Photographing Kauai Part 1 – Hanapepe Valley

As I sit here writing this post in the middle of 2020 I am thinking back to that first full day on the “Garden Island”. Hanapepe Valley was seen in passing on that day. It was just a pull-off from the road to the Russian Fort near Waimea.

Shelley and I drove with no specific location in mind. We were heading where ever the day took us. That morning Shelley and I had been spent along the Northshore at a food truck parking area in the town of Hanalei. We had gone to Hanalei in search of the “Holey Grail” of donuts.

Holey Grail Donuts

You see, before our trip to Kauai Shelley and I had started watching this YouTube channel called On Hawaii Time. You can check out their channel by clicking here. In one of their episodes, they visited Holey Grail Donuts. Holey Grail makes all of their donuts from Taro.

Hanapepe Valley

So, after Shelley and I had partaken in the Holey Grail of Donuts, we traveled south to Lihue and west toward Waimea. Along the way, we came to the Hanapepe Valley overlook. It was midday by the time that Shelley and I arrived at the overlook. Not the typical time of day for landscape photography, but the movement of the clouds drew me down the valley.

I made this photograph with my Nikon D600 at ISO 100, 70mm, f/8.0, and a shutter speed of 1-second. In order to get the 1-second shutter speed, I needed to use my 6-stop neutral density filter.