Posted on August 29, 2011, 1:48 pm, by QT Luong, under
Locations.
Even more so than for landscapes, many photographers prefer to shoot seascapes at sunrise and sunset. I see two main reasons: to get more color (enhanced by the open horizon and water reflections) and to capture water motion through a longer exposure. Thinking about it, I saw no reason a beautifully flowing seascape could not […]
Posted on August 17, 2011, 10:01 am, by QT Luong, under
Locations.
The weather system that produced interesting clouds over the crater summit continued to hang over the coast. I was hoping to do some night photography, but when I got up two hours before sunrise, it was pitch dark, with the stars totally obscured by dense cloud cover. I crawled down to the beach and set […]
Posted on July 26, 2011, 12:26 am, by QT Luong, under
Locations.
Most visitors to Haleakala National Park visit the Haleakala Crater, however the Park extends down from the summit to the ocean, reaching it in a small, but interesting area called Kipahulu. Instead of driving from the summit to Kipahulu through the Hana Coast, this time I tied the more direct, but seldom-traveled route through the […]
Posted on July 19, 2011, 6:48 pm, by QT Luong, under
Locations.
The Heleakala summit, at more than 10,000 feet high, is above the inversion layer separating lower maritime air from upper atmospheric air. On my previous visit to the crater, I always found myself above the clouds, in clear air. Last May, I arrived in Maui as storms were moving in and out. There were unusual […]
Posted on June 20, 2011, 11:36 am, by QT Luong, under
Locations.
After the Green Sand Beach and Waipio Valley, the Mauna Kea Summit was my third destination on the Big Island that required 4WD, because of a steep, unpaved road. When I arrived at the visitor center, at 9,000 feet, I was still trying to dry up my clothes, drenched while working in the rainforest of […]
For a change from working in the rain in Hawaii Volcanoes NP, I drove to South Point, the southern tip of the island of Hawaii. The access to Papakolea Beach consisted of a maze of badly rutted vehicle tracks, along the coast, alternatively sandy and rocky. A four wheel drive was definitively necessary. Hiking would […]
Posted on June 8, 2011, 11:02 am, by QT Luong, under
Locations.
The Hawaiian islands are further away from a major land mass than any other in the world. Over the span of about 70 million years, plants and animals managed to make the voyage to the once barren islands and to colonize it, at the rate of one every 70000 years, and then evolving into more […]
Posted on June 3, 2011, 8:10 am, by QT Luong, under
Locations.
Halemaumau crater – home to Pele, Goddess of Hawaiian Volcanoes according to the traditions of Hawaiian mythology – is a pit crater located within the larger summit caldera of KÄ«lauea in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. During my previous two visits to the Park, a decade ago, Halemaumau crater was inactive. I remember standing at the […]
Haleakala National Park, on the island of Maui, Hawaii, like Hawaii Volcanoes National Park encompasses terrain ranging from the ocean shore to the summit of a high volcano, created by the same hot spot that generated the Big Island of Hawaii. The difference is that while the volcano on the Big Island of Hawaii exhibits […]
Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, on the Big Island of Hawaii, is the place where the past and present volcanic island activity can be observed. It is the easiest place in the world to come close to a active volcano. The entire island was created by the Mauna Loa volcano, which now towers 13700 feet above […]