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After almost an entire year since I first dreamt up my little day calendar idea, it has come full circle with a selection of 366 photos from my multiple trips to Maui over the years.

Surely an undertaking that I admittedly entered into lightly, it was nothing short of a huge relief choosing that last photo to close out the set (for now). I have slightly larger plans for this imagery than the current Maui Photo Day Calendar gadget and feed, but in the meantime I wanted to have something to commemorate the completion of this effort.

Introducing My Wall of Aloha

What I came up with was a quick way to see all 366 photos in one place, and my Wall of Aloha was born. Sure, it takes a while to load up all those photos on a single page, but once it finishes downloading into your favorite browser, you have an entire island awaiting the click of your mouse.

Those who know me, either in real life or online, know the impact that Maui and the Aloha Spirit has had on my life in the last few years. And as far as my photography goes, it was perhaps this photo and that first day on the Valley Isle that could be considered the epicenter of this next creative phase of my life.

It has meant so much, in fact, that I’ve added this page to the main site navigation all the way up there at the top. Just click on Aloha and enjoy.

– Kris

An HDR shot I attempted because I wanted to capture something decent with this view, but the lighting of just a single exposure wasn’t right. The grassy area and trees in the foreground, which I ended up cropping out anyway, where just too dark and the clouds above me (also cropped) weren’t helping the overall balance.

Still, I was really stunned with the level of detail that I still managed to capture in the valley at the base of the mountains, and even the ridges in the slopes as well. I did more work than usual in post and with TopazAdjust to bring out some detail and take out some noise, and was very pleased.

Of course, it’s hard to get a feel for the image with this currently resolution, so click on it for a link over to Flickr and select the option to see it full size.

There’s just something about the nature and power of waves that I find very raw and forceful.

Yes, I’m still going through photos from our Maui trip this past February. This is a shot from the northern end of Keawakapu Beach, where we had our vacation portraits taken by the wonderful Natalie Brown. Anyway, there is so much going on in this shot, with the golden sand and the lava rocks in the foreground, the cloud-capped West Maui mountains on the horizon, and the blanket of clouds filtering out patches of blue sky.

I wish I could say I purposely composed this photo with all of those elements intentionally, but I think I was really only framing the mountains with the rocks. Very happy with the result.

A good part of this walkway is actually made up of wooden boards on the ground, which was a little different than walking in the sand along the beach. Lots of greenery to match the blue skies on a bright sunny day, enough shade here and there to keep you cool, and multiple turns and bends to help you lose track of just how long you’ve been walking.