Author Archives: Graham

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About Graham

I take photos when I'm out and about, recording life on the Big Island of Hawaii.

Spot the Scorpionfish

A Devil Scorpionfish in the waters off Hawaii
A Devil Scorpionfish in the waters off Hawaii

When I get to the end of a swim, I keep looking around because, as the water shallows, it’s possible to see a wide variety of fish and marine invertebrates.

Recently, I was about 10 feet from my exit point when I saw the Devil Scorpionfish in the photos. That’s right, there’s a fish in the top photo and it’s not the Bright-eye Damselfish on the left. The second photo gives a better view, where the fins stand out a bit and a flash of orange can just be seen on the left pectoral fin. A Devil Scorpionfish will flash these orange fins, probably as a warning to predators, since it has venomous spines.

Don’t feel bad if you can’t find the fish in the top photo. I wouldn’t have spotted it if it had been stationary, but in the shallow water, I noticed a small movement and quickly realized what I was looking at. I’ve seen a Devil Scorpionfish in this area before so this might be the territory of this same fish.

Funky chicken

A chicken in Hawaii
A chicken in Hawaii
A chicken in Hawaii
A chicken in Hawaii
A chicken in Hawaii
A chicken in Hawaii
A chicken in Hawaii
A chicken in Hawaii
A chicken in Hawaii

I first saw this chicken on the way to work a couple of weeks ago. It was pecking around at the foot of the hill below where I work. Since this is in one of the Kohala coast resorts, I thought the chicken might be removed with some speed. This hasn’t happened.

Last week, leaving work, I saw it again and stopped to take photos. The chicken immediately headed my way, then stopped, moved away, turned, and came back. I wondered what it was up to.

It wasn’t until I got home and processed the photos that I realized that there was a perfectly reasonably explanation. It was just doing the funky chicken!

Mauna Kea in red

Mauna Kea at sunset

Returning from a recent hike, I drove round a corner and saw Mauna Kea looking completely red in the setting sun. I pulled over and grabbed my camera, but by the time I took photos, a matter of a couple of minutes, only the top half of the volcano was still illuminated.

This though was my last photo from September, posted here for Bushboy’s Last on the Card challenge (see more responses here).

I took the photo with a view to making a few adjustments, which I’ve done in the bottom photo. The main thing was to crop some of the sky, which I had to include in the photo to get the full volcano. The other thing, which is a bit of an oddity with my camera, is that in certain lighting conditions it will produce a somewhat dull and hazy image. But adjusting the Lighten Shadows feature from zero to one makes the difference seen here.

Mauna Kea at sunset

Dilapidated shed

An old shed in a wood

This week’s Sunday Stills challenge theme is ‘Dilapidated.’ See more responses here.

This old shed sits on my neighbor’s property. Up until a couple of weeks ago it was invisible. But the property is for sale ($2.4 million if you’re wondering, and yes, it needs some work) and the real estate agent had all the cane grass removed from amongst the trees. This was a good move allowing a better idea of what the place looks like. Before, the entry looked dubious at best.

My guess is that when the property sells, the shed will be among the first things to go.

Whitemouth Moray Eel

A Whitemouth Moray Eel in the waters off the Big Island Hawaii

I’d just got in the water recently when I saw this Whitemouth Moray Eel hunting with some Bluefin Trevallies. The trevallies carried on, but the eel was torn between joining them and retreating into the crack it was emerging from. In the end it did neither and I got a few photos before carrying on with my swim.