• Killer curl. - Jim Patterson Photography
  • The green water was due to the red dirt run-off from the previous days' torrential rains.
  • Great capture Jon! I love the painterly effect of long exposures. I guess I'll have to hop over to Molokai one day. - IPOXstudios

Papohaku Beach Sunrise 1

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USA, Hawaii, Dramatic clouds and ocean shorebreak at Papohaku Beach on Molokai's west end

I spent a week sea-kayaking Molokai's remote north shore 7 years ago and had always wanted to return. I finally had the opportunity when I took my family to Maui for our recent family vacation. Molokai's tranquil charm is the total opposite of the tourist chaos of Waikiki or Lahaina. There really isn't much to do, other than relax and do nothing, which is exactly what we did.

Hawaii experienced a huge tropical storm during our week-long visit, which was a bummer, especially for my photography ambitions. After several days of torrential rain, I finally experienced perfect landscape photography conditions and created this dramatic image on our last morning on Molokai. At almost 3 miles long, Papohaku Beach is the longest beach in Hawaii. Of course, since this was Molokai I had this beautiful location all to myself. I located these lava rocks embedded in the sand on the north end of the beach and knew that they would give some texture to the outgoing waves crashing into the beach. I also anticipated that the clear sky in the east was going to allow the sunrise to light up the cloudy remnants of the previous few days' storm just offshore. By taking extreme chances with my camera equipment and through trail and error, I created this dynamic image. From the silky water rushing over the sand and rocks to the breaking wave with the clouds billowing in the sky, this picture has an elemental, dream-like quality that I am completely enamored with. I created this image with my Canon 5DmkII, Carl Zeiss 28mm f2 ZE lens, and Singh-Ray 2-stop Hard Graduated Neutral Density filter on my tripod. It is a single exposure that required minimal processing using Aperture 3.

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matt house, Younes B., Leentje36, and 358 other people added this photo to their favorites.

View 20 more comments

  1. jeandayphoto 30 months ago

    Beautiful timing and exposure on the receding surf and incoming wave. So many lovely elements and nice framing.

  2. globetrotting_pg 30 months ago

    Amazing!

  3. ric.brun 30 months ago

    splendida.ciao.

  4. Syber76600 [deleted] 30 months ago

    Fabulous picture!

    commented with FlickrComment

  5. f.arias 30 months ago

    marvellous

    [ via flickriver explore  --http://www.flickriver.com/photos/mordiscos/popular-interesting/ ]

  6. gypsie2 ~ On/Off 30 months ago

    WOW!!! Stunning composition so powerful waves!! Compliments to you!!
    Have a great weekend :)

  7. Siuloon 30 months ago

    First class.
    Awesome photo....
    so much interesting.......
    congrats on explore.....
    Greetings from Polish.

  8. josche 30 months ago

    Excellent!!!
    Perfect

  9. macca jay 30 months ago

    amazing!

  10. Pablin79 30 months ago

    Amazing shot, great motion sensation!

  11. Jethuynh | 0903689703 30 months ago

    great shot, congrats on explore

    Via Today's Explore at #157 on Fluidr

  12. parsy72 30 months ago

    simply fantastic. from the wave movement to the sky colour. Brilliant.

    Via Today's Explore at #157 on Fluidr

  13. Ke_Si 30 months ago

    great work & color!

  14. DanielEwert 30 months ago

    This is my favorite of your recent series, by far! The wonderful wave movement and drama in the sky to match is really great. Nice work, Jon.

  15. .Hegab. [deleted] 30 months ago

    woooooooooow this is incredible

  16. Cornforth Images 30 months ago

    Thank you everyone for your generous comments!

    I am glad that you agree. Something about this images really resonates with me. As I mentioned, I walked away from this morning thinking that it was nothing special, but then I saw this image on my laptop and knew that it was special.

  17. DavidFrutos 30 months ago

    Great drama and movement in the water, Jon.
    Fabulous light.

  18. Maciej - landscape.lu 30 months ago

    Fantastic image timing

    Via Explore for 7th Jan 2011 at #45 on Fluidr

  19. Adam Edwards Photography 25 months ago

    very impressive photostream, really enjoyed browsing through it you have some magical images!

  20. Cornforth Images 25 months ago

    Thank you! I've been doing this full-time for 10 years now, so I hope that I have a few images worth viewing. ;-)

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