tree

  • Restricted

    Black and White photograph of a leaning tree in Waimea, Hawaii

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    During a rainy day in Waimea, I decided to drive around some side roads in search of some interesting compositions that were enhanced by the mood of the weather. While driving the paved portion of Mana Road I was excited by this tree hanging over a barbed wire fence with a faded line of trees in the distant background. There were a lot of amazing elements to play with. I went with a low camera angle in order to place the distant trees under the canopy of the foreground tree. This also allowed for an exaggerated fence line to fill up the entire right side of the frame for some added interest. The image just wasn’t complete once I had completed the color edit. Although I still like it I decided to work the image as a black and white which I feel enhances the overall feel I was going for when I first was attracted to this location.

    I titled this piece Restricted because of the contrasting sides of the fence. One side is overgrown and rugged while the other is tended to and open while outlined by a sharp barbed wire fence. The tree feels like it is trying to reach over to the other side, but is rooted on the wrong side. Restricted from crossing over.

    © Christopher Johnson

  • Land Arch

    Photograph of an arch along a very old lava flow.

    Strangely enough I have been passing by this arch for close to 12 years and for some reason I never noticed it up until just recently. Just at the lookout on the Mamalahoa Hwy, north of Kona, this arch can be seen right off of the road looking up toward Hualali mountain. This makes it that much crazier that I had never seen it. I can only figure that every time I passed by or stopped… I was looking towards Maui and the old lava flow formations that traveled down the hillside. Now I find myself always looking at and studying this arch whenever I pass by.

    Unfortunately the background of this arch isn’t usually very attractive because of the steep dark mountain side and formless clouds that build to create a stark white sky. I was pleasantly surprised that on my way home from visiting family we were passing by this area through some heavy fog. Without hesitation I pulled off and stood at the entry of this arch to shoot a few images. I was trying to focus on the eerie foggy atmosphere surrounding this interesting structure especially the spot of white fog under the arch which is usually dark from the rock behind. The fog provided a lot more depth and color to this otherwise difficult to photograph location.

    This island has so many cool and unique landscape qualities that I look forward to finding other spots. The key is to keep my eyes open to finding them.

    © Christopher Johnson

  • Milky Way

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

    © Christopher Johnson