Waikiki Sunsets
Taken during my travels through the Hawaiian Islands earlier this year. It was almost inevitable that I would spend at least part of my time on Waikiki Beach in Honolulu. Waikiki is not my favourite part of Hawaii by any means, as one of the world’s most popular tourist package deal destinations, you might call it either a tourist magnet or tourist trap depending on your perspective. However, it’s pretty hard to turn down a Waikiki Sunset when it presents itself.
The three shots I’ve presented here were taken within a few moments of each other and I chose to adopt different croppings, or aspect ratios, with each image.
So, I guess the question arises, which is the most pleasing image? Well, I could be evasive and say that I’m reasonably happy with all three but, if forced to nominate one over the others, I personally will pick number 2.
Capturing a sunset/sunrise is in essence fairly simple. Mother nature is kind enough to put on a light show for us twice every day. Sure the quality of the show may be somewhat unpredictable depending on weather conditions, but the time and place are certain, meaning the main requirement is simply to be in the right location on time with a charged battery, and a memory card, in your camera.
The danger with sunsets (or sunrises) is that we get so carried away with the light, the colours, that we don’t offer much else in the image other than those colours. The result is that everyone who’s ever picked up a camera has sunset shots with pretty colours, but in many cases, not much else. This is the reason why I like the second image over say the first image. The presence of the yacht provides some additional information and perhaps suggests a story. It also helps that the yacht is such a distinctive shape. To me, there is a relationship between the yacht, small in frame, dwarfed by huge, somewhat threatening clouds. You can read all sorts of meanings into it. Man’s insignificance in the face of nature!! etc, etc.
Maybe it needs a more “inspirational” caption, rather than my rather bland “Waikiki Sunset number X” !! 🙂 ~KD.