Sunrise at Haleakala

In order to capture this photograph my husband and I had to travel up 10,023 feet to the tallest peak of Haleakalā, which means “House of the Sun.” This inactive volcano forms more than 75% of the Hawaiian Island of Maui, and watching the sunrise from Haleakala National Park is considered a once in a lifetime experience and must do if you ever visit Maui.  We met our tour guides about 1am, and arrived at about 3:30am to get a coveted front row spot for the sunrise. It was about 20 degrees that morning, and I had to work pretty hard to balance my tripod on the rocky terrain while also keeping my hands warm enough to press the shutter! Somewhere around 5:00am the sky began to light up just about every color of the rainbow until finally the sun made it’s dramatic entrance to a sea of cheers from all of the spectators gathered to watch. To watch the sunrise from above the clouds is definitely a unique and memorable experience, and we really lucked out weather wise as Mother Nature is not known to be reliable. This was my favorite of all the images I captured that morning, grabbing a perfect sun glare which showed off the craters of the volcano below, and the billowy clouds beneath. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do, prints are available upon request via email.   I shot this using my Canon 80D, 24mm prime lens, 1/320sec at F5.6.