Over the summer, I went on a trip to Kauai to photograph the stunning Napali Coast. This was mostly a honeymoon dinner cruise on a yacht, but I was allowed a few moments to photograph the coastline during it which I am very grateful for! The result was one of the most challenging, exciting, and exotic landscape photography experiences I have ever had.
Sunrise. The place, not the time of day, since we actually arrived for a hike in during sunset. Teague was joining me on this photography adventure once again! Leaving the parking lot, the hike took us through a large meadow behind the lodges and up the ridge. It was steep, but it was nowhere near as steep as the hike in Paradise.
A rather dangerous hike down if you aren't paying attention, but absolutely worth the risk for the wondrous enveloping landscape you can descend into! A gem of the PNW and overlooked component piece of the Columbia River Gorge worthy of the excursion!
A stunning hike in paradise turned into a lot more when stumbling across the last of the wildflowers from the season. A sunset added to the magic of the moment making for quite the imagery!
It only happens once per year that the colors come out like this, and capturing it is a mix of luck, skill, and planning. I feel very lucky to have captured a scene as beautiful as this one!!!
Not all landscape photography takes place at sunrise and sunset because sometimes you just can't be there then and a 'good enough' image is all you can get!
The RAW file is a very powerful tool that is misunderstood by many people. Editing images has gotten a bad rap recently, but I think there is a misunderstanding of why we edit and what makes a final image truly ready for sharing and print as a photographer and artist.