Heading out to shoot sunrise from a location an hours drive from where I was staying I was hoping to catch some shots of the Milky Way rising over the Pacific from the road. The clouds cover was total as I left and didn’t stayed the same for most of my drive. I did briefly get this one shot through the fast moving clouds before the gap was gone. Afterwards I continued around the northern tip of the island to head towards my location for sunrise.

I arrived at Pololu Valley Overlook as the horizon was beginning to color. I knew a quick descent would be required to make it to the beach below to capture the sunrise. This image is taken through a gap in the trees on the rocky winding trail that doublebacks a few times as it makes the 350ft descent to the valley below.
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Once I got down to the beach I made my way across the rocks looking for a good spot to setup my tripod to do some longish exposes to capture the flow of the water onto the rocks with the sun illuminating the morning haze behind.
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This 2 minute long exposure was taken as the sun rose higher out of the haze the warm sun rise colors cooled. The waves were stil swishing up against the rocks but when exposing for two minutes they smooth out to form an ethereal mist. While I sat on the rocks watching the carbs scuttle and breathing the cool morning air.
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Once the sun has come up and the light is no longer changing fast its good to pause from the long exposures and wide vistas and just take on the scene around you. It’s also good to snap a few pics of the smaller and less dramatic things around you.
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After shooting the sunrise it was great just to sit and watch the waves crash in before making the 300ft ascent back to the car, where a morning of packing and a looong flight back to New Jersey and reality would waited for me. From Instagram: http://ift.tt/2kH6m9E

A few times in the climb back up to the car I stopped to take in the view back along the coast. Into the distance the wrinkles of the landscape stuck out into the morning haze, giving a wonderful sense of distance and depth as the further ones faded into the haze. Then for me it was back to the car, the airport and back to reality.
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