It’s been a while since I’ve done one of these. Let me explain . . . on Monday, Labor Day here in the US, I started the day by sitting outside and photographing hummingbirds. Mind you, there were lots of other birds around, but I concentrated on the hummingbirds. Then, throughout the morning, I shot more photos.

For the record, 170 photos were snapped, of which I kept 123. The SmugMug gallery (HERE) has 75 of those 123.

How many am I going to show here? Don’t know yet, but not that many.

These photos are all cropped from the originals. Even after cropping, the photos are about 2400 pixels per side, and I’m linking photos about half that size (meaning, SmugMug offers larger versions, as will the slideshow at the end).

Grab a coffee, a snack, and put on an adult diaper . . . this will be a long post.

December 26, 2016, found me back on the shores of the Pine Tree Surfing Beach . . . which is a misnomer. People don’t actually surf on the beach; they surf on the water.

So, here is the thing . . . I shot many, many photos. After reviewing them all, I kept 814 photos. For this post, I pared them down to 288.

I did not see the rest of the synchronized surfers but that’s not to say they are not there; the surf was pretty rough at time.

I think I got me a number of decent action shots, and I aim to share them all with you.

Got me a few shots of waves, too . . .

I know you be anxious to see all the photos, but I first be gotz to do a disclaimer . . . it was a gray day, the sun making quick appearances in between wispy clouds. I’m not unhappy with these, but they are a bit grainier than I would like and the colors are not exactly popping. And yes, these are pre-P900. It’s Nikon all the way.

What I lack in photographic skill, I make up in quantity. Are you ready for it? OK, let’s go!

Last year, I did a lot of stuff with the Panos Animation (HERE), some of it pretty neat, and I had a lot of fun doing all that. 

This year, I figure I will do everything manual. Also, make it shorter post (apparently people’s attention spans are getting shorter and shorter). 

Still, I wanted something neat. By neat, I mean something I would have fun creating. In preparation, we went to the Mauna Lani Charity Trees display with the intent of snapping a few photos for this post. I could have used some of the photos from our past years of decorating our home with all manner of lights and ornaments. 

By the way, if bothered by animation or flashing things, you might want to avoid the rest of this post. If so, Happy Holidays to you and yours. For the rest, please continue . . .

So, here’s another thing I’ll probably never do: surfing

The sport does have an attraction for me . . . because of photography. This was the case last month when we went and sat on a beach and I snapped away at people enjoying the waves. 

surfing

This is where we went. It’s a public access area just south of the Kona Airport and near a pricey development (homes start in the multiple of $1M). The above Google Earth photo is from three years ago. Currently, a number of homes have been completed . . . and no, we’re not looking in there. They have a gate and everything and to me, it would feel like I’m in a cage. 

gated-community

Anyway, on with the photos . . .