Kauai, Hawaii.

This week, Ben Huberman asks us to keep things fluid and focus on liquids. He comments on how “H2O-heavy” he finds his gallery of images. You can read his entire challenge post here. Well, I must say, going through my own library of images, I find I have a very liquid-centric library as well… the liquid being mostly water also. What’s not to like about lakes, rivers, streams? Being an avid cruiser, I have no shortage of ocean photos, sunrises, sunsets, moonlit seas, calm and turbulent waters. Instead of sharing yet another sunset at sea, I decided to share some liquid in motion.

At the south end of the Wailua River, just north of the town of Lihue, a short trip on a Hawaiian road, and a short walk will find you at Wailua Falls where a bifurcated stream of water plunges some 80 feet (24 m) into a small body of water. To those of a certain age, the scene might look familiar, at least to fans of the long-running Fantasy Island TV show. Starting in season two, the opening credits featured an overflight of the falls on the Wailua River. If you want to see an aerial view of the falls, you’ll find it on YouTube here. One thing I learned from the video is that there is actually a third stream of waterfall. From this viewpoint, it’s behind the larger of the two falls. Don’t confuse this Wailua Falls with the falls on the road to Hana on the island of Maui.

While we were there that early November day, I decided to try to do a smooth water shot of the falls. Having no tripod, I found a sturdy wall upon which to set the camera, stopped the lens down to f22 and the exposure meter gave me a 1/3 second exposure time. The opening image with an f7 lens opening gave me a 1/200 second exposure. I would have liked to include more of the falls in the ‘smooth’ water photo, but I would have had to tilt the camera down and handhold it. I don’t think I could have held the camera still enough to give me a sharp image.

A few days after this excursion, our trip to the botanical garden on the island was interrupted by some heavy rain showers. After raining heavily much of the day, the rivers on the island were full and carrying lots of extra water. We went back to Wailua Falls to see the bifurcated stream had grown into one large waterfall.

On most browsers, you can click on an image to enlarge it for a better view. Reviewing these images reminds me that I’d like to head back to the islands. I envy my daughter and her family who will be leaving for Kauai on vacation in just a few short weeks.

John Steiner