Hawai'i
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Diamondhead is a huge volcanic tuft cone on O'ahu. It was created half a million years ago when O'ahu was still over the hot spot in the pacific plate that feed our islands. O'ahu is thought to be made from two large shield volcanoes, Wai'anae and Ko'olau. Ko'olau is the volcano that fed this tuft cone. The Hawaiian name for Diamondhead is Le'ahi, which means the brow of the Ahi tuna.
A friend of mine taught me about two huge rocks that reside in the lava fields here. The ancient Hawaiians would use them at dawn to tell when the winter and summer solstice would arrive.
A crater of fire spewing flames into the heavens. Halema'uma'u crater with Orion watching overhead.
As lava trickles down from Pu'u O'o, the active volcanic cone of Kilauea, it continually laps over each other, and some flows freeze in place. This is the aftermath of it all.
The mountain in this shot is Mauna Kea, the tallest mountain in Hawai'i. Because of it's location and height, clouds almost constantly culminate around her, and so although incredibly beautiful, she has gained a reputation of being very shy. Only when she changes the sky from Day to Night can you catch a glimpse of her, just like a peeping tom.
Taken inside the crater Kilauea Iki, this baren landscape was a soup of lava only 60 years ago.
This is what coral cities look like when the real estate bubble pops for them.
Something's different here. The sun's setting colors are so much more vibrant than any other place where the sun sets. Is it the warm ocean, or the cold winds, or the magic in the islands?
I don't actually know if it's name is Death Canyon, but this sheer drop just outside Waimea toward Kohala contains scary scenes of devastation and conjure images of nightmare accidents. Within the canyon you can see a truck, twisted guardrails, and bones of what I hope is just livestock. The gorge was carved out by an old river that have left very smooth rocks and beautiful grazing grass patches that only the bravest of cattle could come to munch on.
A fierce dancer takes the stage at the Merrie Monarch hula festival in Hilo, Hawai'i. Elaborate dance, passionate expression, and beauty.
The sunset seen on Mauna Kea, on the Big Island of Hawai'i. Lapping clouds tuck this sun in to it's bed.
My first visit to the Waikiki Aquarium. They keep their glass very clean, making it easy to get photos of these guys. From my experience, it takes clean glass and relatively thin glass to take good photos of aquarium sea life.
Taken in Hawaiian Beaches. When I was growing up and picking opihi along the coast was still a thing, almost every month, like clockwork, the coast guard helicopter would fly over my house. My mom and I knew it was because someone fell into the ocean, many times to their demise.
The source itself. The raging lava makes its way from this volcanic cone down to the water's edge, burning anything it comes in contact with.
Pele and her sister, always at it. Kalapana ocean entry, Hawai'i.
The Hilo surf spot on the big island of Hawai'i. This is pointed away from the beach and toward the river that feeds part of the current. The bridge feeds cars to and from Hilo around the bends of the Hamakua coastline.
These stones, if spoken about to anyone who grew up in Hawai'i, will evoke memories of the earliest kind of collecting treasure. These little olivine stones can be found in almost all of the stones in Hawai'i, and as children, we could only dream about how much candy or toys we could buy if we amassed enough of these near-worthless gems.
In Whittington park, there lies a sight that, as a child, always invoked curiosity. It's the old cattle pier in Ka'u. As I understand, this was an area many ranchers would use to offload their cattle, or to take them to another island to slaughter. The area can be very daunting for boats, and they must have stopped using the pier for that reason.
A delicate brush. Tips lightly dipped in green and gold. Lehua blossoms look like wildfire when in full bloom.
Hawaiian leaders during protocol.
This little fruit, called Noni in Hawai'i, and "Cheese Fruit" elsewhere, may have amazing health properties, but I imagine tastes worse than any bodily liquid you can think of.
Locally, this converted lighthouse in Kapoho is riddled with legends and stories. All I know is that the sky out here is magnificent. 3 shooting stars, the Milky Way, and the Andromeda galaxy all in one.
Hawaiian Beaches is a subdivision in Puna, on the Big Island of Hawai'i. It's a rural residential area that certainly has had it's problems. The waves that roll into this small area of Hawai'i have always been very magical to me, though.
This is where the main G61 lava flow enters the ocean. The earth here is so unstable that cliff shelf collapses are incredibly often, so often that only a few weeks after this photo was taken, the build-up of the lava and the shelf behind it disappeared into the ocean below, adding to the expansion of the Big Island.
A point on the island of O'ahu where millennia of pressure compacting the earth, along with erosion, has formed beautiful designs.
The Halema'uma'u crater. It used to slumber until a small eruption opened up a pit, exposing the magma inside.
From where we come from, every atom, everything we see.
Hapuna is that perfect, white, hawaiian beach you see so often in the magazines or movies. What people who have not experienced such a beach don't know is that the sand feels like it could cook a human being, given an afternoon.
It's just called "South Point" in Hawai'i, but this is the Southernmost tip of the USA. Great fishing, beautiful cliffs, and many stories from the old fishermen of huge catches, snapped at the last second.
The yellow blossom from the 'Ohi'a tree is a rare treat.
An outrigger canoe coming in to dock against the morning sunrise at Hilo bay.
