This past August we went to the Big Island of Hawaii to photograph two weddings.  After we were done, we spent two weeks exploring this very large Island ... by Hawaii standards anyways.  What we found was an Island ripe with rugged beauty; active volcanoes giving birth to new land dotted with high, cold mountains harboring glimpses of the heavens and stars so close you feel as though you can almost touch them; oh, and then there are the secret lagoons and isolated beaches full of sea turtles ... plenty and plenty and plenty of sea turtles ... we love sea turtles :-)!  Below is a record of our journey through the images we took!

While we were on the Big Island of Hawaii, we took a boat trip to view the lava flows.  It was spectacular to witness ... one of the most amazing acts of nature we have ever seen!

My best friend in the whole world :-), Daniela, came out from her home in Chicago to help me out with a wedding (more on that in the next posting) in November.  She was only here for 3 days and it was the first time she had ever been out west.  She is originally from Brazil and given the fact that her time spent in the US has always been on the East Coast or in the Midwest, the Wild West was a little different for her.  She loved it from the moment her plane touched down in Phoenix!  Given the short time span I had to show her around, I had to be selective about where to take her.  The obvious choice was the Grand Canyon, so off we went, straight from the airport to the canyon.  She was mesmerized, as most people are who see it for the first time!  Here are a few shots we took while we were there.

Daniela and I at my favorite tree :-)!

Back in late October we went to Florida to photograph Lisa and James' spectacular wedding in West Palm Beach.  While visiting south Florida, we took a few days to explore the Everglades and a bit of the Florida Keys.  Here are some of the highlights!

Yes, this is a Pygmy Rattlesnake ... and yes, I am using a wide angle lens, which means I was probably way too close.  Don't try getting this close to a poisonous snake unless you know well how to read their body language.  This one remained very calm and I took a lot of time to ease up to it to get the shot.

In late September we traveled to Puerto Penasco, Mexico, otherwise known as Rocky Point to photograph a wedding.  Aside from the actual wedding day, we spent a couple of extra days in the area exploring and having a little fun!  One of the highlights was renting ATVs and riding them around the nearby dunes.  The only downside to this was the intense heat.  From what I was told, September is a hot month in general, but they were having a freak heat wave that week which made the temperatures almost unbearable at about 105 degrees with 100 percent humidity.  We still had a great time though!

Purple Bill & Greeny being tourists :-).