I got to spend a night in Hawaii a year ago entirely by accident, but I knew I wanted to come back and see more of the surf and sun. That chance happened recently as we traveled to Hawaii for a family affair. Golden hour without mountains seems different to me, so I wanted to make the most of every morning. That meant getting after it early each day to make sure I was set up where I needed to be.
Opening Morning at Sandy Beach
I scouted several locations online, but had no idea how long it would take to get out to them. I took off a couple hours before dawn to make it to the first location on my list, Sandy Beach. It took 20 minutes to get to the parking lot and I wasn’t sure what to do since I had so much extra time. I was expecting a longer drive due to our experience with traffic the night before. There were some locals having a bonfire on the beach, but it was otherwise empty, so I set off to find a spot where I could use the sunrise to my advantage.
I found some rocks toward the west end of the beach, and set up on a high point in them. (I like taking pictures of the surf, but I don’t like my equipment being in it.) And then I waited…
Until the sun came up and then pure photographic magic happened between the surf and sun.
Finding Photo Gold With the Sun
I stuck around for a few minutes shooting more scenes, then headed up the road to another beach, but found a viewpoint before I got there. It was windy on the ridge, but I think you’ll agree I had to stop for this shot…
I don’t think I’ve ever seen so much variation of color in one scene, and even though the wind was howling, it was totally worth hanging around to watch it. But, all things must come to an end, and I was on the move to the beach you see in the lower left of the photo.
Makapu’u Beach
I poked around on shore for a bit, looking for good angles and interesting scenes. The sun was still coming up around Makapu’u Point, so the beach was in the shadow at the moment. Just as the sun started to peek around the hillside, I got into the rocks on the shoreline. These rocks created tidal pools around the beach, and the sun brought a great reflective light to the water in the pools. What a great start to the day.
View more from my Hawaii gallery by clicking the link below!
