I am a scientist by training (Eckerd College, BSc; Caltech, Ph.D.). I worked for 27 years as a Chemist in the Pharmaceutical Industry developing processes to manufacture medicines for human and animal health. I now spend my time as a photographer and world traveler. My interests include the natural world, wildlife, landscapes, sky, and seascapes, travel, and astrophotography. I look for unique ways of viewing the world and presenting my images. I have traveled to over 55 countries in six continents, often on Semester at Sea voyages. While at home in New Jersey, I spend time on home renovation and expansion of a wildflower garden/meadow.
Gone to See Hawaii. Big Island Photography Workshop with Thom Hogan. Day 2: Wildlife at Puʻuhonua o Hōnaunau National Historic Park.
We spent the afternoon through sunset at Puʻuhonua o Hōnaunau National Historic Park. There were some Hawaiian Green sea turtles resting on the beach at Keoneele Cove. When I was supposed to be working on a composition of one of the temples, I found this bright green gecko with blue eyes that kept posing for my macro lens.
Gone to See Hawaii. Big Island Photography Workshop with Thom Hogan. Day 1: Kailua Kona.
It is hard to believe that the day before I was taking pictures of wildlife in Colorado. I read a note on the Thom Hogan site a month earlier that he had a late opening for this workshop so signed up as quick as I could. At that time I was working 2 weeks a month in Boulder, so it would be a bit easier to fly to Hawaii. I previously purchased his D200 and D2xs eBooks and wanted to learn more about the cameras and become a better photographer. For the first three nights we stayed at the Kona Seaside Hotel. The group of four students and Thom met in the lobby at 15:00 for our first lecture. We then walked down to the beach to photograph the beach, some tidal pools, and sunset. Part of this first shoot was for Thom to observe our photographic practices and skills so he could customize individual instruction for the rest of the workshop.
Sunset and Sailboat off Kona Beach. Image taken with a Nikon D2xs camera and 80-400 mm VR lens (ISO 100, 400 mm, f/5.6, 1/500 sec). (David J Mathre)Sunset of Kailua Harbor from Kona Beach. Image taken with a Nikon D2xs camera and 12-24 mm DX lens (ISO 100, 24 mm, f/9, 1/250 sec). (David J Mathre)Sunset of Kailua Harbor from Kona Beach, Big Island Hawaii. Day 1 of Thom Hogan’s 2007 Hawaii Photography Workshop. Image taken with a Nikon D2xs camera and 12-24 mm DX lens (ISO 100, 24 mm, f/9, HDR 9 images 1/800 to 1/20 sec). (David J Mathre)
I used different tools to process the last two images. I think I like the HDR version better because the sun is a disk and not blown out, although the sky/clouds are better in the first version.
Comments and constructive criticism are welcome. Note that comments do need my approval, and I do not publish comments with links to anything I consider spam. Links to related images or other photoblog sites are OK.
