One of my favorite places is Napili Bay on Maui. It feels so familiar and a bit like home now as we have been eight times over the last fifteen years, and always stay at the same condos. My parents have been bringing our family here since my boys were young and it is a very special family place with lots of memories. After we lost my mom two years ago, we went back with my dad and brother's family last summer. I didn't bring my telephoto lens and I was so disappointed when I visualized the image I wanted of the bay we stay at, and yet couldn't get it. I realized I wanted an abstract image for our home of this extremely special place. This summer, I packed the lens and had my shot planned out. The first few days of the trip, the sky was somewhat cloudy and the brilliant blues I wanted weren't there consistently. On the fifth day, I woke up to blue skies and the perfect shades of blue I had been waiting for in the water. I grabbed my camera and spent about an hour focusing on Intentional Camera Movement (ICM), which is a form of long-exposure photography. Each shot ends up completely unique and while I liked a few of them, when I checked them on my computer, the photo that I had envisioned wasn't there. So back out I went for another hour and I captured the exact shot I wanted! The only difference was that I had no idea the camera would pick up purples from the reefs in the bay. It was such an incredible feeling to see what I had envisioned come to life, but even better with more color than I anticipated. This shot captures all the blues of the bay along with purples from where the reefs are almost exposed, but right below the surface of the water.
Details: Abstract of Napili Bay, Maui
Canon 5D Mark III
Canon 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6l is ii
Breakthrough ND 6-stop filter,
Intentional Camera Movement with a .5 second exposure
