I had always wanted to travel to Hawaii and when I finally got to make the trip with my husband in December 2015, I was beyond excited! 
Arriving to Hawaii was very welcoming; the air was rich and warm with a perfectly temperate breeze. The atmosphere was like nothing I had ever felt. Our first night, a rainstorm came in but soon passed and we found this to be an almost daily occurrence in Hawaii.
Once the rain passed, a rainbow decorated the sky and it was the perfect photo op for us to take our cliché "Hawaii is for lovers" shot. The lighting worked to show our faces locking lips as only silhouettes against the colorful sky and misty rainbow to give an enigmatic sense of romance.
The painterly, soft golden glow in the clouds was dreamlike and contrasted with the cobalt colored clouds and periwinkle sky over the Honolulu landscape magnificently.
The beautiful scenery was only just beginning. Our first morning in Hawaii, we woke up early, just before sunrise. We walked down to the beach to view the morning sun rise over the mountains. Fiery orange and pink tones radiating from the sun slowly lit up the darkness, outlining the purple and grey clouds in sublime fashion. The neutral tones in the clouds are divine; like unnamed colors that we can only glimpse for moments as dawn breaks.
I'm not what you call a "morning person"; I am much more of a "night owl". However, walking barefoot on the beach this morning after watching the sunrise with my love in Hawaii, I don't know that I ever felt so happy to be awake and alive at 6a.m. I truly wanted to soak in these moments forever; when the atmosphere and the feelings are so wonderfully indescribable- this is why photography is so very valuable. I can describe it all as best I can but like the old saying goes "a picture is worth a thousand words" so a lot goes unsaid but can be inferred by simply soaking in the memory and the captured moments my photographs convey.
That night, we took another stroll along the beach. As we passed performing fire dancers, walked on the sand under the full moon, felt the ocean breeze and heard the rushing waves at the shore, we both continued to become enchanted with this tropical paradise on earth.
The next day, we decided to explore the island by car. We ended up getting lost but didn't much mind because we didn't really have anywhere to be and the scenery was so amazing! I grew up in the mountains of upstate New York but those mountains are nothing like the mountains we laid eyes upon in Hawaii; these were gargantuan, awe-inspiring peaks.
Majestic mountains; somewhere on Pali Highway.
The remote grandiosity of the scenery felt like we were about to enter 'Jurassic Park'.
The next day, we drove over to Kualoa Ranch, a 4000-acre private nature reserve and working cattle ranch, as well as a popular tourist attraction and filming location on the windward coast of O'ahu in Hawaii.
Again, the mountains were just epic.
While we waited for our tour time to come up, we walked across the road to beach where I felt the need to pretend to be a model on the beach because you know, why not?
This is basically where I want to be every day of my life.
Some history about this sprawling landscape: the valley was sacred to ancient Hawaiians from the 13th to the 18th century, as Chief Laʻa-mai-kahiki settled there after visiting Kauaʻi before returning to Tahiti. It was also the site of the sacred drums of Kapahuʻula and Kaʻahuʻulapunawai as well as the sacred Hill of Kauakahiakahoʻowaha, the key to the sovereignty of the Kingdom of Oahu.
As written in the Kumulipo, an ancient Hawaiian genealogical chant, Kualoa is where Papa and Wakea buried their first still born child, Haloa. It is said that the first kalo (taro) plant grew up from where Haloa was buried at Kualoa.
This area was used for filming in the 'Lost' T.V. Series, the 1998 'Godzilla' movie and 'Jurassic World' and with good reason; the location is truly spectacular.
While photography does the best job possible in this day and age at capturing the sense of being at this extraordinary place, I have to believe that it is something that can only be experienced with all of the senses to fully appreciate the sentiment.
We tried zip-lining through the valley; one more thing that I can't stress enough needs to be experienced to fully appreciate. It was kind of scary at first because it's a lot higher than it looks but once you trust enough to let yourself go and full enjoy the ride, it's so much fun! It was also a great way to see the valley from a lot of different viewpoints.
Regardless of how unchallenging, it is great for a photographer when the grandeur so easily presents itself to be captured, like with the sun breaking out from behind the clouds to illuminate the sweeping landscape.
Approaching dusk at the Kualoa Ranch.
Our next adventure was to hike through the Hawaiian forest towards Manoa Falls. We hiked the Manoa Falls Trail which is a 1.6 mile trail on the island of Oahu.
A stairway carved into the earth suggests a deep and hallowed history.
The trail leads up to the 150 ft. waterfall. The waterfall is nestled in the mountains of Koolau in a tropical rainforest.
While I loved the idea of being away from the world and on a romantic getaway with my husband, it was nice to be able to meet up with a familiar face from home. Family friend Travis Quidgeon is a student in in Honolulu and was gracious enough to show us around and take us up to the Falls.
After the hike, we traveled down to the beach where we enjoyed the sunset while searching for beach glass and sea shells.
A treat for the sense of touch is bare feet buried in sand with tropical water flowing back and forth.
Another day in Hawaii, another beautiful sunset.
On our last day, we hiked up Diamond Head, a volcanic tuff cone State Monument. A 0.75-mile (1.1-km) hike leads to the edge of the crater's rim
Once we made it to the top, the views were expectedly marvelous! It is a tourists and a photographers dream to behold such visual magnificence.
Diamond Head is estimated to be about 500,000 to 400,000 years old.
From the summit above the observation platform both Waikīkī and the Pacific Ocean can be seen in detail.
To end our awesome trip, we met with Travis for an authentic Hawaiian breakfast, complete with Guava Muffins which were A+. We also made a stop at the Dole Plantation where they grow the pineapples; the pineapple ice-cream was also to die for.
This was the trip of a lifetime for us; we just hope we live long enough to visit this beautiful place again one day.
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