Guest Article – Photographing the Big Island of Hawaii

By Rick Decker

Websites: Photographs at PBase Light Reflection (Personal Website)

You’re going to Hawaii and spending a week on the Big Island.  You’ve seen those pictures of beautiful beaches with white sand, blue skies, and lush greens, classic waterfalls and girls in hula.  You probably think taking photographs on the most diversified of the Hawaiian Islands is a piece of cake. After all, the guidebooks say that it has something like 23 or 25 the world’s 28 microclimates.  It has huge mountains towering over 13,000 feet, gorgeous blue water, beautiful sand beaches, rainforest jungle, ocean cliffs, grasslands, spectacular tropical flowers, orchids, a smattering of deserts, and an active volcano that is pouring lava (much of the time) into the ocean.  Voila – National Geographic here you come.

Not so fast.  All these micro-climates packed into 4,000 square miles, in the middle of the Pacific, with an active volcano pouring out lava and pollution, foster a variety of always-changing weather conditions. If you want to be successful photographing the Big Island you have to understand how conditions change and affect the parts of the Island including wind direction and local versus non-local conditions.  If you don’t, you may very well spend too much time being in the wrong place at the wrong time. When you do, you will realize that it is not by chance that Starbucks in Waimea has a fireplace; the Kona airport is open-air; chains can be required on the road up to the summit of Mauna Kea; four-wheel drive is required to get to Green Sands Beach and many others; the viewing areas at and near to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park can be closed due to wind shifts; and lava activity turns on and off quite regularly although not for any length of time. Do you think those beaches with lots of palms and green vegetation got that way with just sunny days?  Don’t look for sunrises and sunsets like those of the American West; we don’t have red rock to light up with the exception of the top of Mauna Kea. The west side of the island has three volcanoes (13,700, 13,800 and 8,300) which block the very early morning light on much of the Kona side.   On the Hilo side, often there is a marine layer affecting the intensity of the early morning light. And on the Kona side, this marine layer can cause you to lose your light well before the sun sets.

There is no rainy or dry season such as you get on the mainland.  Surf is big in the winter and small in the summer.  Whales can be seen from mid-December through early April. The formal name of the Big Island is “Hawaii” like the state. It is generally referred to as the “Big Island” as it is over 2x bigger than all the other islands combined and it minimizes confusion with the state name.  Furthermore, there is no such town as Kona.  The town is formally called “Kailua-Kona” to differentiate it from the town of Kailua on the island of Oahu and other towns named Kailua on other islands.  Actually, there is no district of Kona, only North Kona and South Kona but there is the “Kona Coast” which crosses district lines.

First, let’s divide the island into what I would describe as “Photographic Zones”:

Hilo/Hamakua Coast (to North of Hilo)
Volcano
South Point/Green Sands Beach
Kona Airport to South Point
Waikoloa/Kohala (Beaches)
Waimea
Mauna Kea/Loa and Saddle Road
Waipio Valley
Pololu and Kapoloa Falls

Now let’s talk about some weather generalities:

When it rains in Hilo, it is generally sunny on the other side of the island. When it rains in the other side, it is generally sunny in Hilo. When the trade winds blow, the volcano is generally polluting the Kona Coast, from the Park all the way up to Keahole (Kona) airport.  Sunsets are muted and the horizon is often hidden. It is not conducive to wide-angle photography.

Downtown Kona

Kekaha Kai Beach

Surfing Kona

When a south wind blows, the  current viewing sites at Kalapana is often closed and there is reduced viewing at the Jaeger Museum in the Park. Hilo (HE-low) gets about 130 inches of rain a year, the wettest city in the US. The Hilo area has gorgeous parks, waterfalls and botanical gardens. There are photo opportunities in both sunlight and overcast conditions. Infrared is a good option when it is sunny.

Jungle Stream

Near Hilo

Lady Slipper Orchid

Conditions at Volcano vary.  Don’t depend upon the weather forecast.

Lava Water Entry

Lava Water Entry 2

South Point is best shot in mid-to-late morning and this include the Gallows and Broken Road.  Green Sands beach, an hour hike and 20 minute 4wd ride, is generally sunny and good shooting most of the day.

South Point

Green Sands Beach

Waikoloa and Kohala Coast have some of the best beaches and have less volcanic pollution (vog). The beaches can be shot in mid morning as colors are stronger and skies are generally sunny. Waikoloa beaches have good sunsets although you can get that marine layer.

Waikoloa Sunset

Kohala Sunset

Waikoloa Sunset 2

Waipio Valley has opportunities in a variety of weather conditions.  Sunlight at the beach and the confluence of the river.  Overcast as you go into the rainforest area. They may be excluding rental cars and are now requiring full 4wd as opposed to AWD. Pololu lookout is an afternoon shot. The valley is pretty but not as pretty as Waipio (y-P-o). I am not sure if the Kapoloa Falls (800 feet but narrow) trail is open.

Waipio Valley Coast

Waipio Valley Stream

Waipio Valley Taro Field

Mauna Kea and the Saddle Road offer owls on fence posts (morning and afternoon), wild flowers (really invasive weeds but pretty) in the spring and snow on the summit up to 9 months a year. Sunsets can be spectacular with views of the coast, the channel and Maui forming a backdrop for the observatories.  It can be cold on the summit year-round.  The wind is the killer not the temperature. You want mixed sunlight or low fog on the slopes which occurs regularly.

Mauna Kea Observatory

Mauna Kea

Mauna Loa in Spring

Waimea offers green grasslands and is considered by many to be the rainbow capital of the world – right out by the Parker Ranch rodeo arena. The island has a strong rodeo tradition and Parker Ranch can direct you to an island-wide schedule. Mana road is an interesting drive until it goes 4WD. Keahole Point, adjacent to the Keahole-Kona airport, is a good place to photograph when the surf is rocking and the lighthouse is a good place for whale-watching from shore.

Keahole Surf

Breaching Humpback

The City of Refuge, about 40 minutes south of Kona, is a good location for afternoon photography and for infrared in the mid-to-late morning.

City of Refuge

Painted Church IR

There are a good variety of petroglyphs, some of the best being at the Mauna Kea Hotel north of the Keahole Airport.

Waikoloa Petroglyph

But I don’t write this to scare you away or to be a purveyor of doom and gloom.  There are plenty of great opportunities all around the island just about any time.  You just have to know where to be and to get there.  If you can, the best way to start your day is to do a quick review of all the web cams.  You don’t have to (necessarily) be somewhere set up before sunrise like you (always) need be in the West.  I suggest this because you may change your plans depending upon what you see.  In addition, there are phone numbers to call about conditions at the volcano and on Mauna Kea. You can google this stuff quite easily. And, the weather is always great.

Kona Sunset

About Rick Decker:

“I started doing photography in 1969 when I took a European discharge from the US Army and drove an old Volkswagen van across Europe and North Africa. One of my first pictures was of an impoverished people on a train station in Yugoslavia and is still a favorite. I remember thinking “there’s a picture” and rushing to get my camera (Pentax Spotmatic) out and set up to capture the moment as my train was pulling away.

“I didn’t shoot seriously until I started Scuba Diving in 1978 at which time I put my Spotmatic in Ikelite housing. Eight years later I was introduced to the desert by a friend and started shooting landscape photography. My preference is to record the earth without signs of civilization so you will not find people and/or man-made objects in most of my pictures. Living in Hawaii on the Big Island since 1997, I spend most of my photographic time shooting Hawaii Above and Hawaii Below Water. Although I love living in Hawaii, as a photographer, my heart is in the desert and the American West.

“I have taken well over 20,000 pictures in the last 20 years. And yet I have vivid recollections of most of my favorites – racing across the sand dunes to beat the sun; timing a wave; waiting for the best moment in a sunrise; or trying to get into the right position to shoot an underwater scene. Recognizing a potential picture, positioning the camera, and composing these shots are deeply ingrained in my memory and I relive them every time I see the picture. I would imagine that other photographers have the same memories.”