From Kauai – The Old Sugar Mill at Koloa
Hello everyone. I’m on Kauai taking a much needed R&R and photo break of sorts. Since arriving, it has been raining with heavy cloud cover every morning and the same at night, less last night. While going for some herbs at the local market, I came upon a view of the old sugar mill from an angle that I had not seen before. Fact is, I have never taken this particular cut-off road since they built it some four years ago. On the first pass, it was pretty flat so I continued on for some shallots and my handy ‘Hawaiian Rub’ for the rack of lamb. I decided to take the same road on the way back to the condo, and man-o-man, did the clouds part and I was treated to some very long shadows and golden light. After a number of shots, I decided to head up to the mill for some close-up shots of the structures. At the gate I was greeted by very forceful looking security guards who made it very clear that I was not to cross the gate. I made a couple of jokes about myself with these guys and before you know it, I was able to take a couple of quick photos and off I had to go. I could have spent hours at the mill, but I was pushing it and so were the guards. After visiting Kauai on an annual basis for nearly some 18 years, I have never been so challenged with the rain and clouds, as this trip. My guided trip deep into the highlands to photograph ‘guardian falls’, was canceled due to all of the rain in the upper reaches of the mountains. Despite the rain, it has been good to catchup on reading and writing.
Koloa Sugar Mill
Nikon D3s, 70-200 f/2.8 @ 150mm, ISO 400, f/8.0 at 1/250 sec
Given the age of the old mill, I thought a B&W conversion would be fitting. I processed the image below in CS5, with little assist from Nik Software, to highlight all of the steel structures giving it some additional depth. Man I just love their control point technology. The control point tools, allows me put additional emphasis right where I want it, without some very complicated photoshop work.
Koloa Sugar Mill
Nikon D3s, 70-200 f/2.8 @ 110mm, ISO 400 f/8 at 1/500 sec
Enjoy and happy photo’ing