Peter Liu Photography - meliezza walker

Just Another Aloha Friday Sunset

July 9, 2010 By Peter Liu 5 Comments

Last Friday, I took a couple of friends from the mainland with me to shoot the sunset. On the way to Makena Cove, it started raining, so I turned the car around and headed toward North Kihei. We set up and started shooting, but then the clouds decided to follow us and we got sprinkled on there too.

We packed up the gear and called it quits. My friend Meliezza asked me to drop her off at Keawakapu Beach so she could meet up with some friends, so I started heading that way, and noticed that it was dry in that area. The rain clouds must have traveled right through it from Makena to North Kihei.

So we set up again and started shooting. Not the best sunset in my portfolio, but you never know what you’re going to get in the islands. Because the sun was behind the dark clouds most of the time, I was able to slow the shutter and get down low with the tripod to get some good motion in the water.

Happy Aloha Friday…

Sunset, Keawakapu Beach, Maui, Hawaii

Filed Under: Landscape, Photograph Tagged With: hawaii, keawakapu beach, maui, meliezza walker, sunset

Makena Cove Sunset

July 6, 2009 By Peter Liu Leave a Comment

Makena Cove Sunset, Maui, Hawaii.

Most of the sunsets I shoot fizzle out pretty quickly after the sun disappears below the horizon. Very few have just lingered and turned the clouds different shades of red and orange after the sun was long gone.

I’ve only seen two in my life that seemed to go on forever. One was in Fiji several years ago, and the other was last night, at Makena Cove.

I didn’t think it was going to end. The colors kept deepening as the light faded, enabling me to make longer and longer exposures to catch the ethereal, wispy feel of the waves crashing over the lava rocks.

These shots were taken about 5 minutes apart. Notice how the light changes.

The colors deepening as the light fades, Makena Cove, Maui, Hawaii.

Very long exposure as the colors intensify even more, Makena Cove Sunset, Maui, Hawaii.

There were two weddings going on simultaneously at the cove, so this shoot was a little nerve-wracking with people running back and forth in front of my lens. I was there with Meliezza Walker, who kept moving around, trying to get a better (clear) angle. I decided to just camp out in one spot and hope for the best.

It was magic.

Filed Under: Landscape, Photograph Tagged With: hawaii, makena, maui, meliezza walker, photographer

Makena Sunset Photowalk, Take 2

July 4, 2009 By Peter Liu Leave a Comment

Last week, I went on a photowalk with a new friend and fellow photographer Meliezza Walker, who is on vacation in Maui with her family. We decided to do another one before she left, but this one turned out to be more of a sunset portrait shoot.

As photographers, we don’t often get to be on the business end of the lens and it can be an unsettling experience. It’s well worth doing every so often, because we can get so wrapped up in shooting session after session, that we forget what it’s like for our clients.

For me, it’s always fun having another photographer in front of the camera (or vice versa), because we both know the craft and can exchange ideas and thoughts about our individual styles while we shoot. Doing this kind of thing once in a while can make you a better photographer.

When was the last time you were in front of the lens instead of behind it?

Filed Under: Portrait, Shooting, Slideshow Tagged With: hawaii, makena, maui, meliezza walker, photographer

Makena Sunset Photowalk

June 26, 2009 By Peter Liu Leave a Comment

Day before yesterday, I went on a sunset photowalk in Makena with my new friend and fellow photographer Meliezza Walker, who is on her yearly visit to Maui with her family.

We scouted out a few possible sites to use for her family portrait and took a few test shots, then stopped to photograph the sunset at one of my favorite spots.

In this shot, the sun had just disappeared behind Lana’i, and you have a clear view of Molokini straight ahead in the distance. The clouds are usually too moisture-laden to flare at all, but on this particular day, they turned a nice shade of orange-red for us.