Number 16 Akaka Falls

Number 16 is a photograph of Akaka Falls on the Big Island of Hawaii. Akaka Falls is a 442 foot waterfall that is found in Akaka State Park. The state park is well maintained with a half of a mile paved trail through a thick tropical rainforest to reach not 1 but 2 waterfalls. It takes about half an hour to go around the whole trail, and it is definitely worth it.

I usually do not have very good luck when I am photographing waterfalls. Since, I am not a professional and always on vacation when I am taking my pictures it is usually hit or miss when it comes to lighting, and like most amateur photographers I do not have all day to sit and wait for the light to get better or the clouds to open up. 9 times out of 10 when I am trying to photograph a waterfall it ends being a cloudy day. So, when I took this photo I tried to minimize the sky because it was a cloudy day and focus my camera on just the waterfall and the vegetation. Not that I should be shocked it was a cloudy day Akaka Falls is on the Hilo side of the island and one of the wettest places in the United States.

To help make my picture resemble what it was really like to see the waterfall it all its majesty I used what is called the Orton-ish effect on Picnik.com which is an online photo editor to make the vegetation and the waterfall standout. The picture does not do the park or the Akaka Falls justice, but it does remind of the beauty that is the Hawaii Islands. When it comes down to it that is all I am trying to do with my photographs.

Number 17 East African Crowned Crane

Number 17 is a picture of an East African Crowned Crane taken at the Kansas City Zoo. This is was my attempt at photographic art. Karen and I try to go to Kansas City at least a couple of times a year, and one of things that we like to do while we are there is check out the zoo. They have really started to update it over the last couple of years, and their new polar bear exhibit is top class.

The Kansas City zoo, if you have never been there, can be a good workout especially their 95 acre African exhibit you walk around that thing in the middle of summer and you will burn a few calories. When you circle around the African exhibit there is a side part that takes you to the gorilla and leopard exhibits. So we decided to take the side path even though our feet had been killings us since we had been walking all around KC the previous day. I am glad we did because the light was just hitting a Crown Crane perfectly and I took a few pictures, and I was about to move on when I decided to zoom in and take a picture of its head.

I like this picture because even though my camera is not a super expensive one and it is a couple of years old now it still gets very good detail when I do everything on my part right. I really like how the individual feathers on its neck stand out, and the how the crown shines with the sunlight. I am not a very artistic person my wife leaves me in the dust in the area so this photo is about as close as I get.