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Sunday, January 31, 2010
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Jan 2009 Newsletter
Aloha Everyone,
It was a busy holiday season and processing and posting new photos has been slow for me.
I haven't been to the lava flows since my last update since nothing much has changed and mostly due to the great weather we've been having here on the Kona side of the island.
Also, it rained for nearly a month straight on the Puna side of the Big Island. The lack of are usual trade winds is the reason for Kona's vog free great weather during this time.
Most of the new images are of the great scenery on the Kona side. I'm now able to have direct links to each gallery or even individual photos.
I've listed the galleries below and each has it's own direct link. Also, there are links to some of 2008's most memorable galleries for those who may have missed them.
Publishers and advertisers take notice. Time to replace those old photos of the Kona area.
Honokohau Harbor. I hiked in to surf and almost stepped on this junior Monk Seal as it was sleeping under a small tree right where I put my gear. The seal wasn't harassed to get the photos. He was sleeping soundly and snoring quite loudly. A couple of hikers did come along with 2 dogs that weren't on a leash and one ran up to the seal barking momentarily waking it. The seal barked back and the dog ran off. The seal was back to sleep in mere seconds. After my surf session the seal was now in the rocks with it's head in a small tide pool. It would doze off and it's head would go under water waking it up as it blew the water out of it's nostrils. Other then the dog no one harassed the seal and a park ranger was notified of it's presence.
This gallery is loaded with a mix of images from the Kailua Kona area shot in Dec 2008. Vog free weather in town by the peir both during the day and at sunset. Long exposure shots from both Banyan's and Lyman's surf locations at sunset. A beautiful day and evening along the hwy on the Hualalai volcano 1801 flow. Sunrise over Hualalai on a very clear morning. Full moon over town.
Easily the most stunning day I had ever seen in the area since 1991. Not that it was just vog free, the sky was amazing as was the contrast and detail of everything you looked at.
My day started before sunrise on a friends boat. (Thanks Pat!) There were views of the fresh snow on Mauna Loa volcano and the south Kona coast. After some successful fishing we made our way along the coast into Kealakekua bay. We continued along the coast back to Keauhou bay. Nice photos of the Keauhou Sheraton resort with Hualalai volcanoes summit in the background. Keauhou bay at it's best. The Sheraton viewed from the Kona Country clubs Vista restaurant. Pahoehoe county park.
The snow fell heavily from one large and long lasting storm at the end of the year. I made my way up to the summit just before sunrise. It was what I'd call a muted sunrise due to the heavy layer of high altitude clouds. There was a heavy layer of clouds bringing a steady rain to the Hilo side of the island. The sun gave a sliver of color for a very brief amount of time between these layers of clouds. The high clouds helped even the lighting and also caused the lighting to change constantly. I had the mountain to my self until an early morning snowboarder made his way up to the summit. There are two sequence's of photos of the snowboarder making his way along the ridge and then down the bowl of soft snow back to the road below. After about 8 hours I made my way down the volcano and back home.
Links to 2008 galleries from the lava flow activity.
It was an exciting year with the new summit eruption and the new ocean entry at Waikupanaha. The large explosions at the ocean entry in July allowed me to capture images with the exploding lava along with large waterspouts.
| Volcano Waikupanaha July 19-20 2008 Volcano Waikupanaha July 4th 2008 Volcano July 2008 Royal Gardens HVNP Halemaumau Eruption 2008 Royal Gardens Lava flows Waikupanaha Ocean Entry Flow |
It's already been a busy start to the new year and I have a lot of catching up to do.
Thank you and Mahalo to everyone who purchased prints of my work from either the galleries or directly from me in 2008! It ended up being a great year! Be sure and visit Krazy About Kona in the Kona Inn shopping village on Ali'i drive (808) 329-4749 and Trudy's Island Arts in the Kona International Market in the old industrial (808) 329-7711.
The new issue of Big Island Travel & Lifestyle is out and it features many of my images and stories along with my cover shot.
Don't forget to select the maximum number of images viewed per page with in a gallery and to view all the pages. The slide show feature is great for viewing and you can stop it at anytime to view specific images just by clicking on them during the slide show.
Aloha,
Bryan Lowry
lavapix.com
Bryan Lowry
lavapix.com
Friday, July 21, 2006
Wednesday, July 12, 2006
Lava Flow hike July 4th Weekend
Here are some photos from my latest hike at the active lava flows in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.
I went exploring and my main objective was the new channeled A'a flow that was flowing down the Pali's (cliffs, hillside).
The flow was going through the lower section of an old Kipuka (section of forest spared by earlier flows) and burning the trees and brush.
My hike started around 12:30am from the end of Chain of Craters road.
3 hours later I reached the flow.
For those of you thinking of heading out that way, I strongly suggest you don't!
I'm very experienced and the area surrounding the active tube feeding the ocean entry is very unstable!
It's not an area for the novice and faint of heart to be at!
Ok, back to the hike :-)
When I finally arrived the flow was making it's way down the last steep section of the Pali.
So, what would normally be a slow moving A'a flow was actually a sort of fast moving wall of glowing rock. For the unfamiliar, A'a lava sounds like dishes breaking as it moves along.
Very strong trade winds were blowing that night so, the smoke was staying close to the ground.
The photo above is from just before sunrise when the channel was still open. It crusted over shortly after that photo and the flow hit flat uneven ground which slowed it's pace nearly to a standstill.
The photos you will view at the link below show the progression of my night.
From lava flowing around and burning the trees to dawn and my hike back passing by a couple of small but nice skylights.
This is part 1 of my photos for this visit.
I will update soon with my shots of the sea arch and some nice infrared black and whites from the parks other areas.
Click on the link below and enjoy!
View photos here
Tuesday, June 20, 2006
Da First Blog
I finally have found time to post my first entry
Not much going on with the active lava flow for the last several months.
This has allowed me to pursue many other photo adventures.
My latest series of hikes have been close to home exploring the miles of under ground lava tubes of Hualalai volcano here on the Kailua Kona side.
These are very well preserved lava tubes that are multilevel and they take you into the depths of the island.
Very few know where they are.
That's why I wont show any obvious surface photos :-)
I dragged a friend along for the 8+ hours of mapping the under ground world.
There's plenty of sections that require crawling over nasty A'a lava. 
For those of you not familiar with A'a lava, it's like having shards of broken dishes fused into cement.
I always wear old disposable clothes because they shred quickly.
My wimpy/smart friend :-) wears longs pants and knee pads.
The hike ascends/descends depending on what direction you go, over 1000' in elevation.
There's 3 different skylights along the way to remind you where you are.
There are also many sub chambers to explore that require climbing gear to descend into.
It's amazing just how far into these tubes you find wild Goat skeletons.
It's as dark as dark gets down there! 
I carry 5 flashlights and extra batteries and 8 hour glow sticks.
There are plenty of sections where the ceiling partially collapsed (when the tube initially drained) that are tough to negotiate.
I've been exploring these tubes on and off for 14 years and I've barely gotten anywhere.
The biggest danger is if we have an earthquake and I get trapped.
I'll have to eat the rest of my fingers :-)
There's always someone who knows when I go on any of my adventures.
Strange things go on down there with cameras.
I've had several different types over the years down there and the flash never seems to work correctly or even photos are lost.
There's one area where cameras won't work at all.
No ancient burial grounds down there so that can't be the reason :-)
Maybe some kind of magnetic field?
Let me get some photos loaded and Aloha until my next adventure. 
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