Gallery

  • Coastline Reflections

    Coastline reflections of a beautiful Hawaiian sunset by Christopher Johnson.

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    A different perspective of the same coastline. With the high surf pounding the Kailua Kona coastline the water found its way to the grassy patch well behind the surf. Instead of positioning myself of the edge of a blowhole I chose to work with this grassy reflective scene. This was my second attempt when I wasn’t thrilled with my first composition from the previous day. Lucky for me the sunset and water waited for me to return.

    © Christopher Johnson

     

    Hawaii sunset reflected in the coastline tide pool.

  • Pololu Valley Stones

    Slow shutter of water flowing around the embedded colorful stones on the black sand beach of Pololu Valley.

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    Beautiful stones line the black sand beach of Pololu Valley giving the ocean waves something to play with as it rushes on and off the sand. 

    © Christopher Johnson

    Waves flow around the amazing volcanic rocks along the Pololu Valley black sand beach

     

  • Pod of Dolphins

    A small pod of dolphins in the beautiful blue ocean of Hawaii

    Around 1000 ft off of the Honokohau harbor coastline I saw 4 boats clustered together and the passengers quickly jumping into the water to swim around a very large pod of dolphins. I hadn’t flown the drone out that far and was extremely surprised when there were no problems with signal. I totally expected the drone controller to notify me that I had reached my distance limit and to fly closer, but instead I saw these beautiful dolphins swimming in the beautiful blue ocean on my iPad screen. There must have been 30-40 dolphins along with 20 snorkelers in black wet suits all scattered around in the water. I lowered the drone to around 30 ft above a small pod dolphins which were swimming around very quickly. I was only able to capture this one shot before they swam out of view.

    Super cool!

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    A small pod of dolphins swimming in the beautiful blue ocean
    Small pod of spinner dolphins off of the Kailua Kona coast.

     

     

    Check out my Humpback Whale post for more.

  • Leaf Series

    A series of black and white photographs of leaf skeletons.

    I love these leaf photographs and the amount of detail that makes up the fragile structure of the leaf. There are so many interconnecting lines that make up a sort of road map from the larger central lines which branch out into smaller and smaller lines until the entire leaf is formed into a shape.

    Photographed on wax paper to give a grungy background and backlit on an iPad. Final adjustments in Photoshop with the help of NIK software.

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    photograph of the skeleton of a dead leaf in black and white

  • Kiholo Bait Ball

    Large bait ball in the turquoise waters of Kiholo seen from the sky.

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    This was the most unusual sight that caught me off guard. I went down to Kiholo with some friends to photograph them with the drone for their Christmas card. After the shoot I wanted to fly around for some straight down aerial shots when I saw this dark ball in the middle of the turquoise water. Since this was the first time I shot any aerial photos of Kiholo I thought this was a rock formation, but I had never seen this shape before and couldn’t remember seeing this in any other images shot by other photographers. I proceeded to photograph several compositions of the large dot in the water and after reviewing the images I saw the dot changed shapes, which could only mean a large school of fish.

    Large school of fish in the beautiful turquoise waters of Kiholo Bay

    Check out other Kiholo Bay Aerial

  • Keahole Coastline Aerial

    An aerial perspective of one of my favorite locations.

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    This large hole in the coastline rocks makes for a very interesting landscape shot. The ocean water surges into the opening forcing the turquoise water to pillow up and spill over the seaweed and cracks in the lava. Then the water drains back into the hole and seemingly disappears. This is when I would typically take a 1 sec exposure in order to blur the water into a silky stream as it falls into the hole while the remaining curls of sea foam fizzle out where they wrapped themselves in the rocks. I have done this exercise for over five years at this and other locations along this coastline with many different compositions and views, however, I have never captured aerial photographs of this coastline.

    I often wondered what it would look like from above and would envision building a scaffold over the large hole to shoot from that angle. Never once did I think of using a drone until I got the DJI Spark drone for a birthday gift. I flew it around a few other locations I had photographed before and was amazed at how much fun it was to create at this new angle. They it dawned on me to photograph these locations. This is the first of the 6 blowholes I want to capture from the air.

    Check out “Golden Hour” to see a sunset shot from the ground.

    © Christopher Johnson

  • Volcano Photography

    A collection of images of the Volcanic activity on the Big Island.

    I have lived on the Big Island since 2006, but only began my interest in the volcano in 2015 when I went to see the lava lake at the Halmaumau crater. I had never really seen lava before. All the other times I visited the Volcano National Park the only thing I saw was smoke rising out of the crater. Even when I went to see the lava entering the ocean in 2008 the ropes keeping visitors away were so far away from the lava that the only thing to “Ooh and Awe” at was the rising steam and smoke. That changed the night I saw the lava lake.

    When the lava hit the ocean along the Kamokuna coastline in 2016 my wife and I rode bikes 5 miles to the flow. It was then I was able to walk next to the lava. It was a surreal moment listening to the crackle and popping sounds of molten rock flowing over the earth. The heat was extreme. I couldn’t get too close without having to retreat quickly. It is like watching a camp fire only 100 times more mesmerizing. I ended up visiting the lava several times until the flow stopped and I began to wonder if this was it.

    Then the huge earthquake happened and all hell broke loose. This is when the fissures opened up to devastate the Puna and neighborhoods to Kapoho. There was a huge frenzy around the lava activity. Tourism suddenly stopped, people were selling everything to move away, the VOG was so bad we could smell sulfur in Kona, all while photographers were running to the action. I hesitated to go over to photograph the destruction to show respect to all those that had and were going to lose everything. The stress became so bad that one man shot a gun over the head of someone else as a warning to leave even though it was his neighborhood as well. There was looting and violence all throughout the restricted areas and towards the end Kona began to see break-ins from displaced people. A couple of months of total unknown and worry.

    As time went on my curiosity grew and I had to see the Fissure for myself, so my wife and I bought tickets to fly on the Paradise helicopter tour with doors off out of Hilo. I felt this was the less intrusive way of seeing the flow while getting super close. The flight was cold and windy and in the distance was a large fountain of lava spewing into the air in the middle of a neighborhood. It felt as if we were on our way to a battle field in war. The moment we were over the flow I could feel the heat. The helicopter jolted from the currents. It was insane and for the first time the eruption felt real.

    After the flight I was energized and saddened for everyone effected by the disaster. There is no way to express in words what I felt. We have family and friends that lived close by or that had lost their houses and land from the lava.

    We did one more flight before the volcanic activity had stopped and hopefully for a long time. Now, several months later, people are beginning to return to their homes with the uncertainty of another eruption.

    Photograph of the smoke rising from the Hawaii lava flow

    Lava in the Halemaumau crater at the Hawaii Volcano National Park

    Lava flows into the ocean from the delta of Kamokuna Point

    Colorful design of the Pahoa lava river.

  • Pine Trees Morning Surf

    Aerial photograph of a popular surf spot during sunrise in Kailua Kona.

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    My daughter wanted to meet some friend to surf dawn patrol at Pine Trees beach. Usually this means I have to sluggishly get out of bed, drive her down half asleep, and hurry home to drink more coffee, but not this time. For my birthday I got a DJI Spark drone and look for any opportunity to fly it. This was my opportunity to get out at sunrise and practice getting beach pictures while my daughter happily surfed with friends. Best of both worlds.

    8/22/2022 Update

    I am not sure how I was able to fly the drone during this morning at this spot. I have returned multiple times and have been restricted due to the proximity to the airport. The flight path extends past where I was standing. It’s a shame since now I have upgraded the drone to a Mavic 2 Pro and would love to recreate the beauty this surf spot has to offer.

    Aerial photograph of Pine Trees beach at sunrise

    aerial of the Kaiminani beach during sunrise
    Aerial of Pine Trees beach on the Big Island of Hawaii

  • Surfer Girl Sunset

    Silhouette of surfer girls walking toward a Hawaiian sunset.

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    I wanted to get a little creative with this image. I had the panned sunset image that I wanted to add more interest to after getting inspiration from other artists on FineArtAmerica. I combined a silhouette of surfer girls walking in a sunset from an image I took in 2012 and a more recent image of birds in front of the sunset. Without much editing I had the scene I envisioned.

    Surfer girls silhouetted against a beautiful Hawaii sunset

  • Hualalai Sunset

    Hualalai mountain shrouded by sunset lit clouds from the Kailua Kona shoreline

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    Standing on the coastline waiting for the sun to get into position to photograph the rocky shoreline swallowing the waves during sunset, I looked behind me at the mountain. This was too good to pass up and immediately shifted focus from the ocean to the land. My single wide lens couldn’t capture the entire scene that I was witnessing, so I needed to shoot a panorama.

    This image is a combination of 9 images. I first panned the landscape and then the sky to create the largest single image I have ever worked on. 20 hours of warping, masking, blending, and enhancing as well as another 3 to polish the shot to how I saw this amazing sunset.

    Panoramic view of Hualalai Mountain in the sunset

  • Clouds Mimic the Earth

    A beautiful sunset from the OTEC coastline on the Big Island of Hawaii

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    This sunset was one for the books. I had a suspicion that the sunset might be good, but as the light began to fizzle I became skeptical. Just as the sun moved under the distant clouds it began to highlight the underside of the lower clouds to gift me a beautiful shot. I was completely blown away that the shape of the clouds mimicked the shape of the landscape I was shooting, which gave me some interest in the sky.

    See this location from the air. A photo and video of this amazing location. “Keahole Coastline Aerial

    A beautiful sunset from the Hawaii coastline.

  • Yellow Hibiscus

    A beautiful yellow Hibiscus flower found on the Big Island of Hawaii.

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    Picked from one of the Hibiscus bushes we have out in our front yard. I selected this flower because of how the style curved right at the end so that I could photograph the profile of the flower and have all of the 5 stigma balls visual instead of overlapping each other.

    I don’t have much of a studio, so I have to improvise. I was able to float the flower away from its background by pinning it to the bottom of my kitchen cabinets with a safety pin. With natural light I needed a longer than desired shutter speed, so I had to close all windows and stop the fans to keep the flower from wavering. Then with a timer set to 2 seconds on the camera I quickly and carefully pressed the shutter and gently fluttered a white towel in the background to blur any shadow or detail that might be picked up by the camera. The depth of field wasn’t enough to pick up all the details of the flower, so I focus stacked 2 images for the final piece.

    Yellow Hibiscus flower against a white background

    © Christopher Johnson

  • Lava River Texture

    Aerial photograph of the lava river in Pahoa Hawaii.

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    A section of the lava river from a Paradise Helicopter tour over the fissure 8 eruption of 2018 in Pahoa. I wanted to focus on the patterns the lava was making as it flowed to Kapoho, so I used a 70-300 telephoto lens to tightly frame in the lava with the dark surrounding areas. What I wasn’t expecting was how amazing the patterns are within the lava itself.

    Check out this post next, Fissure 8 and the Lava River

  • South Swell

    A beautiful sunset from along the Kona coastline during a large swell.

    I went to this familiar location to shoot from the same spot I usually do, right at the mouth of the hole in the reef. This usually puts me right in line looking at the sun setting with a dramatic foreground of the water draining back to sea. Fortunately there was a large south swell that had forced me to find a new perspective because standing where I usually do would be dangerous as the water will pull my photography gear or me into the hole that is 10 to 15 feet deep if not careful. Some of these waves will catch me off guard and it is not easy to escape and in the past I have had to thrust my camera way up in the air by grabbing the tripod legs so a wave didn’t kill it, but would leave me drenched. You might wonder why I say fortunately instead of unfortunately. Why would it be fortunate to be forced into something I wasn’t planning on. Well, I say fortunately because I love it when I am forced to try something new. When there is a spectacular sunset I always go to my comfort zone with a perspective and composition I have photographed before so I don’t screw it up. Where I usually come home with some great shots, I am still longing for a new perspective. I don’t want to have a portfolio of the same shots when there are so many great views along this coastline. At least this time I was forced.
    This is not the most amazing photograph, but it was very complicated both with composition and technicality. I really had to work for this shot. The foreground rocks aren’t very large, so in order to trick the eye I had to crouch down into the small crevice and straddle the river of rushing water about 2 feet off the ground. In that position it is really hard to setup and look through the view finder… especially when you are as out of shape and stiff like I am.   🙁   I had to fold myself while moving around so my shadow wasn’t visible on the left rock face. It’s hard to explain how weird I felt, but I’m sure I looked like a crazy person on the coastline waiting until the right moment, which never ever comes immediately. I have to begin cramping up before I can begin to shoot and create.
    After all that I waited on developing these images until 3 months later because of the volcano eruption that stole my attention. It wasn’t until I was tired of not seeing a sunset because of all the VOG that I went back through my images to find this awesome day.
    This image is a mesh of 2 images at different focal points. One for the foreground rocks and the other for the rest of the scene. The final image was edited several times over, over a couple days to get the look I was going for.
    © Christopher Johnson
  • Fissure 8 and the Lava River

    Lava fountains out of the crater that fissure 8 created from the Pahoa volcanic eruption on Hawaii.

    An aerial view of Fissure 8 spewing magma violently into the air and into a massive lava river headed to the ocean in Kapoho. I couldn’t believe my eyes when we flew over this newly formed cinder cone in the middle of the Leilani Estates neighborhood. It was surreal and frightening. Almost overnight thousands of peoples lives were uprooted and their future made unknown. My heart goes out to all those effected by the lava flow.

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    Check out the Volcano Photography post