In Search of a Rainbow

I arrived here on Kauai 2 months ago. I'm really happy to be here! When I first spent some time here I was fresh out of school,  landscape and travel photography was my focus. I was still working with film then, mostly slide film, and I think I have a few images scanned digitally from that era. Look for them, I'll post later this week.


Within a few years I was burned out on landscapes and had turned to portraiture. My interest in my surroundings didn't lag, I was fascinated with how environment affects people. Studio photography never interested me, true it is much easy to work in a controlled environment, but to make dynamic images in the studio I felt like I was just recreating scenes that existed outside. There is something that real life adds to images, being outside of the studio brings about a photographic experience that is truly unique. Light has everything to do with it. The hues and tones that ambient light add to an image convey the feeling or mood of the time captured. I can't always depend on ambient light to give me what I need, and I count on my 580EX's for that, but the light in the environment is always an important component in the image. Kauai is the perfect setting to bring out the best in people. The beauty of the island and the ocean surrounding it are superior to any studio I could build. I've always felt there was beauty everywhere in this world, but in some places I've been I've had to look very hard and perhaps be creative in identifying it. Kauai offers no challenge in this, no searching. This island inspires my eye to seek out landscapes again, and recently I asked myself if Kauai is more the subject of my photography and the individuals are just part of the picture. I'm not one to have my camera with me at all times. Many years ago I started to feel like I was working as soon as I held her (yes my camera is a she...) and that the effort and concentration kept me from being a participant. Instead of enjoying something I was documenting it... She started to interfere with my activities. So I put her away unless I was working. The other day I brought her along on a drive, I was seeking a rainbow to photograph that day from my website. I didn't find a rainbow but we drove past a waterfall and stopped. I decided what the heck, I'd photograph it from the scenic overlook. Not the most spectacular photograph of a waterfall, not the best light but still so much better than any studio! A lazy shot: the time of day was all wrong, I took one photo and didn't work my subject or hang around for the rainbow, but I live here now and I'll find the perfect rainbow to photograph eventually. I think I'll bring Her along more often when I don't have work scheduled from now on.