This stand of red bamboo was at Pana’ewa Rainforest Zoo.
For more information about Pana‘ewa Rainforest Zoo & Gardens, go to hilozoo.org.
Category Archives: Places
The surf rolls in
Recent high winds from the north kicked up large swells pounding the northern coast and lots of white water.
Signs: Storm damage
I enjoyed seeing this sign at Kaloko-Honokohau National Historical Park. I guess the storm was severe enough to knock the sign over.
For more information about Kaloko-Honokohau National Historical Park, go to nps.gov/kaho/index.htm.
Transformered
A week or so ago, I posted (here) about a temporary electrical substation that sprang up on the edge of Hawi to facilitate a change in the local distribution network. A few days ago, the specifics of that change made itself felt here when the house was without power for four hours or so. This outage was planned and communicated so it wasn’t a surprise.
What was a surprise was that I hadn’t anticipated the road to the house being blocked by electic company trucks for a couple of hours. What that meant was that the plan to be away for most of the power outage got off to a rocky start.
The work they were doing was replacing the small transformers on local poles with ones that operate on a new voltage, a transformer transformation if you will. At least that’s my understanding of what I was told. When it comes to electicity, I push a plug into a socket and the light goes on. If it doesn’t, I whack the lamp a couple of times and that often helps.
Phalaenopsis Minho Princess orchid
This Phalaenopsis Minho Princess orchid was one of many varieties of orchid that can be found at the Hawaii Tropical Botanical Garden north of Hilo on the east side of the Big Island. For more information about Hawaii Tropical Botanical Garden, go to htbg.com.
Hawaiian stilts flying
’Aimakapa Fishpond, in Kaloko-Honokohau National Historical Park, is a good place to see the endemic Hawaiian stilt. Mostly they’re seen wading in the shallows, probing the mud with their long beaks. On this day, however, they took to the air.
I enjoy taking photos of birds in flight, but it’s a challenge. Challenge number one is getting them in the frame. Then there’s the small matter of tracking them and getting settings right. I’m constantly experimenting with the best way to get the picture. Usually I find that by the time I’m organized they disappear behind some trees or settle down again on the flats.
This time the birds were unusually cooperative. They headed out over the water, circled back and returned from whence they came. And they did this more than once so I was able to get a bit of practice in.
I do like seeing birds shot, photographically speaking, against a clear blue sky, particularly the stilts with those long, pink legs. But I also like the context of the water and greenery surrounding the fishpond. I don’t know what the white birds are as this fleeting pass was as good a look as I got. They might be some kind of gull, though gulls aren’t especially common in Hawaii.
For more information about Kaloko-Honokohau National Historical Park, go to nps.gov/kaho/index.htm.
Low clouds from Saddle Road
Many times when I travel on Old Saddle Road, there comes a point where I’m exiting the clouds or disappearing into them. I like to take photos in this zone, experimenting as the level of the clouds comes and goes.
The top photo has that transition from clouds to clarity, but I also like the ethereal quality of the lower photo as patches of sun illuminate the pastures below.
Abstracts: A wavy green turtle
A green turtle takes on a different appearance as it swims through the waters of Kiholo Bay. The original photo (above) already has an impressionistic look, but I experimented with a few effects and quite like the subtle difference of the posterized version below.
Graham's Island 