coastline

  • Hawaii sunset reflected in the coastline tide pool.
    Oct
    2019
    12
    2019 / Oct / 12

    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.

  • Waves flow around the amazing volcanic rocks along the Pololu Valley black sand beach
    Jan
    2019
    28
    2019 / Jan / 28

    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

     

  • aerial of the Kaiminani beach during sunrise
    Nov
    2018
    10
    2018 / Nov / 10

    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

  • Panoramic view of Hualalai Mountain in the sunset
    Oct
    2018
    23
    2018 / Oct / 23

    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

  • A beautiful sunset from the Hawaii coastline.
    Oct
    2018
    08
    2018 / Oct / 08

    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.

  • Sunset along the Kailua Lona coastline
    Aug
    2018
    15
    2018 / Aug / 15

    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
  • An aerial view of the Nanawale Bay coastline in Pahoa Hawaii.
    Jul
    2018
    20
    2018 / Jul / 20

    Nanawale Bay Coastline

    An aerial photograph of Nanawale Bay coastline from a Paradise Helicopter tour.

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    Photographed just east of the Kapoho lava flow ocean entry as we were flying away from the devastation. This was a small look into the recent past of what the coastline along the Kapoho coastline looked like before the lava destroyed it a month ago.

    © Christopher Johnson

  • Beautiful Hawaiian sunset along the Kona coastline
    May
    2018
    03
    2018 / May / 03

    Fiery Sunset

    Beautiful bright and colorful sunset from the edge of a blow hole along the Kona coastline.

    The sunset last night was amazing!
    I set out when I saw low lying clouds underneath the upper clouds along with a clear horizon. Usually the sun will begin to illuminate the lower clouds with color and slowly hit the upper clouds to create an amazing glow of color, but when I got to the coastline I had second thoughts. The sky was gray and dismal. It didn’t change much as the sunset came near so I thought the hazy on the horizon would stop the color and fizzle into nothing.
    I setup to capture a totally different scene and was facing south when the explosion of color began. As fast as I could along the treacherous jagged and slippery rocks I moved to this location, looking through the large holes in the reef, to compose for the colors in the sky. I threw caution to the wind as I precariously setup on some small boulders and watched the large waves flood in toward me. I was rusty because I hadn’t been out in a while, but I’m happy that I walked away with some usable images to work with.
    Enjoy!
    © Christopher Johnson
  • Beautiful sunset from Kaanapali on the island of Maui
    Feb
    2018
    26
    2018 / Feb / 26

    Ka’anapali Sunset

    A beautiful sunset from the Ka’anapali beach on the island of Maui

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    The winter months in Hawaii are the busiest as people that live in cold climates seek an escape to warm beautiful tropical weather. With the increase in people finding wide open unobstructed landscape photo opportunities decrease.

    I went out to photograph this sunset off of the sandy beach of Ka’anapali. Instead of getting a wide angle shot close to the water I decided on capturing a fresh perspective. I have always loved the look of the trees that lined the beach along with the broad leaved vines that grow along the ground, so this time I setup back away from the ocean. After composing and setting up for the shot I started to realize the traffic of all the people coming out to enjoy the sunset. Some people stopped to take a quick picture while others rested on the trees within my field of view. The last interruption came as a family posed to take a family photo on the tree with the sunset to their backs. Luckily I had a few open opportunities to get the shots I needed to work with. The rest of the time was spent enjoying the sunset and the way people reacted once they saw me crouched on the ground taking their photo.

    © Christopher Johnson

  • Pink sunset off of the Keahole Point coastline on the Big Island of Hawaii
    Oct
    2017
    16
    2017 / Oct / 16

    Pink Sky

    Photograph of a beautiful reflected sunset along the coastline of the Big Island of Hawaii

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    This was a surprising sunset. The colors came out of nowhere.

    I was standing in a different location when the sunset just seemed to fizzle in muted dull colors like I had seen so many other times before. A lot of times there is a VOG layer or clouds just off of the horizon that block the sun from hitting the underside of the clouds when it sets. So when the sun set and there wasn’t any sign of life I began to pack up. It was just then the pink under lit clouds began to glow. Filling everything with an amazing warm glow. The only thing I could think to do was setup my camera and jump into this reflecting pool to capture a full frame of color and landscape.

    © Christopher Johnson

  • Water fills into a large hole in the Hawaiian coastline during a beautiful golden sunset.
    Sep
    2017
    28
    2017 / Sep / 28

    Golden Hour

    Photograph of an amazingly clear golden sunset from the Keahole Point coastline on the Big Island of Hawaii.

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    I stood precariously close to the edge of this Big Island blow hole in order to capture the details of water flowing through the seaweed and into the large hole. Luckily the tide and swells were low so that I could do this without too much worry or trouble. Like always there is the rogue wave that helps me to not get too comfortable and to always be prepared. I was pleasantly surprised there was a golden sunset to accent the golden foreground of the seaweed.

    Water fills into a large hole in the Hawaiian coastline during a beautiful golden sunset.

    Visit another golden sunset post Golden September Sunset.

  • Split view photograph of the fish underwater and the palm trees above.
    Jul
    2017
    16
    2017 / Jul / 16

    Split View

    Photograph of an underwater-land split view from the shoreline of Hawaii’s Mahaiula beach.

    © Christopher Johnson

  • photo of a green sea turtle while snorkeling at Mahaiula beach in Hawaii
    Jul
    2017
    06
    2017 / Jul / 06

    Hawaiian Green Sea Turtle

    Photograph of a Hawaiian green sea turtle as it swims off the shoreline of Mahaiula beach.

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    © Christopher Johnson

  • Hawaiian sunset from the coastline of Keahole point on the Big Island of Hawaii
    Jun
    2017
    19
    2017 / Jun / 19

    Follow Through

    Photograph of the Hawaiian sunset near a large blow hole in the rugged coastline of Keahole Point.

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    The sunset wasn’t progressing like I had hoped it would on my re-visit to this familiar blow hole. I setup further away from the blow hole in order to capture the water streaking back towards the hole with the sun setting just beyond. With the storm clouds stretching toward to horizon I had to wait for the small window where the sun peaked out and casted its beautiful orange sunset color over the coastline surface and underbelly of the clouds. Unfortunately once the sun disappeared the colors went as well, but I waited for the hope of a surprise that didn’t come. 🙁

    © Christopher Johnson

  • A second photographic look at the June Blow Hole
    Jun
    2017
    14
    2017 / Jun / 14

    Take Two

    Beautiful Hawaiian landscape photograph of the energy surrounding an awesome Big Island blow hole at sunset.

     

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    Take Two is a second photographic look at the blow hole I posted earlier. Instead of the calming reflected water there is a more energetic rush of water.

    © Christopher Johnson