wet cave, ke'e, kauai

last week i went to one of my favorite places, but got skunked. the waves just weren't happening and the light wasn't too good either. since i was in the neighborhood i decided to shoot the wet cave instead. sometimes you gotta have a plan b. 

recently i have tried to shoot more inland, away from the beaches and ocean. try to expand my portfolio mauka or mountain side. this has led me to the hanalei taro fields and hanalei river three or four times in the last three or four weeks. and yesterday, i saw a nice sunrise sky changing colors over young taro, that, just a few weeks ago didn't even have any leaves.

green taro and pastel sky, hanalei, kaua

when i go out for sunrise or sunset pics i generally stay in one area, and usually don't even move more than 20 feet or so. i kinda camp out i guess, committed to that spot, but not necessarily that single perspective. and i always try to look behind me to see what i can see.

refuge

hanalei refuge, hanalei, kauai

this shot of the red sky and hanalei river looks back into the hanalei wildlife refuge. it was taken with a 16-35 lens and it is held steady at the 16mm  focal length. nine minutes later i got in tight to the sky with a 70-200 and peaked right over the mountain to get my favorite shot of the day.

horse tails and chariots

horse tails and chariots, hanalei, kauai

sometimes it's good to go mauka.

aloha,

lee 

winter is here! well, hawaiian winter anyway. this gives us a chance to wear our jeans, drink cocoa with hot coconut milk (yum!), and snuggle up with cats while reading a good book on an overcast day with wind and rain. so what if it ain't so sunny as in summer. it's all good.

for a twist

for a twist, lumahai

the last couple of days have been pretty cool, and the accompanying north swell have reminded us that the season's have changed. while we don't really have fall, we do have a distinct winter. it's primarily seen in the ocean-- with waves returning to our north shore, the triple crown going down on oahu and yes, the occasional grey days that sometimes seem to run together for longer than we would like. 

but really what's not to like? it's all present. change. rain is just rain. grey is just grey. sun is just sun. preference is just in our mind. in a way, so are sensations on the body because although the body feels the warmth or the coolness it is registered in the mind. and in the mind those feelings are organized, and of course, judged, valued, liked, and disliked. 

rainbow wave breaking, lumahai

recently i have been re-reading one of my favorite book Freeing the Body, Freeing the Mine. It is edited by yogi and psychologist Michael Stone. this morning's essay was on mindfulness of the body. at first it seemed strange to me that a spiritual thought, much less such a huge spiritual endeavor  as liberation or moksa, would even consider the body! but the buddha is wiser then me and once that i realized the body is just a metaphor the physical or the here and the now-- the world and life in the world-- it began to make sense. it's brilliant. the spiritual is in the physical. actually there is only one. there is really no separation nor distinction. it's just all there is. so i guess there is really no winter nor summer. it's just the physical. it's just the spiritual. it's just experience of what is now. without terms, without judgement and without preference. it's all the same, just different. 

morning in hanalei hanalei on a day (there is no winter, there is no summer), princeville

mana is a polynesian concept of great energy and power. i have heard of it in the tahitian, rapa nui, and hawaiian languages and have felt it for real on maui, oahu, kauai and rapa nui.

one of my favorite ways to experience mana is through the surf, the ocean and her waves. 

mana means power, lumahai, kauai

lumahai beach on the north shore is one of the most powerful places on kauai. mana just overflows the beach as wave after waves pounds the sand in an uproarious spectacle of ever changing volume.

rainbow falling, lumahai, kauai

naomi was looking for shells on the narrowest lumahai beach that i have ever seen. waves were mackin' deep off shore-- 25 foot bombs, at least-- and i was just taking it all in. absorbing the mans as if the power could seep into my skin from the salt and spray of these magnificent waves. the hawaiians believed that you could indeed take mana into you body. they said that it stays in your bones and gives strength, courage, wisdom, and even compassion. 

aloha, 

lee

mana's here, lumahai, kauai