photography

  • Humpback Whales
    Jan
    2022
    19
    2022 / Jan / 19

    Mother and Baby Humpback Whales

    A beautiful adventure.

    I was waiting for the moment to photograph and video Humpback whales through the eyes of a drone. I kept a close eye to the ocean along the Big Island but didn’t have much luck scouting any whales. It wasn’t until I had an opportunity to visit with my parents on Maui that I saw an abundance of spouts and splashes peppering the ocean. A very exciting moment for me. What I didn’t expect was how difficult it was to find the whales from the air.

    Along the cliffs on the west side of Maui we stood looking for some whales close by. We were extremely lucky to find a couple whales within 400 yards from us. Now all I needed to do was get to them.

    From 400 feet in the air, you would think finding a 50-foot, 30-ton mammal would be easy to find, but it’s definitely not. Thinking you out far enough is a huge challenge. Often times I was way too close and had to go out way further, however, once I determined I wasn’t far enough the whales had either swam away or drifted. By the time I was 500 yards away I couldn’t find the drone in the sky to determine if I was nearby, so I had to fly back until I spotted it and adjusted and began the search.

    My heart raced the moment I finally spotted the whales and then I had a huge smile on my face when I noticed what I was looking at was a mother and her baby. It was so peaceful watching the baby coming up for air, swimming around, and twirling before diving back down to mamma. Super amazing moment that I felt very privileged to be watching.

    After this first trip we made several attempts to capture more amazing moments and with patience we were lucky to find another mother and her baby close to the first location. These photographs are a collection of the two successful flights.

    Photographs were taken with a DJI Mavic 2 Pro drone and Smart Controller.

    Purchase Prints – FineArtAmerica.com

    Humpback Whales
    Mother and baby humpback whales in the blue Maui ocean
    Humpback whales
    Mother and baby humpback whales swimming side by side.
    Humpback Whales
    Mother and baby humpback whales
    Humpback Whales
    Mother and baby humpback whales together in the beautiful blue Maui waters
    Humpback Whales
    A humpback whale tail seen before the final decent.
    Humpback Whales breathe a rainbow in the mist with their spout
    A mother Humpback whale and her baby breathe a rainbow with mist as they take their breaths

    View more aerial images I took on trips to other islands like in my Aerial Views from Princeville to Haena post.

  • Aerial view of three eagle rays swimming in the turquoise waters of Kiholo Bay
    Apr
    2021
    14
    2021 / Apr / 14

    Kiholo Bay Aerial 2021

    First flight of 2021 over Kiholo Bay with a Mavic 2 Pro drone

    It was morning before any wind or people showed up. The sun had been up for an hour. Kiholo Bay was perfect. I couldn’t wait to fly the drone and capture the beauty of this magical place.

    Immediately I noticed two black figures in the water from 100ft in the air and came down lower to check them out. A pair of Eagle Rays were playing in the turquoise waters. I followed them for a bit and then took off to explore other parts of the coastline. Schools of fish, turtles, and unique designs of the lava rock shoreline captured my attention for a while. At the end of the flight I noticed a family of five Eagle Rays swimming together.

    I am always amazed at the beauty of Kiholo Bay.

    Prints are available on my FineArtAmerica store.

     

    Marine life in Kiholo Bay
    Five Eagle Rays swimming in turquoise waters
    Aerial view of a section of Kiholo bay matched up to a section of the ocean
    The turquoise blue of Kiholo Bay contrasted with the blues of the ocean
    Aerial view of three eagle rays swimming in the turquoise waters of Kiholo Bay
    Three Eagle Rays swimming together in the beautiful turquoise waters of Kiholo bay
    Aerial view of Kiholo Bay on the Big Island of Hawaii
    An aerial view of Kiholo Bay

    If you like areal images of marine animals check out this Humpback whale post.

  • 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.

  • 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

  • Aug
    2018
    31
    2018 / Aug / 31

    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

  • Rocks are nestled in the black sand of the Pololu Valley beach
    Nov
    2017
    21
    2017 / Nov / 21

    Pololu Black Sand Beach Rocks

    Dramatic photograph of a cluster of stones found along the black sand beach of Pololu Valley.

    I needed to drop off some metal prints at the Ackerman Galleries in Hawi and decided to make a day out of the long drive. Hiking into Pololu Valley is one of my favorite things to do on the island… not to mention I needed the exercise. Without the push to get out of the house I may have just stayed home all day to later form into a slug.

    During the past several weeks I have been reviewing a lot of older images that I wanted to re-work with new techniques I have learned over the last few years. One of the images I stumbled upon was a composition of 2 stones on the black sand beach of Pololu with the green sand trail left behind it from the surf. The only issue was the upper portion of the image was out of focus. At that moment I wanted to get back down to the valley to study the stones and sand as it mingled with the surf in-order to correct the oversight in the older image.

    Down in the valley the stones were dispersed across the beach in hundreds of different patterns and I was studying them for the perfect composition. It took me a while before I settled on this cluster of stones, but then I suddenly realized that they dramatically shift after every wave that passes by when one stones I was looking at suddenly dissapeared. I placed my tripod over the stones and aimed the camera nearly straight down and exposed for a few seconds at 22 aperture. Then a wave came in and my tripod sunk into the sand, stones moved around, and the sand texture shifted making me reset focus and composition. It was a quick complicated dance I learned after a few steps that lasted nearly an hour.

    The trip was relaxing, fun, and memorable.

    © 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.

  • Photograph from Mauna Kea with the silhouette of an old tree in front of a bright milky way.
    Jul
    2017
    26
    2017 / Jul / 26

    Mauna Kea Milky Way Silhouette

    Photograph from Mauna Kea with the silhouette of an old tree in front of a bright milky way.

     

    © Christopher Johnson

  • Milky way photograph over the rugged landscape of Mauna Kea
    Jun
    2017
    30
    2017 / Jun / 30

    Milky Way

    Photograph of the milky way above the rugged landscape of Mauna Kea on the Big Island of Hawaii

    © 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

  • Photograph of a beautiful sunset along the Big Island coastline.
    Jun
    2017
    14
    2017 / Jun / 14

    June Blow Hole Sunset

    Sunset photograph from the rugged coastline of the Big Island of Hawaii

    This sunset shot is from a favorite location that I have photographed many times before. On returning here I didn’t want to repeat the same composition, so I spent a good amount of time scoping out a location. Then when I thought I was ready my tripod began acting up. I cleaned out the legs and didn’t seat one of them back in properly forcing me to quickly fix it on the rocks while waves came crashing in. Clumsily I nearly dropped a piece into the water, but I was able to fix the problem and was back in business.

    I liked how the water was reflecting the clouds while it gently flowed back into the blow hole, so I set up in the pool of water directly behind the opening. At times I was nearly waist deep in the inrush of flowing water. It was a beautiful sunset.

    © Christopher Johnson

  • Turtle reflected in the underside of the water
    Mar
    2017
    13
    2017 / Mar / 13

    Hawaiian Turtle

    Hawaiian green sea turtle swims near the surface of the water.

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    Every time I go to photograph underwater I realize how difficult it is. Everything is moving constantly, the light is always changing and not as bright, and whatever you swim towards swims away. Not to mention how hard it is to see the camera screen because of the reflection of the sun creating a mirror over the screen. Most of the time I find myself aiming in the direction of what I want to photograph and most of the time I either miss or crop the object in half. Then there are the times I get lucky.

    I was swimming around looking for turtles, but couldn’t find one. Instead I though to capture some patterns and sun rays when this turtle swam under me as if to say hello. The spot I was wasn’t very deep. I could stand up and have my head out of the water, so it was that much more exciting to have that close of a visitor. I followed her around for a little bit and then as sudden as she arrived, she was gone.

    The photograph I came away with is one where she came up for air a was slowly beginning to dive back down to feed. I love how the shell is reflected in the underside of the waves as they pass by.

    © Christopher Johnson

    www.fromhereonin.com

    Purchase a print by visiting my RedBubble page.

     

  • Feb
    2017
    02
    2017 / Feb / 02

    Island Naturals Art Display

    Photography For February 2017

     

    For the month of February 2017, I will be displaying my photography in the dining area of the Island Naturals natural food store in Kailua Kona, Hawaii. If you are in the area please come by and check it out.


    If you are at my site because you saw my artwork and wanted to view more I would like to say THANK YOU … it means a lot to me.

    The images on display are for sale along with those on this site. I have a growing storefront on RedBubble where prints, mugs, phone cases, and more can be purchased. If you are looking for an image that isn’t available please contact me using the Contact Page or by my phone number on my flyer or business card.

     

    30″x40″ – Chameleon – “This Isn’t Working” – $580.00

    30″x40″ – Sunset – “Keahole Sunset” – $580.00

    30″x40″ – Purple Flower – “Macro” – $580.00

    16″x48″ – Paddle Board Sunset – “Relax” – $390.00

     

     

  • Smoke plumes from the lava entering the ocean at Kamokuna.
    Oct
    2016
    09
    2016 / Oct / 09

    Kilauea From Above

    Celebrating our 16th anniversary, my wife and I went on an amazing helicopter tour around the Big Island with Blue Hawaiian. We began towards the volcano, then made our way north along the Hamakua coastline to the amazing valleys north of Waipio. This is one of the coolest, most breathtaking Hawaiian adventures I have ever taken. I strongly recommend going.

    This post is mainly to show images of the smoke that is coming out of the volcano. I will be showing the valleys in a later post.

    Enjoy!

    © Christopher Johnson