Tag Archives: Tanager Photography

Kihei and South Maui with a Toddler

Kamaole Beach Park III, Kihei, Maui, Hawaii

After Hana, we traveled around the empty and rugged southern end of Maui, up over the shoulder of Haleakala and back to Kahului, where we then proceeded south to Kihei, one of the most touristified places in all of Hawaii. Our trip was winding to a close, but we came for one reason: humpback whales.

Sunset in Kihei, Maui, Hawaii

It was December, the very start of whale season on Maui, and we reservations the next afternoon with the Pacific Whale Foundation in Maalaea. I was eager to see breaching humpbacks and watch the look on Varenna’s face.

After checking in, we drove down to the Mana Kai Maui and watched a too-good-to-be-true sunset over Kaho’Olawe and Molokini Island. Melon and salmon hues covered the horizon, with the occasional spout of spray from a humpback in the bay. They were out there.

In the morning, we visited Kamaole Beach Park II for a little sand and snorkeling before driving around to Maalaea. There’s not much to Kihei. It’s nice, and the beaches are sugary and pleasant, but just a handful of decades ago, this area was empty. Virtually no town existed. So as a result, Kihei looks and feels and acts as you would expect it to — a town built completely by modern-day condo tourism.

Humpback whale off South Maui, Hawaii

The whale-watching cruise was wonderful, but we were still a little too early to see the spectacular breaching of full-grown males. We came upon a pod of four males and a female, and there appeared to be some battling going on, but it was hard to tell. The side of a whale would emerge, its massive windmill-blade of a fin would wobble in the air and then come down hard on the surface of the water. This was usually followed by a set of whale tails indicating a dive, and then silence for another 5 minutes.

The only breaching we witnessed was a baby humpback whale, which was a good 1/2-mile away. He seemed to squirt out of the water like a submerged beach ball popping through the surface.

Varenna saw this spectacle through the fog of her napless, exhausted state. But I’m not sure her mind was processing what was what. She gets a better view of a complete humpback whale when she watches Octonauts.

Keawakapu Beach, Kihei, Maui, Hawaii

Our final day began with this exchange: “Varenna, let’s get your suit on. We’re going to the beach.”

“No! I don’t like the beach!” Ahhh, traveling with a toddler.

Truth is — of course — she loves beaches. Sand is a miracle substance for 2-year-olds. It molds, it falls apart, it falls through your fingers nicely. And waves? My God! Waves are awesome. No matter how many times they attack, retreat, then attack again, it never gets old. They’re like a knock-knock joke on repeat.

Swimming off Keawakapu Beach, Kihei, Maui, Hawaii

But toddlers will find a way to say “no,” especially when you are living out of a suitcase and everything is time sensitive.

So we reminder her of sand and how you can draw in it with your finger, got her suit on, and proceeded to Keawakapu Beach, where the water was calm enough for her float in the waves with her mom and grandparents. Bobbing in the water out there, with the perfect blue sky and idyllic backdrop of paddleboarders, occasional humpback whale spouts and the hulking slopes of Haleakala … not bad. This is why Kihei is worth it.

Swimming off Keawakapu Beach, Kihei, Maui, Hawaii

Our final stop of the trip was Polo Beach, which fronts the Four Seasons in Wailea just south of Kihei. We had a flight to catch at night, so keeping ourselves unsandy (if that’s the word) would have been nice, but how can you resist? Just as we all arrived on the crowded, sugary sands, a small commotion occurred. Everyone was pointing out at sea, and there, about a 1/2-mile from shore, was a massive whale tail slapping the surface of the sea repeatedly. It was a mother, showing her calf how its done. A smaller whale tail could be seen next to her, clumsily trying to do the same thing.

Why humpback whales “lobtail” like this isn’t fully known. It could be non-verbal communication to other whales (although their voices carry further), it could be a sign of aggression, or it could be a feeding practice which causes panic among prey and forces them to ball-up into tighter formation so the whale can have an easier time feeding.

Who knows, but it was a spectacular way to wave goodbye to us.

Polo Beach Park, Wailea, Maui, Hawaii

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Varenna on Lake Como: The Little Village We Love

Varenna on Lake Como, Italy

(Click on image for a larger view)

We sat under an umbrella, our table decorated with two glasses of wine and a plate of bruschetta. It was 2005, and this was my first visit to Italy … my first journey anywhere in Europe. We had arrived in Milan that morning, boarded a train, and immediately made our way north to Lake Como and a little village Rick Steves had gushed about named Varenna.

On the brick-lined shore before us, a father was teaching his two daughters how to skip stones. The warm, hazy sun gave the colorful village the appearance of a melted watercolor, and one of us — I can’t remember who — said to the other “Varenna would be a nice name for a little girl, wouldn’t it?”

Almost five years later, Varenna Autumn Day was born. Now almost 3, she has a lightness, a sense of humor, and a sweet innocence that illuminates my every day. And despite the times people ask how to spell her name, or mix it up and pronounce it Ver-EE-na, or confuse it with Verona or Ravenna, we still feel like we knocked it out of the park with her name. This town — with its vivid colors, wizard hat campanile, hilltop castle and compact lakeside location where the buildings seem to hug one another — is officially on the highest pedestal of any place I’ve ever been. Continue reading

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Sacro Monte + Villa Crespi, Orta San Giulio

Adam Huggins ascends into heaven, Orta San Giulio

From Piazza Motta, a cobbled street leads uphill to a sunflower-hued church. Rising from the church’s apex is a statue of Christ, who is flanked by two angels. His arms are open, his head is back, and he is facing the lake. Below him is a faded fresco so in need of restoration that it accurately depicts nothingness.

This is clearly a corner of Italy that has yet to benefit from the restoration industry that decorates much of the country’s skylines with cranes. In the basilica on the island, it was depressing to see how many frescos were etched with the initials and graffiti of assholes. It was art desecration. Vandalism. And it had been done most likely by tourists, judging by the volume and off-the-cuff, hurried nature of each scribe. Someone’s initials here, profanities there. You’d expect this sort of thing on a big oak in a city park. But on a 14th century masterpiece? What possesses people? Continue reading

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To the Island: Isola San Giulio, Italy

Boat and Isola San Giulio seen from Orta San Giulio, Italy

I have been a firm believer that a landscape is at its most aesthetically pleasing when its left untouched. But the Italians have truly challenged this notion for me. Throughout the country beautiful hills, idyllic lakes, rugged coastlines and verdant plains are rendered even more photogenic by old buildings, artful decay and pastel colors. Continue reading

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Escape to Orta San Giulio, Piedmont, Italy

Boats in Orta San Giulio on Lake Orta, Piedmont, Italy

Italy at once perplexes and enchants me. I can’t speak the language, the roadways are impossible to navigate without GPS, and this guy has been the on-again/off-again prime minister for 14 years.

Then again, it is easily the most densely packed pleasure palace on earth. Soaring wines and delicious mountain terrain. Colorful people and jolly little villages. Sinful cuisine and heavenly religious art. Cappuccinos. Ferraris on the autostrade. Parmigano reggiano.

When I’m not there, I daydream about it constantly. When I am there, I don’t believe I’m there… I’m like a stunned bird who just flew into a window. Continue reading

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Photographing Great Sand Dunes National Park – Part 2 (Into the Dune Field)

Footprints in the sand, Great Sand Dunes National Park, Colorado

So I set forth into the Great Sand Dunes with 32 ounces of water and my camera backpack. Climbing into the dunes is an exercise in deception. The approach is easy — perhaps a quarter mile over tightly packed sands. The first incline is like a slap in the face. “Oh yeah. I forgot … one step forward, half step back in sinking sand.” Continue reading

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Photographing Great Sand Dunes National Park – Part 1 Medano Creek

Medano Creek, Great Sand Dunes National Park

(click on images for a larger view)

Colorado is having a lean year. Not in terms of the economy, or even sports (yes, the Rockies are a farcical shit show, but we now have Peyton Manning). No, I’m talking about the most important resource where we’re coming up short: water. The summer of 2012 has so far been eerily like the summer of 10 years ago when “all of Colorado was burning.”

Whether this year is worse or not depends on perspective. The most destructive fire in our state’s history is still burning, and there have been four deaths. Just yesterday, two new fires erupted in heavily populated areas. But in 2002, monster wildfires were everywhere: Durango, Glenwood Springs, the Flat Tops, Trinidad, Cortez, and the one we all remember, the Hayman Fire, which simultaneously put the suburbs of both Denver and Colorado Springs on high alert and remains the largest fire in our history. In the end, which year is worse doesn’t matter. Summers like this are humbling. Continue reading

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How to Photograph the Matterhorn

how to photograph the matterhorn

Imagine you took the world’s 50 most famous mountains — Everest, K2, Denali, Fuji — and put their image on a flash card. Now imagine that you’ve flipped through the entire deck and quizzed yourself. Could you name most of these mountains based on their profile alone? The unique silhouette they cut into the sky? Odds are, only two of those mountains would be gimmes. Kilimanjaro and the Matterhorn. Even Kilimanjaro might be a maybe, but the Matterhorn? Their ain’t another mountain on earth that rivals its facade.

On the train ride into Zermatt last summer, I had my back to the town as we rolled up the tracks. What I saw in reverse was the sight of every passenger leaning out the train windows seeking their first glance of the Matterhorn. At one point, I turned around, looked up the hillside, and bam: there it was. The sight of it made my heart skip a beat. I’m not kidding.

Photographing the Matterhorn is easy. Creating a unique image that hasn’t been done before … now that’s hard. Here are some things I learned on how to photograph the Matterhorn during my all-too-brief stay in Zermatt last June. Continue reading

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Sosua, Dominican Republic

Sosua, Dominican Republic

In Colorado, where I live, you can see forever. Drive in from our airport (whose code should be BFE, not DEN), and you can easily see Pikes Peak some 80 miles south, and Longs Peak, some 55 miles to the north. Compass points of comfort — I grew up always knowing my place in this big, wide landscape.

Sosua, Dominican Republic

I bring this up because the Dominican Republic couldn’t be any more different in this regard. Driving along the North Coast Highway, from Puerto Plata to Playa Grande, you hardly ever see the ocean even though its within spitting distance to the left. Trees and development obscure the view most of the way, with only a few tantalizing glimpses of cerulean blue here and there. Continue reading

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Cabarete on the North Shore of the Dominican Republic

Cabarete beach sunset, Dominican Republic

Hailey, Varenna and I just returned last weekend from a six-day vacation in Cabarete, a beach town on the north shore of the Dominican Republic. We traveled with Hailey’s mom, Diana, who instigated the trip last April. The logic was like many vacations hatched for this time of the year: some place warm, with sand and surf. No other requirements.

Road side concession stand and dancers, Cabarete, Dominican Republic

Continue reading

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