines have a habit of distorting, and I have not yet invested in perspective correction software.

A few more days left in the islands, and lots more photos to share. What would you like to see next? Vote by leaving a comment for one of the following:

A. My brief encounter with a tropical insurance agent.
B. One more reason why I am NOT a professional photographer.
C. Yet another super-wide angle photo in which I let the sky dominate the image.
D. Pointy things.

Island Wife

Island Wife, June 29, 2009
Koko Marina, Honolulu, Hawaii
Nikon D80, Tokina 12-24mm (AT-X 124 II) f/4.0 @ f/4.0, 1/250s, ISO 100
Developed in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2.4, Camera D2X Mode 2 Profile

The wife very generously puts up with my hobbies. With a smile, even.

The islands are beautiful. We completed our three-day sojourn on O'ahu, and have now retired to the beaches of Po'ipu for the remainder of our holiday.

For our last night in Honolulu the wife let me indulge in another of my hobbies: we went to Kona Brewing's Koko Marina Pub. I would have much rather gone to Kona's brewery, but alas, we were on the wrong island. The food was good and the beer was excellent (though a little less hoppy than my northwest palate is accustomed to), but the service sucked. Also, the cab ride was ridiculously expensive. Taxis cost $3.20 a mile in Honolulu; I'll let you work out the cost between Koko Marina and our hotel at Waikiki.

Today is a different day, a different island. I've already got my eye on the two breweries here on Kaua'i, and this time I've got a rental car. I've also got some good shots from this evening's sunset that I wanted to share, but it's late enough already. Maybe tomorrow I'll work them up for you.

Until then, aloha.

Soccer shots

The wife and I are headed to Hawai'i for 10 days on Saturday. I'm looking forward to some time to relax, but I'm also excited about photo opportunities. Balance, Tim, balance.

I'll probably be posting from the islands, but until then here's a few shots from that soccer game. I whipped these out on the request of The Big A's HR department, which wants to use the soccer team in an internal promotion. It was at least a motivator to shiny up the photos. I just hope I'm not running afoul of the photographer's release I signed by posting them here; the sentence with the word "exclusive" was a little murky.

Sam Power 2, June 8, 2009
Georgetown Playfield, Seattle, Washington
Nikon D80, Nikkor 18-200 f/3.5-5.6 @ f/8.0, 1/640s, ISO 1600
Developed in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2.3, Camera Vivid profile

Yes, you have seen this one before. I spent some more time tweaking the colors. I've tried to go for the desaturated/high-contrast/grany-athletic-shot look. In Lightroom I used the settings for this photo as the basis for the others (since they all had the same nasty noise problem), and that worked out pretty well. Then I touched up the skin on each of them with a little color and that really helped.


Into the Turn, June 8, 2009
Georgetown Playfield, Seattle, Washington
Nikon D80, Nikkor 18-200 f/3.5-5.6 @ f/8.0, 1/500s, ISO 1600
Developed in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2.3, Camera Vivid profile


Dish It Down, June 8, 2009
Georgetown Playfield, Seattle, Washington
Nikon D80, Nikkor 18-200 f/3.5-5.6 @ f/8.0, 1/500s, ISO 1600
Developed in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2.3, Camera Vivid profile


Patience On the Ball, June 8, 2009
Georgetown Playfield, Seattle, Washington
Nikon D80, Nikkor 18-200 f/3.5-5.6 @ f/8.0, 1/500s, ISO 1600
Developed in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2.3, Camera Vivid profile


Jon On the Run, June 8, 2009
Georgetown Playfield, Seattle, Washington
Nikon D80, Nikkor 18-200 f/3.5-5.6 @ f/8.0, 1/250s, ISO 3200
Developed in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2.3 and Adobe Photoshop CS4, Camera Vivid profile

This photo required a bit more tweaking than the others. Our badass subject here, Jonathan, is an employee but the two guys in the background are not. HR requires model releases for the photos, which technically isn't a problem but is a pain to arrange. So Photoshop lent a hand with a bit of masking and blurring. Not my best work, but if you don't look to hard it works.

Breaking News

Remember this post? It has bloomed:

The Boston Globe: Visitors to website Sporcle learn geography and other subjects - and have fun

Dreams do come true, kiddies.