Pueo or Hawaiian Owl

Well, it's been sometime since I posted anything new! Haven't really caught up with editing and processing images and not shooting anything new in terms of subjects, except for this image captured a little over two weeks ago in Moloaa. It's a Pueo or Hawaiian Owl and they seem to hunt mostly in the early morning and late evenings, although I did see one mid-afternoon and late morning (different days) at the lighthouse. That mid-afternoon sighting gave me the spark to check out the Moloaa area, where a few people have told me of recent sightings and that area is just a nice, mellow area, except for the speeding cars. There's also old stories of obake's (ghost) too, but that is for another day!

Photo Collage ....

Here's a collage of images, compiled last month, as a gift (only swapped out one of the images.) Can't say that these are the best, as I am still working on editing a lot of what I have captured in the last year and a half, but thought it shows a good variety of the birds and landscape in the area of the Kilauea Lighthouse, Hanalei Valley and an image or two from Princeville. This is for the volunteers and workers at the lighthouse, many of which have not seen my work and must be wondering what I may (or may not!) be capturing. Hope you enjoy the photos!

Baby Red Footed Booby at 11.5 Weeks ....

"Baby" is no longer looking like a baby .... quite a dramatic change from just 4 days ago (see photo below.)

Baby Red Footed Booby at 11 weeks ....

Here's a photo taken yesterday morning just before 8AM. Mom (or Dad) flew in and quickly (a few minutes at most) fed "baby" then flew off, circling and landing on the branch to the right of the photo above, just out of reach of the young one. Stayed in that position for a few minutes, then flew off, circled around and landed on a branch in the near vicinity of the nest and stayed there for the next few hours. From what I can gather, these Red Footed Boobies start flying in about 95+ days, so it's probably another 3 weeks before this one will take flight.

Baby Red Footed Booby at 5 Weeks ....

Here's a photo taken a little over a week ago, which would make the baby (on the left in the photo above!) about 5 weeks old. Baby is spending a lot of time on it's own, only seeing mom or dad for feeding and preening, which doesn't seem to be too often as I will be at the lookout for a few hours and sometimes don't see an adult at all! I should of posted a photo taken a week or two before this photo to show the growth progression and possibly the cutest phase of the baby. Stay tuned as I will check my photo archives.

Baby Red Footed Booby at 2 Weeks ....

Here's the baby Red Footed Booby at 2 weeks old ....

Red Footed Booby Chick - Only Days Old!

Here's the first look of a 3-4 day old Red Footed Booby chick! Very small as you can see in the photo and that is the challenge (and also not being able to get closer, either physically or with a longer lens.) Not a great shot with any "tender" moment or even feeding, but still had to wait 3 hours to get this shot. I made it easy on myself and put the camera and lens on a tripod and used a radio remote to release the shutter. A day earlier, during the Kilauea Lighthouse May Day event, more specifically the lighting of the lighthouse at dusk, I did witness the mate fly in and swap places, so my guess is that feeding is happening at night. Also had a much better and longer look at the chick, but it was quite dark, so no way to take any photos. Hopefully better chances and more frequent opportunities in the weeks and months to come.

May Day is Lei Day in Hawaii!

Here's an image I captured, a few months ago, while the Red Footed Boobies were just starting to build their nests for the season. The birds would find just about anything they could use (and at times, they would be picky and seemed to be looking for a certain size, shape or?) and that would include twigs, small branches and in this case, somewhat fresh (either already cut or pulled out!) green foliage. It very much looks like a maile lei and that is what I find so great about this image - just the shear size and freshness, but maybe you need to be there to appreciate it! Enjoy your May Day!

Photo Book March 2009 - Final Edit!

View Project at Shutterfly

Upside Down Flying Red Footed Booby!

Well, not really upside down, but as you can see the head is definitely not right side up! I know you are asking and suspecting that this image was manipulated, but no Photoshop manipulation here, just minor cropping and toning, just like all the other photos you see posted here. Taken at the Kilauea Lighthouse lookout in the early afternoon a few weeks ago.

Farewell Aloha Airlines

Here is my attempt to freeze a moment in history. Taken this morning, on the Ahukini Pier, on the last day of inter-island passenger service (March 31st, 2008) of Aloha Airlines. Not the best perspective as the plane is quite small and I really wanted to include this structure of the pier (and there's no backing up on the pier!) I have almost always flown Aloha Airlines, so I do feel like something will be missing, but more importantly, hope for the best for the employees.

Kilauea Lighthouse, Anini Wave

Went out to shoot the sunrise back in December, but the sun rises much more in the easterly direction (over Kilauea town,) so no chance of getting the sun in the shot, but did provide very nice side lighting enhancing the wave. Sort of an empty composition with no clouds or any other elements in the top section of the image.

Ahukini Fisherman

Another oldie! Image taken with a Pentax 6X7 medium format camera and 165mm lens (about a 85mm equivalent when compared to 35mm film cameras or full frame digital sensors.) Not the cleanest of scans and I also cropped it to a square image, chopping off a small amount at top (shot the original image as a vertical.) I find black and white timeless, as it could be taken just yesterday or decades ago and now one could really tell (except for the subject or maybe because of the content?) I love black and white because you are not looking at colors and can concentrate on the subject, tones, contrast, background and all the other important elements.

White Hibiscus

Shot this photo while waiting for some clouds to lift during a early morning assignment. Not the cleanest leaves as you see, but there's something about the red and white hibiscus!

Hanapepe Art

Here's another oldie from the Canon D30 DSLR days (with a Canon 17-35mm F/2.8L lens,) which explains the "enhanced" blue depicted in the sky. This shot may actually work better as a black and white image, but I thought I would offer it "as shot."

Kauapea (Secret) Beach - High Surf

Here's a scan of a Fujichrome Velvia chrome taken back in the early to mid-90's, with a Canon 300mm F/2.8L EF lens. Shot from Kilauea's "Crater Hill," now called Seacliff Plantation, which is a gated community and more specifically from the upper area, part of the federal lands of the Kilauea Point National Wildlife Refuge.

Broken Fence

One of my first attempts at large format photography with a old Crown Graphic camera and a (somewhat wide) normal 135mm Ektar lens (used for this shot) and 75mm Schneider wide angle. Not the most exciting subject, but really shows the detail that can be captured, with all the tall grass, dried leaves and the fine detail in the wooden fence.

Fishing off of Hanalei Pier

Scan of a Velvia slide, taken one late Friday afternoon ....

Waimea Pier B&W

Scan of a 6X7 black and white negative taken with a Pentax 6X7 camera and 45mm lens.

Flower Close-up

Shot with a Nikon 55mm Micro Nikkor AF lens, somewhere between life-size and 1:2 (a very small flower) with a digital DX SLR sensor and only minor cropping.

Kee Beach Reflection

Here's a scan of a Fujichrome Velvia 6X7 chrome (taken with a Pentax 6X7 camera) and converted to black and white ....

Aloha!

Welcome to Kauai, Hawaii .... and my newly created blog!