photo nelly

Footprints in the Sand

Taken on a quiet stretch of Maluaka Beach in South Maui near Makena and Wailea.

If you've checked around this site at all, you no doubt already know that I'm a big fan of Maui. And it also isn't hard to imagine that one of the popular things to do in Maui is to visit the beaches (you can view the beaches I've been to). You might not think there'd be a lot to photograph on a beach besides scantily clad toursits, but you'd be wrong.

While my wife takes her well deserved R&R stretched out on her favorite beach towel, I enjoy grabbing my camera and snapping photos that are going to bring that warm, sandy feeling back home with me. This is one of those photos.

It was taken during out April '08 trip to Maui when went beach hopping along the coast of South Maui. This was our second stop that day, and it was Maluaka Beach located about halfway between Wailea and Makena and across from the Maui Prince Hotel (view map). It's a little ways off the normal route, and since it is bordered by two large beaches on either end (Wailea and Big Beach), it wasn't very crowded when we were there. That means more room to stretch out and less people in your photographs.

Still, even though I wasn't sure of what I was doing, I still got this shot. I had my tripod buried in the sand, pointed towards the horizon and with some trial and error, this beauty appeared. I was just following some simple trial-and-error techniques to find out what works and it turned out well. Now, it's hanging up on the wall in my office at home.

Things to Note

This was not a planned shot by any means. I took this while walking back to where my wife was soaking up the sun after shooting for about an hour and happened to realize that she was so far away from everyone else. I turned around to get a few more shots and I noticed that mine were the only footprints in the sand for a good 100 feet or so.

Watching the waves get closer and closer as they washed up on the shore, I took a few test shots and timed this one just before my trail was erased by the ocean waves. You'll notice the direction of these footprints are facing the camera (obviously) because that was where I was walking to. Had I wanted to stage this shot, I probably would have had my wife walk away from me and take the shot with her footprints going the otherway. Regardless, I still like the outcome.

You might also be able to notice from those footprints that I shoot barefoot on the beach, the nearby grassy areas and the occasional lava rock formation that I've been known to scale to get a better shot. I never have been a big sandals person, and that feeling of sands under your toes is hard to match. That is unless it's high noon and the sand is scorching 110° F. Ouch!

One last thing to note is how the edges of the waves seem a little blurry and out of focus. That was my (somewhat failed) attempt to add motion to the scene by using a slightly slower shutter speed. You see that in great waterfall photos all the time, and I tried to incorporate that here with the waves. Not perfect, but it didn't wreck the shot, either.