A Maui sunset

No words really necessary! But this is me so I will always find something to say! The sunsets happen really quickly here close to the equator, and every 30 seconds or so the scene and the colours have changed dramatically. The beauty of digital photography of course is that you can just go crazy with the amount you shoot and then edit back afterwards. Every view in Maui is picture postcard perfect, I have never visited any country with people so proud and careful to preserve the beauty of their island, except perhaps Iceland, but then there is more than just a glancing similarity between the two islands, both volcanic with extremes of temperature and precipitation, and to me - stunning beautiful and with landscapes that just fill me with emotion.

Up in the air

Aloha! I am in Maui with the fiancé celebrating my success at my company in 2011. I came in at number one in the world in my job role last year, and so we have been treated to a fairly luxe experience (and by fairly I mean HUGELY) of 4 days of all inclusive fun and activities on the stunningly beautiful island of Maui. It's my third time here, and for some reason, like some places you visit in the world it feels like home (and I so wish it was!) For the company's "Top Achievers" on day one a really special lunch laid on by the OC of the company is held and we were flown in or out by helicopter to a beautiful plantation owned by the famous Bev Gannon and Joe Gannon. WHAT a treat! We had chef demonstrations, wine tasting and champagne on the lawn of their beautiful house and then an exquisite lunch cooked by Bev and her team under canvas marquee tents in their gardens, with a live Hawaiian three piece band and hula girls to entertain us, just amazing! We then flew back by helicopter and had a tour over the amazing scenery and contours of Maui, I love flying by helicopter, it's like gliding through the sky, the next best thing to being able to actually fly by yourself I think :)

Miami Baby!

We had no idea when we booked a stop over in Miami on the way to Maui it would be Gay Pride weekend, SO much fun, but very busy.. what else could we do but drink Mojitos all day and watch the fun unfold??? :)

"Post Production" Edit

I am so used to shooting in digital colour, I wondered what it would be like to go back to "old school" and try to represent subjects in black and white only. I think its much more of a challenge and makes you focus alot more on the compositional elements, as you can't rely on the colour to lead the eye to where you want it to. I took some of my favourite nature shots from last year and gave them a "make over" in B&W filters, and surprisingly some I like more, there's something about the simplicity of B&W that makes you notice and appreciate the texture and lighting in a shot that much more readily, what do you think?