Sunrise on Oahu

17^th September, 2014

It was an early morning for me on Wednesday as I was to be collected at twenty past five by Oahu Photography Tours.

It might be that I was worried that I would sleep in, as I found myself awake at 3.30am, a half hour before my alarm was set for. I tried my hardest not to wake mum but she woke up as I was getting ready to leave.

So I made my way down to the front of the hotel to wait, it was surreal and not before long the van pulled in, and Chris introduced himself. I decided to take the back seat and when Chris collected the remaining 3 participants. So off we set for our first location, the van was full of discussion about cameras, lenses, settings on our cameras, and it was nice to be amongst other enthusiasts/photographers.

We arrived at our first spot, whilst it was still dusk, and seeing that the terrain was a little uneven to what would’ve been the ultimate position to get a certain picture, I erred on the side of caution and settled partway down on a path. Chris came and changed the settings on my camera to ensure the best outcome, and stated that I had picked a good spot. I witnessed a local attempting to fish off the rocks, and I am hoping that there is a usable photo of him, as I had not turned off the Auto Bracketing that I had been trying before coming to Honolulu. So my camera was taking three shots at different exposures, not a good idea when you are trying to capture a sunrise.

When the sun had completely risen it was time to move onto our breakfast stop at a little deli, which I must admit have lovely food. I ordered a Turkey & Cranberry Sandwich which was so yummy and fresh. It was then on to our next stop. Chris’s goal and the goal of the tour was ‘to go where the light was best’ for fantastic photos and pretty much to beat the normal tourist groups. Sorry, I am writing this from memory I believe we made 6 stops in total each very special, the last being where the Turtles are known to come up on the beach in warm water, but unfortunately for us there was only one that was out in the water/surf and not easily visible. Chris then lead us back to the van, where another driver had blocked him in, but they were still in their vehicle and was willing to reverse out to allow us to leave, leaving a whole line of traffic waiting. We then headed back to Waikiki and the end of our tour, which I thoroughly enjoyed and gained more photography skills and knowledge thanks to Chris and my fellow photographers on the tour.

I will post again shortly, as I am playing catch up.