Ani Trone

I started editing some additional photos again this evening from our trip to Kauai where we visited Waimea Canyon. This was a part of the trip I was really looking forward to going and experience because of the reviews I read, the photos I saw online and well frankly I have never seen the Grand Canyon, so when I read Waimea is nicknamed the “Grand Canyon” of Hawaii it was a definite must see.

Rick and I drove along hwy 56 and made several stops along the way, we stopped briefly at Wailua Falls; featured of course in the intro to Fantasy Island, too crowded and sun too bright to get any actual quality photos. After the falls we drove into Lihu’e to Po’ipu and took a look at the Spouting Horn, was a little uneventful for me but hey at least we saw it.

After driving a few miles more on hwy 50 we reached Waimea and started our climb up hill on a windy road stopping at various lookouts for the canyon. This particular shot was taken halfway up the canyon at the Puu HinaHina Lookout, this lookout seems to be where the canyon is the widest looking straight across. The views were breathtaking and the clouds just played nicely for the afternoon sun.

I have many more views of the canyons at various lookouts but this will be the first one for tonight and the last one until I can edit more later on this weekend.

Enjoy Bellas!

Shot with Nikon D90 12.3MP DX-Format CMOS Digital SLR Camera with 18-105 mm f/3.5-5.6G ED AF-S VR DX Nikkor Zoom Lens

I brought in a couple more photos into Photoshop from the helicopter tour after my post from earlier today. I am uncertain if the locations are correct because I am going on the map from the helicopter tour and memory.

But if I am correct the first image posted earlier is approximately around the Hanalei River Valley and I believe these other images I’m including in this post are around the Mt. Kawaikini and Mt. Kahili area.

I really played around with filters on both images, there were lots of raindrops on the helicopter by this time but needless to say these images will never be anything much than just to say I flew over the island of Kauai and got to see what many people will probably never get the chance to see. It was one of the most spectacular moments on our trip and one I will not forget anytime soon.

Shot with Nikon D90 12.3MP DX-Format CMOS Digital SLR Camera with 18-105 mm f/3.5-5.6G ED AF-S VR DX Nikkor Zoom Lens

As I mentioned in a post a couple days ago Rick and I went to Hawaii for our 10th wedding anniversary in January and we took a helicopter tour the day of our anniversary. It was an overcast day and the rain hadn’t started yet, so I was hoping we would get some early morning light as we ascended over the beautiful mountains in the valley.

We did get to see some wonderful sights, land untouched by any human, waterfalls from the film Jurassic Park, Waimea Canyon and towards the end, finishing up along the Napal’i Coast. I will post some pics of the canyon and coast later on.

Our pilot was very lackluster to say the least but the views more than made up for what he was lacking. It was so hard even with the newly designed helicopters to get any shots, especially when we didn’t hover over anything for any length of time. Okay to get to my point about the image in this post, the rain started coming down and I was in the middle seat and saw this beautiful valley with waterfalls all around the mountain side running into a river below, I was hoping and praying that as I raised my camera and snapped a frame I would have captured this magnificent moment. But unfortunately it was not so when I got back to the hotel and saw what appeared on my screen.

However I keep coming back to this image again and again. I cheated in photoshop because there is a lot of detail loss in the original, but after tweaking it I brought out some of the dramatic light and shadows, I think I will probably go back again and try some other techniques but for now I am liking what I’ve done so far.

If you look towards the middle and lower left of the image you can see waterfalls running down the side of the mountain into the river below, DAMN IT, makes we wish I could have another chance at taking this shot but, C’est la vie!

Shot with Nikon D90 12.3MP DX-Format CMOS Digital SLR Camera with 18-105 mm f/3.5-5.6G ED AF-S VR DX Nikkor Zoom Lens

The winter has been mild here in the great PNW, well with the exception of the 12 days we went to Kauai for our 10th wedding anniversary, (biggest snow storm of 2012 so far hit our little town while we were away) so I have not been posting on the blog much for various reasons.

Recently I went through the house and decided it was time to sell a bunch of stuff on eBay which helped me to afford a little gift, the Nikon 55-300mm f/4.5-5.6G ED VR AF-S DX Nikkor Zoom Lens . I just received this lil guy in the mail yesterday and haven’t had a chance to do many test shots except for this single shot I took this morning on my way out to do chores.

Just from looking at this single shot of my Earl Twist saddle I can tell I’m going to have lots of fun with this new lens, looking forward to getting some time to hopefully play with it in the next couple of days.

Nikkor 55-300mm test photo on Nikon D90

Rick and I have been planning our 10th wedding anniversary vacation for about 6 months and we were super stoked to get going once January had finally come around. We had all our bases covered, perfect house sitter, my wonderful sister Therese, all the horses, dogs, cats, and other livestock were all stocked with plenty of food…basically all our i’s were dotted and our t’s were crossed.

The morning of January 14th rolls around, the day I pickup my sister from the airport and we awake to snow on the ground. This after having a very mild winter so far; we don’t think much at first and then it starts coming down. News reports come in that we will have light flurries through the day. So off I go to the airport to get my big sister. Heading down visibility is getting worse, traffic begins to back up, turns out flat tire in the middle lane.

I arrive at the airport 5 minutes late, the sun is shining not a bit of snow on the ground. I grab my sister, get her in the car and head home; she is disappointed there is sunshine and no snow on the ground. I tell her just sit back and watch. Sure enough 15 minutes into the drive the weather goes a complete 360 and we are headed back into the snow storm. She is all smiles and at the same time I’m thinking I love the snow but this sucks for traveling!

We arrive home, get her settled and the next few days we watch as reports come in that we are going to have a major snow storm that will prohibit travel, etc, etc. We are flabbergasted! We start to panic and stress a wee bit, mind you we have been planning this trip forever and it’s our 10th wedding anniversary!

On the 17th we decide to leave a day early and spend the night at hotel nearest the airport, hoping if we get there early enough we will make our flight. We are anxiously awaiting morning to come, I dont think we slept much that night, I chatted with friends giving updates on Facebook and Rick and I decided to just finish out the night working before trying to get some sleep.

We arrive at the airport and it is like a ghost town. Arriving at our gate we look out and the airport is covered in snow, our plane is at the gate and it’s covered in snow. We are thinking the worse! But I decided to have a positive attitude and Rick is thinking I’m nuts!

We finally get on the plane only to sit on it for nearly 3 hours before the pilot finally announces they are coming to De-ice our plane! The cheers on board we sweet emotion!

Needless to say 6 1/2 hours later we arrived in Oahu, caught our plane over to Kauai and the rest as they say is history!

The next morning after such a long and stressful two days of travel and worry I couldn’t believe my eyes as I woke up to palm trees and beaches!

Will share photos and stories of our adventures when we return!

Aloha!

Update, camera and all accessories have sold!

Okay boys and girls here is an after Christmas Sale, or an early tax day present. I am selling a brand new, never been used Panasonic Professional AG-HMC40 AVCHD Camcorder with Extras! The details are on eBay, and the pictures are below.

This morning Petey the mini mule from the Stillwater Ranch stopped by for a visit and had Cimarron worked up’d and on alert, here are some quick shots of Cimarron on alert. I eventually caught the little culprit and put him in the dog run until he went back home. I love the shots of Cimarron rolling around on the ground

Wishing everyone a very blessed and Happy Holiday Season, may peace, love and joy fill your coming New Year!