Instagram Favorites Early 2018

Instagram Favorites

Happy Birthday to ME! It’s also time for an Instagram Favorites post. Since I have not been traveling as much, these posts are fewer and further between, but I just got back from The Big Island of Hawaii, so if you missed them, enjoy!

Hiking to a Goal

Having just left Hawaii I can’t help but think about it constantly. It was warm and full of adventure and time with my favorite person in the world…what’s not to love! This last trip was my 9th to the Hawaiian Islands, and my next will mark a very momentous occasion. When you enter Hawaii, the State of Hawaii ask you to fill out a declaration form on the plane. On the back is an optional demographic survey and they ask how many times you have been to Hawaii. I know this is coming and I always have to count my trips there. This next time (though I will still count one last time) should be the point I hit 10 or more and no longer have to prepare! That is probably a silly goal, but the one I will share today…I just might have others.

Photo Technical Info

  • Aperture: ƒ/8
  • Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark II
  • Taken: 31 August, 2014
  • Focal length: 23mm
  • ISO: 100
  • Shutter speed: 1/125s
  • Title: Hiking to a Goal

The Pain of Love

I have seen the Lehua all over Hawaii. It is often a pretty common site, but up until a recent trip to the Big Island I did not know the Legend of Ohia and Lehua and how they were forever joined on the islands.

Photo Technical Info

  • Aperture: ƒ/2.8
  • Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark II
  • Taken: 25 May, 2015
  • Focal length: 35mm
  • ISO: 100
  • Shutter speed: 1/320s
  • Title: The Pain of Love

Lonely Tree Near is Death

I have visited this location many times. Every time I go, I visit this tree on my hike. I have always loved this spot…it’s one of my favorite places in the world. That has to do more with how it makes me feel than anything. It’s part of my ritual, I get up early and drive down a “road” no car should ever go down. I laugh and curse the whole way. I sit alone on a small beach. I hike.

Hawaii and the ocean make me contemplate the cycle of life; of impermanence. You can hardly help but notice, the whole place is a giant battle. Birth, life and death.

Here you have the sea, peaceful.
One day comes fire and pain and birth.
Slowly the sea calms the fire, but it has torn a hole in her.
She patiently spends eons breaking back down the scar the fire left.
Eventually, the sea will win, but few will remember.

I haven’t been back recently and I fear my tree is now gone. Everything returns to the sea.

Photo Technical Info

  • Aperture: ƒ/5.6
  • Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark II
  • Taken: 26 May, 2015
  • Focal length: 35mm
  • ISO: 250
  • Shutter speed: 1/1250s
  • Title: Lonely Tree Near is Death

Dress of the First Lady

A quick photo from Arkansas and the William Jefferson Clinton Presidential Library. I unfortunately missed WHO designed this dress, but it is absoutely exquisite. If you click the photo you can hop over to get a big version and really zoom in. The gold thread weaving is absolutely incredible!

Photo Technical Info

  • Aperture: ƒ/4
  • Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark II
  • Taken: 2 June, 2017
  • Focal length: 18mm
  • ISO: 1000
  • Shutter speed: 1/100s
  • Title: Dress of the First Lady

A Deserted Space Mountain

Early, Early, Early!

This sight might, for some Disney goers seem unimaginable. A nearly deserted Space Mountain. All I will say is get to the part early. Go deep into the park, ride the things you want first thing. I think I rode Space Mountain three times before lines stated forming and I ventured off to another of the many joys at Disneyland!

Photo Technical Info

  • Aperture: ƒ/8
  • Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark II
  • Taken: 16 August, 2014
  • Focal length: 16mm
  • ISO: 100
  • Shutter speed: 1/500s
  • Title: A Deserted Space Mountain

Tokyo, A Black and White Night

I often get tired during international trips. The time changes, though I like to think myself a good adjuster really throw me for a loop at times! I am often back in my room before dark, and often get shots out the windows, especially if I am high atop the city with a fantastic view. This is one such nite in Tokyo, Japan.

Photo Technical Info

  • Aperture: ƒ/4
  • Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark II
  • Taken: 14 March, 2015
  • Focal length: 16mm
  • ISO: 100
  • Shutter speed: 8s
  • Title: Tokyo Black and White Night

Chinese Garden in Sydney Austraila

Looks can often be deceiving! Looking at this garden you would think it was in China, but you would be mistaken. This is the Chinese Garden of Friendship in Sydney, Australia. It is a small garden space and a nice spot is you have an hour or two to sit and explore.

Photo Technical Info

  • Aperture: ƒ/4
  • Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark II
  • Taken: 17 March, 2015
  • Focal length: 35mm
  • ISO: 800
  • Shutter speed: 1/500s
  • Title: Chinese Garden in Sydney Austraila

Lighthouse in Oahu

Hiking

This is one of my favorite (very public) hiking places on Oahu. There is a very basic paved up hill path that will really get just about anyone’s heart pumping, including the massive footballer I saw one time doing lunges while hiking up hill! There are also some “not so basic” and somewhat more dangerous, but less populated areas that can be fun if you do your research ahead of time, know the dangers and respect the awesome kill you in a second power of nature. This is one of my favorite spots to just sit and take in the view of the lighthouse.

Photo Technical Info

  • Aperture: ƒ/4
  • Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark II
  • Taken: 19 January, 2014
  • Focal length: 35mm
  • ISO: 100
  • Shutter speed: 1/640s
  • Title: Lighthouse in Oahu

A Room at Bahia Palace in Marrakech

Intricate Beauty

This is but one of the ornate rooms that make up the beautiful Bahia Palace in Marrakech, Morocco.

Photo Technical Info

  • Aperture: ƒ/2.8
  • Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark II
  • Taken: 26 April, 2015
  • Focal length: 16mm
  • ISO: 3200
  • Shutter speed: 1/250s
  • Title: A Room at Bahia Palace in Marrakech