Unwelcome visitor

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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…).

Unwelcome visitor

Japanese beetles are apparently not a big problem in Japan — they have many predators that help keep their numbers under control.  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.  Courtesy of the warming climate, they made it to Colorado a few years ago.  Luckily beetle traps are available via the internet, since local home and garden stores apparently haven’t taken notice of their arrival.  Yet.

Seen in the War Memorial Rose Garden; Littleton, Colorado.

Group D Ball Court, Cobá

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Seen in the ancient Maya ruins of Cobá, Quintana Roo, Mexico:

Group D Ballcourt

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

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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‘ānapanapa 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

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Anti-solar rays (a.k.a. anti-crepuscular rays) seen from a jet window off the coast of Moloka’i, Hawaii:

Point of focus

Most of the time when I’m flying somewhere, I’m stuck in whatever seat I happened to be assigned.  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).  One of the inter-island flights we were on happened to be very lightly filled — maybe one seat in 5 held a passenger.  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.  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.  In this case, the anti-solar point is just off the island of Moloka’i.

My little friend

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An interesting couple spotted on the beach in Aa’ena Park, Kauai, Hawaii:

My little friend

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.

From some distant shore…

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Seen on the beach at Ha’ena State Park; Kauai, Hawaii:

From some distant shore

I’ll freely admit that I posed my model in this shot — we found it laying in the sand a few feet away from where I took this shot.  I thought it’d make an interesting composition, so moved it over to this one little footprint-free patch of sand and waited for the sun to peek out through the overcast.  I love the look of a “castaway” coconut, trying to make a life in its new home.  I’m still debating whether I shouldn’t have brushed the sand off the coconut husk, though…

Wailua Falls

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Wailua Falls on the island of Kauai, Hawaii:

Wailua Falls

These waterfalls are easily captured from a roadside stop — but that’s both good and bad.  Good if time’s short, but bad because you’ve got just one perspective you can take on the subject.  There are… informal… trails that lead down toward the level of the pool at the bottom of the falls.  But so many people have died falling from them, that they’ve been closed off for years.  Officially, at any rate.