Humuhumunukunukuapua’a – Grand Wailea

19. July 2012 · Write a comment · Categories: Image a Day · Tags: , , ,

Today is the 200th day of the year and I’m still posting a new picture every day, can you believe it?  No neither can I!  All I can say is, don’t expect a picture on January 1st 2013 – I’m retiring from this picture a day nonsense.  That said, here’s today’s posting…

Now those of you who have visited the state of Hawaii will probably know that the Humuhumunukunukuapua’a is the state fish!  Yeah I didn’t know that states had a fish either.  But it also happens to be the name of the main restaurant at the Grand Wailea Resort and Hotel in Maui.

I promised the other day that I’d post some hotel pictures, because in truth this place we are staying at is absolutely beautiful.  So this evening after dinner I walked around the hotel taking some pictures.  The Humuhumunukunukuapua’a restaurant sits on a salt water lagoon and overlooks the sea.  The restaurant area is basically a number of thatched roofed buildings on stilts sitting on the lagoon and all around the restaurant are tiki torches lighting up the lagoon and leading you to and from the hotel and sea.

We haven’t actually eaten here as the prices are pretty high and the kids just wouldn’t enjoy it, so we tend to eat off the hotel’s property in restaurants around the area.  But we walked past the restaurant and I just had to take a picture, and it came out (I think) really well.

Lisa was concerned that it was too dark as the sun had well and truly set – it was completely dark, only the tiki torches and the lights from the hotel let you see what was around.  But a long exposure brought out the blue night sky and the water reflection of the trees.  You can even see the remains of the sunset in the far distance.

I took some other shots of the hotel that I’ll post in the coming days, and I’m sure when you see these you are gonna wanna stay here too.

This afternoon Carter and Master Chief decided to have a chat, at the bottom of the pool.  Very cool having a helmet with air in it all the time!

Restaruants – Carillon Point

20. June 2012 · Write a comment · Categories: Image a Day · Tags: , ,

I’ve posted a few pictures of Carillon Point and talked about the waterfront, harbor and the restaurants and Woodmark Hotel.  All the other shots I’ve posted have been down by the water, I posted one image that looked down at the water from the upper area where the shops and restaurants are but nothing really from around the shops and the hotel.

So tonight’s image is from the upper section.  There’s this really nice paved area that is almost like a very large roundabout with shops.  Cars can drive round the area to drop people off or you can hand your car to a valet service for the restaurants and hotel.  But there is very little traffic.  In the middle are these large pillars with lights on top and a seating area where you can sit and watch the world go by.

Around the outside of the roundabout are a number of restaurants, shops and, of course, the hotel.  You can’t actually see the hotel in the shot below (it’s to the left of the image), but you can see the restaurants and bars lit up.  It’s actually a really nice quiet place to hang out (if it’s a nice evening).  You can enjoy a lovely meal while watching the sun set over Lake Washington (that was behind me when I took the shot).

Party time tonight as the new camera is here tomorrow, so Carter and Master Chief helped me blow up some balloons.

Market Neon – Seattle

19. June 2012 · Write a comment · Categories: Image a Day · Tags: , , ,

I know what you’re thinking, how many nighttime neon shots can you take?  Well the answer is quite a lot.  Ironically tonight’s image is the subject that gave me the original idea that started this off.  I remember driving past Pike Place Market one night on my way home with James, and seeing the sign lit up.  It was one of those “oh I’ll come back and get that another time” moments.

Well several weeks later (and after one failed attempt when I drove to Seattle and the sign was not turned on) I finally got the shot.  The market was empty and the sun had set.  There were actually a few people standing below the sign taking the same picture but I’m sure mine is best (joke).

I was lucky as I managed to find a parking place actually in the market, so it was literally drive up, grab the shot and go home.

One of the challenges I have is that I don’t go to that many new places – I do work for a living you know.  When I do go somewhere I take loads of shots of the same thing, and then find myself with a dilemma.  Do I post all my night time shots of Pike Place or not?  If I was posting less frequently I would be much more selective but I really don’t have that luxury.  I posted a similar nighttime shot of Pike Place back on June 1st, but that was a different sign so I’m letting this one go up too.

On a positive note, my new camera (Nikon D4) will be here in two days time and I know I’ll be out and about with that and am bound to get some exciting new images.  Arguably not because the camera is better, but just because I’m excited to go out and play with a new toy.  There is a whole back story to the camera, which I will post when it arrives, so look out for that.

The guys were feeling musical tonight, so made themselves an instrument and gave us a song.  It was terrible!

Night Skyline – Seattle

09. June 2012 · Write a comment · Categories: Image a Day · Tags: , , ,

You have to be careful going out after dark with a camera as you can get overly addicted to these kind of night shots.  I drove to Seattle to get a neon image of Pike Place at night and decided to drive around town after to see what I could find.  I went down to the waterfront to shoot some of the piers and went looking for somewhere to park.

Across the road from the waterfront is the Seattle Alaskan Way Viaduct.  This carries the SR 99 from north to south Seattle and is soon going to be torn down.  Under the viaduct (or really just past under the viaduct) is a car park.  I pulled in, to park the car so I could go and shoot the piers and thought the city buildings looked great.  So I grabbed this shot.  As it was pretty late there weren’t too many people walking around but as you can see there were still some cars left.

Ironically, I liked this shot more than the piers I photographed, so I thought I’d post it tonight.

This is a long exposure with a small aperture which gives me the star looking lights and brings out the night blue sky.

Had to do some home improvements this weekend, the Halo guys stepped in to help out and stopped for a picture!

Night Market – Seattle

01. June 2012 · Write a comment · Categories: Image a Day · Tags: , , ,

After my night shots in Bellevue, I thought I should do some more night neon pictures, so this evening I drove to Seattle to see what I could get.  I started off in Pike Place Market and took this picture overlooking Elliott Bay.

The market was pretty deserted so I was able to park up right in the market and walk around with the tripod and get some nice shots.  I chose this one as the first to post as I liked the contrast of the blue sky and the pinky-red neon.  Also the ferry in the distance came out really well, add to that the cool little fish in the corner and I had a nice image.

I tried to get a shot actually in the Market as well as it was empty and I figured how often can you take a picture in there with no people, but a security guard told me I wasn’t allowed!  I have no idea why, all I wanted to do was take a picture but he was quite big and a little scary looking so I just moved on.

Tomorrow I’m going to another car show (I like cars) so I may post something from that tomorrow.

Master Chief did some yard work today and needed some help cleaning up.  Carter helped.

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