An aerial shot of waterfalls above Waimea:
Some payoff for the usual rainy day trade-off — hazy air for active waterfalls. Â Shot from a helicopter over Kauai, Hawaii.
Downfall
Vibrant
A bit of color for your week, courtesy of a planting on the stairs up to the Coit tower in San Francisco:
If you’re passing through San Francisco and looking for a workout, there are few to beat the stairs up the east side of Telegraph Hill from the Embarcadero to the base of the Coit Tower. Â You’ll climb some amazing, steep steps from either Greenwich or FIlbert St. Â Along with the exercise, and the beautiful views over the Bay, the local residents take fantastic care of their flowers along the way. Â So keep your camera handy for a little flower photography when you’re pausing to catch your breath!
Unwelcome visitor
This is a Japanese Beetle (Popillia japonica), in case you’re unfamiliar with them — beautifully colored, with their iridescent shells offset against the flower petals’ colors.  But hell on roses (and grapes, and birch trees, and…).
Japanese beetles are apparently not a big problem in Japan — they have many predators that help keep their numbers under control. Â But since their arrival in the U.S. early in the 20th century, they’ve been expanding their territory from their original “beachhead” in New Jersey. Â Courtesy of the warming climate, they made it to Colorado a few years ago. Â Luckily beetle traps are available via the internet, since local home and garden stores apparently haven’t taken notice of their arrival. Â Yet.
Seen in the War Memorial Rose Garden; Littleton, Colorado.
Red Stars descending
Members of the RedStar Pilots Association help put on a show at the 2011 Rocky Mountain Airshow in Broomfield, Colorado:
These fine folks make a hobby of flying aircraft from countries in the former Soviet bloc. I think my favorite part of this shot is the shadows cast by the planes’ smoke plumes on the haze to the lower right…
Group D Ball Court, Cobá
Seen in the ancient Maya ruins of Cobá, Quintana Roo, Mexico:
The more I read about Maya sites, the more complex I find the ball courts to be — or at least, the myriad forms they often take. If you’re curious, this ball court was built in an older, somewhat classic form — the side walls are mostly sloped, and the ends of the court are open. To take in this scene, though, you’re standing with a modern structure to your back — a covering for some pieces of sculpture. This calls for a wide lens, and a stitched multi-image panorama on top of it.
Hana surf
A bit of soothing surf to help get you over the mid-work-week “hump” (direct link):
This short video clip is from a beach in Wai‘Änapanapa State Park near Hana, Hawaii.  It’s a long drive from anywhere else on the island of Maui — but not nearly as difficult a drive as the souvenir T-shirts would have you believe (just twisty and narrow, so take your time).  The pay-off is a series of black sand beaches and some beautiful views — but wear insect repellent, we got back to our hotel with arms and legs covered by bites!
Point of focus
Anti-solar rays (a.k.a. anti-crepuscular rays) seen from a jet window off the coast of Moloka’i, Hawaii:
Most of the time when I’m flying somewhere, I’m stuck in whatever seat I happened to be assigned. Â But every once in a while, I get lucky.
This was one of the very lucky times.
We took a family trip to Hawaii this past Thanksgiving (for non U.S. folks, it’s a harvest-related holiday in late November). Â One of the inter-island flights we were on happened to be very lightly filled — maybe one seat in 5 held a passenger. Â This meant, of course, that once we reached cruising altitude, I was free to move around and look for a good photo opportunity.
Since we took off just before sunset, and it had been a hazy / rainy afternoon, conditions were perfect for crepuscular rays. Â As it turned out, getting airborne made conditions even better for anti-crepuscular rays — in both cases, parallel rays of sunlight appear to converge thanks to the viewer’s perspective. Â In this case, the anti-solar point is just off the island of Moloka’i.
Sida Fallax
Known in Hawaii as ‘ilima, and popularly used to make lei, this is a beautiful flower:
This is one of a handful of native species surviving on the Hawaiian island of Kauai.
My little friend
An interesting couple spotted on the beach in Aa’ena Park, Kauai, Hawaii:
The rock and bit of coral are shown just as I found them, resting on beach sand. So that should give you an idea of the scale of this scene — the coral piece is a bit over 1 cm across. Image taken using Olympus’ stellar 60mm macro lens for micro-4/3.
Taking flight
It must be the kid in me, but I’ve always loved taking airborne images while traveling. Â I managed to get a window seat for this sky / sea shot over the Pacific ocean, somewhere near Hawaii:
