On Thursday morning we flew from Maui to Honolulu where we spent the day. We quickly visited Pearl Harbour (the USS Bowfin featured here is near the USS Arizona Memorial) and also walked around Waikiki beach. We then spend today flying home. I definitely want to visit Maui again and would love to spend an afternoon or even a day visiting the Bowfin, the Battleship Missouri and the USS Arizona Memorial sometime.
We left early in the morning for our drive to Hana today. We took our time stopping at water falls and state parks as well as gardens. There isn't much to Hana itself, so its entirely about the journey there. The road was fun to drive filled with many turns and one way bridges. Tomorrow we leave Maui for our one day in Honolulu before returning home on Friday.
Went to a Luau a couple of days ago which included a show with fire dancers. We were unfortunately a bit far away from the stage, but I did manage to get a couple of decent pictures.
We got up at 3:30 this morning to make the drive up to the summit of Haleakala to catch the sunrise, something a lot of tourists to Maui do. We managed to get there just in time to watch the sun peek up over the clouds (we would have been there earlier if weren't for a particularly slow driver who refused to make use of the turnouts). On the way back down we could see a front of clouds covering part of the island and so stopped to take a picture. The shrub was my foreground. 
Our neighbor has an olive which recently got a haircut. I thought it would be interesting to photograph in IR with some funky colors. It isn't exactly fine art, but it is somewhat funky, so mission accomplished.
It was getting late and as I was heading to throw a pizza on the grill (grilled pizza on a stone is awesome and best of all it doesn't make your house all hot) I spotted this Grasshopper Nymph hanging out inside a rose. Realizing that I would get beats if Kim came home and caught me goofing off with the camera rather than getting dinner ready, I had about 15 minutes to get all the stuff set up and grab the shot. It was a really difficult shot to get because the nymph was extremely small, requiring extensions tubes even with a 1:1 macro lens (I so need to get my hands on the 65mm MP-E) and it was a little windy making focusing and getting a sharp shot really difficult. At these magnifications I've usually relied on taking on multiple shots and focus stacking to get a good image. However due to the wind, it wasn't going to work in this case. Anyway, its not a bad picture, but it could definitely be better.
We drove up to San Rafael today to celebrate my aunt's birthday and to see some of my cousins. On the way back, I was hoping to stop off and get a picture of the Golden Gate Bridge in front of San Francisco in IR. Unfortunately, the bridge was constantly covered with fast moving cloud so I had to try from a different spot and this was the best I could do.
I also photographed this sail boat as it came onto the frame in front of Alcatraz.
Spotted this bug hanging inside a Calla Lilly today, so I grabbed the camera for a quick snap.
I received my XSi back from MaxMax (LDP) today after they converted it to full spectrum for me. In addition to the conversion I also got two IR filters, one with a 50% cutoff at 1000nm (left) and the other with a cutoff at 715nm (right). In the image above, I have processed both to maximize contrast. The differences aren't that obvious but the 1000nm one has high contrast in the sky while the 715nm has more balanced contrast and detail in the trees. If you view these images in RGB, the difference is more pronounced.
The 1000nm image has data more even spread across the 3 RGB channels, where as the 715 cutoff image has much more data in the red channel. In order the get a suitable exposure the 1000nm cutoff image required 4-stops of additional exposure time as opposed to the other image. I think both will have their distinct uses, the 1000nm cutoff will be great for landscapes with dramatic skies where as the 715nm cutoff will be more suitable for images with strong foliage.
Nitin was in town this weekend and so on Saturday we decided to go on a relaxed drive down the Pacific Coast Highway (a.k.a. Highway 1). We went as far as the Elephant Seals at Piedras Blancas before turning around. It had been quite a while since I had taken a camera to the spot, so I decided to bring the telephoto to photograph the seals. 
I stopped by the baylands this morning on my way to work hoping to catch more of the Great Egrets in flight. Unfortunately, most of the Egrets seem to have left, someone commented that it might be because the heavy winds had blown their nests away. Anyway, I hope they return. I walked around for about 45 minutes shooting various birds including a pair of Canada Geese.
The Goose's injury wasn't visible during the time it was on the ground and I only noticed it after I downloaded the images. Maybe it explains why he is still hanging around here instead of going back up to Canada.
