A Year (and a Half) in Photos, Part One

I warned you all that I would inundating you with photos, so here goes.  Though I feel a little weird about posting these, I do have some photos from 2010 (from before I moved to VA) that I’d like to share.  Mostly because these were photos I took either while traveling or just while practicing with my camera.  My style has changed a lot over the last year and a half, so I think it’s interesting to compare some of these older shots with the stuff I’m capturing now.

Anywho, I’ll try to keep this mess in somewhat chronological order.

In May of 2010, I spent a week in Hawaii working at Camp HM Smith.  I was uber busy for most of the week, but I did spend one whole day sightseeing.  I drove around the entire island in my little convertible mustang.  I stopped at Waimea Valley, and went on a two mile nature hike.  I visited the Polynesian Cultural Center, and paid my respects at the Valley of Temples and the Byodo-In.  It was a great solo trip, and I would love to go back sometime when I can actually do a little more exploring.  Here are some of my best captures from that trip.

 

Took this on the beach right behind my hotel.  There were so many people on the beach that day, I’m not sure how I was able to capture this without it being cluttered with passersby.

Then I spun around 180 degrees and captured this one.  By the way, I stayed at the Outrigger Reef on  the Beach.  If any of you ever have the misfortune of staying in Waikiki (seriously, go somewhere else — Waikiki is too touristy), this is a fantastic hotel.

Taken at Waimea Valley.

Waimea Valley.

Waimea Valley.

Waimea Valley.

This waterfall was at the end of the hike.  I just got lucky that there was a man sitting in it at that moment.  It was almost like he was posing for me.

I remember that I didn’t even like this photo in color, but I like how it turned out in B&W.  I like how distinct the veins of the petals appear.

Taken at the Polynesian Cultural Center.

Polynesian Cultural Center.

Byodo-In Temple in the Valley of Temples.  It was so beautiful and peaceful there.
 

These next few photos were taken over the summer of 2010.  I spent some time photographing Delaney and Ryan at home and at the pool, my dog Bruce, and I played around with photographing fireworks on July 4th.

This is, to this day, one of my most favorite photos that I’ve taken.  I just love the composition, the saturation of colors, all of it.

The only thing that drives me crazy about this one is the leaf in the water.  Had I had the tools and knowledge then that I have now, I would’ve edited it out.  I supposed I could still do that, but… nah.  That was my level of experience at the time I took that picture, so I don’t really want to modify it now.

She really thought that surely two pairs of goggles would be better than one.

I heart this photo.

Shooting fireworks is hard.

Especially when you’re shooting both the fireworks and the camera.

These photos aren’t exactly what I was going for, but hey, it was a learning experience.  And I do like them.  I just wasn’t expecting them to be so abstract-y.

Bruce at 4 months old.  You ought to see my little beer keg now!

Bruce at 4 months.

You can see that his big pup teeth were coming in.  And I could already tell that they were going to stick out!  Squeal!!

Delaney playing dress up in my clothes.

Playing dress up in my clothes and shoes.  This was a candid shot that just turned out kind of perfect.

I think that’s all of the pre-move-to-Virginia photos that I wanted to post.  More to come!

Cheers,
Felina