Last night we headed up to the top of Waimea Canyon. We had previously traveled the windy road up to the two parking areas to get too Waimea Canyon during our scouting. It is a spectacular view. Almost like a miniature Grand Canyon of Hawaii. The first place we stopped was simply at a pullout that we couldn’t get very far out without going over the edge. It was a great day, nice skies and good clouds. If there were gray overcast clouds with no light, it would’ve been a bust. Thankfully it wasn’t. We stayed till about 6pm then headed down to the other viewing area.
The second stop was my favorite. The first time we went up top to the see the canyon there was a local fruit vendor selling fresh Maui pineapple and sugar cane. It was sooooooo good. That actually was the first thing that i looked for when we arrived. He wasn’t there. I was sad. Up the hill to the viewing platform, because this spot actually had a man made structure, and before us was the canyon half in shadow half with lit peaks. It was a great opportunity for many types of photography, including HDR’s, panos, and my favorite single clicks.
Now i have never really been any good with panos or HDR’s but i thought i would play with them anyways. I mean how often do you get to look over the side into a canyon on Hawaii. I made sure that i had every kind of image that i wanted if for no other reason than to just have. Towards 7pm we waited and watched as the clouds moved in and the light started to fade. If you’ve ever been to a canyon then you know there is a time when the sun goes down that the whole canyon, with the right clouds, will just start glowing. That’s what we were waiting for. It never happened. Not surprising, it’s one of those gotta see but not always going to be there situations. Regardless it was still a great shoot producing some great images.
Images captured with Nikon D3, AF-S 14-23, on Lexar UDMA Digital Film