Got to have a Denny’s, right?  This isn’t some backwater.

Oh wait… they have a KFC.  It might be a backwater.

Have you ever seen the Golden Arches glow more than in the fading light of day?

The Signs of Willows is a post from: Ari Takes Pictures

So here I am, back at the Sculpture Park and instead of shooting the sculptures, I’m shooting the wall again.  I really like the lines – what can I say?  I do think the merits of this one are the sky above and the organic shadows of the trees showing you what you can’t see.  Here it is.

Wall, Sky, Trees is a post from: Ari Takes Pictures

I’m always trying to find a way to get a picture of those lines, those shadows.  Usually I try and fill the whole frame with it and it never works.  This one I like better.  Sky!  Who woulda known?

Sky Above, Concrete Below is a post from: Ari Takes Pictures

On the 12 mile road from belt road to the point, you pass several banks of windmills.  These are some of the older and smaller ones.  The missing blades and patina of rust makes it pretty clear that these aren’t newly installed as some recent jump to green energy.  These have been here.  There are some newer windmills you can’t get as close to.  They’re larger and look more modern.  These had more character.

Interestingly enough, I took a few HDRs of these.  When I was editing the pictures I put them together and really didn’t think they gained much from it.  A good note on HDR is that unless you have really dynamic lighting that has a lot of bright and dark spots in the same photograph, you don’t gain as much from it.  These shots do have some shadows and blown out spots, but I like this effect just as much.

The other important thing to point out is one item you just can’t do without in Hawaii, or anywhere else where you shoot a lot of sky and water – a polarizing filter.  In this modern world of digital cameras and Photoshop, most on-camera filters have fallen by the wayside.  You can do many things after the fact, but polarizing the image isn’t one of them.  A polarizing filter removes reflections from shiny objects, like metal and water.  This means if you want to see the fish in the water, you can.  It also means you can remove reflections of people from building windows.  At the same time, it can turn your blue sky into a much more intense blue.  The downside is that they eat some amount of your light, so I only use them in bright and sunny places.  When I go to Hawaii, the polarizer goes on and rarely comes off.  The blue sky in this picture really pops from the filter, not from what I did after the fact.

Windmills of South Point is a post from: Ari Takes Pictures

The rust, the rivets!  I never get tired of it.  Shooting this one up against an overcast but bright sky, it was a bit hard to get the tower to stand out without washing out the sky, so I went back to my pseudo-HDR style to pull things apart.  I’m sure there are other ways to get the same effect, but once you’ve got this one sorted out, it’s really fast and easy.

Back To Gas Works is a post from: Ari Takes Pictures

The Budweiser Select sponsorship on the sail sort of cracks me up.  Not only do you not see it when you’re on the boat, but I don’t even know what Budweiser Select is.  If ever a misnomer there was, this is it.

Sponsorship In Calm Seas is a post from: Ari Takes Pictures