I do not consider being attractive to insects an asset. I react horribly to mosquito bites and so there I was on a warm autumn evening in Hawaii wearing a long skirt, long sleeves and sprayed with some awful chemical all in an attempt to ward off a bloodletting (little did I know that 3 of them had already gotten me before I sprayed).
The walking trail around Akaka Falls was a surprise to me and a bonus on top of being able to see the falls. It was the type of lush rainforest that I love with deep greens dripping with life.
Walking in Rainforest tip #4: stop, bend down, look closely
I’m enchanted by the small life that clings to rocks, trees, moss – anything it can get a hold of. A macro lens is so worth it for these shots.
But then, you also get hit between the eyes by the bold beauties like these. The forest was so dark (and it was approaching evening) that I had to use fill flash and back off a ways to mute the flash effect on the hibiscus. On the second flower (I think a Hawaii red torch), it was so far away from the trail I was using the flash for just that little extra light.
Of course, since it was a RAINforest, we ran into little rivulets of water everywhere and sometimes they spilled over into mini waterfalls. Note that this is where the mosquitoes were (don’t believe the thing about no mosquitoes near running water – they do just fine, thank you very much!). Due to the skeeters, my shot of the water is at a fast exposure, freezing the water. My Uncle, whom the little bloodsuckers don’t like as much, managed to stay and take a longer exposure to get a motion shot.
And we wouldn’t be in the tropics without fruit somewhere! I’ve seen bananas before – no biggie. But here, they were growing like they were little bushes lost amongst the massive greenery! It’s hard to get the scale in the photo – I needed a massive tree or tiny person, but if you know how big bananas grow, you get the idea!
Sigh….too many photos….next blog….trees
Irreverently Untitled 