This man is nuts. Perhaps is is not so obvious for our mainland tourists to realize the dangers of large surf. All it would take is for a few tons of water to smash this man into the razor-sharp lava, for him to understand that he is standing too close to the waves.

While I was on Oahu recently I realized how photography had changed so quickly during the past 5 years. Everybody jumped out of their rental car, or tour bus with some sort of imaging device. Cell phones, pocket cameras, 35mm cameras, video cameras, disposable cameras, iPhones….  I was amazed. Age didn’t matter, either. Even the older folks were holding their cameras out toward the waves for a quick snapshot.

Where do all of these images go? This is the big question? What does the future hold for photographic printing? Scrapbooks? How will we view these images? …Just a few things that I am pondering these days.

Sometimes a good storm is just the right “kick in the pants” for a photographer.

I had a good storm. As luck would have it, I took my first voyage on the Hawaii Superferry, with my car, to O’ahu last week. Right after I got there all of the government warnings started popping up all over the news. “extreme wind, thirty foot surf, all schools closed!” I suppose Iit was exciting, but I was on O’ahu to photograph tranquile scenes in paradise.  Oh well.

So, I went with the flow and headed straight to the very famous North Shore! Waimea Bay! Sunset, Log Cabins, Back Yards, Pipeline! I spent three days there hoping for the wind to die, and for the waves to become surfable.  They called for the Eddie Aikau Big Wave contest to be ready!  It never happened, the waves were too dis-organized.

I waited in my car (completely covered with a salt layer) for the sun to peep through the clouds. I, and waited longer than the herd od other amature and pro shooters. THEN! THere it was, for thirty minutes the sun lit up the North Shore, illuminating the exploding tons of water! The noise was thunderous. The croud was cheering as though each monster wave was a firework creating a blinding and overwhelming display of light!

Was it worth my wait in my van? You betcha! Can’t wait to return!

The Moon last night was reported to appear 14% larger than normal due to it’s closer proximity to the Earth. I have to admit, there was a great moonrise at 7pm as it came up behind Haleakala. Naturally, I was camera-less at that moment.

But this morning I shot several clean images of the moon using a 400mm lens. I like having moonimages on hand just in case I decide to spruce-up an otherwise “blah” photo. I made the image below with my little Canon Rebel XTi. I’ve printed it as a 5 foot long canvas, and it rocks!

Moral: Keep a full moon handy just in case.