The Machinery of Night

Friday, November 27, 2009

Foto Friday: W-W-W-WIPEOUT!

Since last week's FF was AWOL, today's FF will be in fabulous QuadroVision!

These pictures were taken at Ho'okipa Beach Park in May of this year. They're hand-held shots using a 70-200mm zoom at 200mm, so they're not the sharpest pictures in the world.

However, I am now convinced I need a longer lens, so I may capture the stark terror of man meeting ocean at high speed.

First up, a fellow making it look easy.

Next, a beautiful spray. Several surfers fishtailed their boards, presumably to achieve just this effect. I began to "help" them with my camera, "pushing" them up with the lens when they started to fall. I don't think this works. But it didn't ruin the photos, like I thought it would.

I'm not entirely sure what this man is up to. He's either performing an amazing gymnastic feat, or he's half a second from falling on his can. Possibly both. Nice spray, though.

And, finally, the classic wipeout.

Pictures almost as nice as mine here.

(This FF was delayed while I spent about fifty flippin' hours getting the image/text alignment right. There's still more space between the images than I want, but to hell with it. Interested/frustrated parties may read the six-year-old solution here. Look for the answer by "Birdman".)

Labels: Foto Friday, Hawaii, May 2009

Friday, November 13, 2009

Posted 10:04 PM by Angie Schultz

Foto Friday: Krakatoa, West of Kihei

Run! The volcanos are revolting! Oh, wait, that joke doesn't work.

Sunset from Kihei, Maui, Feb 2009

Fortunately, neither do the volcanos. According to the USGS, the last time that end of Maui erupted was 385,000 years ago. (As opposed to 400 years for Haleakala.) I'm sure it's just lulling us into a false sense of security. You can't trust volcanos.

This picture was taken from the rocky, smelly, seaweedy beaches of North Kihei. Nice sunsets, though.

And now, thanks to the miracle of Google Maps, I can show you a street view of the location:

Ta da!

Cross S. Kihei Rd. (first commending your soul to God, because you're likely to get run over) and enter through the little gate. That's a public shore access.

Continue down the little path until you come to the knee-breaking descent onto the beach. Try not to fall into the canal.

Just look at that sky! Look at that gorgeous weather! It makes me want to move to Maui. Oh, wait... My point is, that's an unusually beautiful day, even for Maui. No haze, no vog, no cane smoke.

Such is my deep and abiding love for my two or three readers that I spent hours, I mean fricking hours, trying to embed that damned view. I finally had to steal the essential piece of the code from a better blogger (cough) Lileks(cough).

There's not much of Maui covered so far, although one of my co-workers said he saw the Google car upcountry. Soon, you won't need me to show you Maui (sniff). On second thought...the Google car didn't take that picture of the sunset.

UPDATE: No, there was not an embarrassing typo in the title. You didn't see that.

Labels: Feb 2009, Foto Friday, Hawaii

Friday, November 06, 2009

Posted 10:28 PM by Angie Schultz

Foto Friday: Red Sky at Eve, Astronomers Grieve

Don't think there was much astronomy done that night. Nice sun pillar and crepuscular rays, though.

Sunset on Haleakala, May 2009

You can just see the peaks of the West Maui Mountains rising above the clouds.

That's the same sunset as this one, by the way.

You might like to see this APOD picture taken (by someone else, on another night) from the same vantage point.

Labels: Foto Friday, Hawaii

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