kona vacation

ahhhh. nothing like a little r & r to recharge the creative juices. we spent a glorious week on the big island of hawaii exploring the off-beat paths leading to adventure with our good friends ryan & desi. highlights include night lava sightings, watching the sun sink into the sea, tasting many different roasts of kona coffee, spotting dolphins, turtles and some mischievous feral goats :)

442 ft akaka falls in akaka falls state park:
442 ft akaka falls in akaka falls state park in hawaii by kern photo

the kona brewing company's gecko mascot shot while on an national geographic kern-photo assignment by ryan:
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i love this shot, also taken by ryan on his 2 megapixel waterproof point-and-shoot:
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exploring the volcanic wonders of hawaii volcanoes national park, trying to spell "L.O.V.E"... but it was difficult to make the letter "L" while shooting.
exploring the volcanic wonders of hawaii volcanoes national park,

it is amazing that life grows on the land of recent volcanic activity:
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it has been over 25 years since volcanic activity has occurred at the kilauea volcano, so we were in luck to view it both during the day (left) and night (right):
kilauea volcano eruption during day and night

hiking inside thurston lava tube at night was a cross between sh*t scary and halloween giddy (taken with only a halogen flashlight, a tripod, and 4 second exposure).
hiking inside thurston lava tube at night by kern photo

'we see dead people':
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as the thick vog (volcanic fog) rolls in, we pondered if this could be the last shot of us if the sulfuric gas blew our direction.
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we walked away normal... or did we?
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back to regular programming....

here's desi holding the world's biggest avocado we've ever seen and could call our very own :)
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and part of the delicious salad (sorry, the guac didn't make the photo because it got eaten too fast :)
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apple-bananas and lychee fruit.
apple-bananas and lychee fruit.

nicole defends the sand castle wall of sand before waves destroy her masterpiece.
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living in denver, we are about as far as one can get from the ocean in the continental u.s... so when we see a beach, we come running. here's my shadow-self portrait, something i've been shooting for over 10 years.
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a cheesy portrait (we actually do not have that many shots of us not taken by us, so thanks, ryan for this one!)
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panoramic view of the waip'o valley taken with a circular poloarizing filter and a 2-stop neutral density graduated filter.
panoramic view of the waip'o valley taken with a circular poloarizing filter and a 2-stop neutral density graduated filter. by kern photo

kona sunset.
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another cheesy photo to show our grandparents that we actually did have a really good trip:
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shot off the road on the hawaiian scenic belt loop
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i dig the the clean lines of this shot... which might make a good deskop shot.
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ditto for this one:
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the champagne ponds, where the sea water blends with fresh, volcanic-warmed waters.... ideal for an evening dip.
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another sunset... alas not green flash. i asked a few locales and because of the vog, they haven't seen the 'green flash' in about 6 months :(
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