Josef Hoflehner Hawaii Volcano photography
May 8, 2008 10:45 AM   Subscribe

"It was relatively quiet along the shores of the Big Island in Hawaii for quite some time. But since early March of this year, lava from the Kilauea Volcano flows down again to the coastal plains - which produces new land for the island - and makes the Big Island even bigger. Now when the red lava meets the Pacific Ocean, giant steam plumes rise high in the sky - this makes it so magnificent and absolutely unique to Hawaii. I photographed the phenomenon from land, water and air. A white plume currently issues from the vent - and I was lucky enough to get some shots." -Josef Hoflehner

See other portfolios here. I purchased the Iceland book and was flabbergasted. via
posted by notsnot (16 comments total) 2 users marked this as a favorite
 
Uh, weird. I just posted a link to my own pictures of the same thing.
posted by MrMoonPie at 10:56 AM on May 8, 2008


I guess he likes b&w photography... Too bad, I thought that a lot of those could've used some color.
posted by agress at 11:00 AM on May 8, 2008


Oh, but aside from the b&w, neat photos.
posted by agress at 11:01 AM on May 8, 2008


Here are some badass photos of an eruption in Chile...
posted by kaibutsu at 11:05 AM on May 8, 2008 [1 favorite]


kaibutsu, those photos are ridiculous. the mountain erupted in a LIGHTNING STORM?? killer pictures.
posted by rooftop secrets at 11:09 AM on May 8, 2008


To get to where the lava enters the ocean, one must hike across 4 miles of rough-and-tumble cooled lava. It's a strenuous hike, to say the least. The thing is, lava viewing is best done at dusk, to better see the red glow. That means the 4-mile hike back is in almost total darkness, with no marked trail of any sort, just a flashing beacon every half-mile or so.

We met a couple of photographers out there, Steve O'Meara and Charlene Myers. I've kept in touch with them, and, needless to say, they're incredibly excited about the newest vent activity.

Speaking of vent activity, we were directly above the site of the recent activity, though a year and a half before. On my blog, I have a comparison of a shot I took to one from the USGS.

It really is awe inspiring to be right there. I'll be back, for sure.

Oh, and the Chile eruption is being discussed elsewhere.
posted by MrMoonPie at 11:16 AM on May 8, 2008


Beautiful pictures. I went and saw Kilauea in 1997, I wish my pictures were that good!
posted by kenchie at 12:42 PM on May 8, 2008


contrasty!
posted by cowbellemoo at 12:55 PM on May 8, 2008


I agree agress, like the sunrise photo or the time lapse one at night, color could be awesome.

Also, a quick letter:

Dear Josef Hoflehner,

I oft complain about photography sites, and yours is no exception, I do appreciate the ease of navigation, thank you for doing that right, but I would like to see your art in all its detail without squinting at a 397x397 photo trying to make up some detail. With the advent of these nifty LCD monitors and a majority of users with screen resolution greater than 1024x768, I expect photos at least this size if not larger. Large photos are impressive, especially skillfully shot ones such as yours. I understand the fear of theft or people using them as desktop backgrounds! (OH NOES! Protect the bits.) Maybe a watermark is the answer, but that is a whole 'nother conversation.

Sincerely,

Concerned Photography Admirer
posted by sir_rubixalot at 1:27 PM on May 8, 2008


I was going to post the same thing about the lack of color, though I'm not completely positive that it would have improved the photos much. While there are a few that I thought were interesting, I wasn't particularly struck that the photographer has much of a sense of composition, so despite the spectacular setting and the events depicted, I'm sort of underwhelmed.
posted by Dave Faris at 1:41 PM on May 8, 2008


Sigh. I miss living there.

: kicks ground

Stupid Philadelphia. No volcanoes or nothin'.
posted by nosila at 2:14 PM on May 8, 2008


Second best awesome volcano pictures of the day!
posted by Artw at 3:07 PM on May 8, 2008 [1 favorite]


Mr Moon Pie: I was there in late March, and you could drive to within a mile of the new lava - the state highway agency opens up the road from 2pm to 8pm and manage the parking etc. It is pretty freaky driving over a lava flow I must say, even if it is twenty years old (we actually stopped short and walked about two miles, the lineup for parking was pretty long.)

My own pictures are here.

We were at Kalapana, at the eastern edge of the lava flow, earlier in the day - there was a local guy there selling pictures he'd taken from his boat, crazily close up - we bought a couple. Some real lava-porn in full color (unlike the posted pictures :))
posted by pascal at 7:45 PM on May 8, 2008


rooftop secrets: I think the eruption fomented the lightning.
posted by bz at 10:37 PM on May 8, 2008


Beautiful shots, pascal--looks like we went to a lot of the same places. We kayaked over to the Captain Cook memorial for snorkeling--fabulous, no? I did hear that the eastern approach to the lava was better these days; I'm guessing that's what you're talking about. We came from the western side, from the parking area at the end of Chain of Craters road. We were hoping to go back this year, but, alas, it's not to be. I'll just look at the pretty pictures until then, I guess.
posted by MrMoonPie at 6:48 AM on May 9, 2008


Yeah, we came in from the eastern end - you just drive down (I think) Hwy 130 until, well, it ends. It's pretty busy there towards sunset as you can imagine.

Snorkelling at Captain Cook was pretty amazing. However after hiking back up that hill with the time approaching noon, I think next time I would kayak :)
posted by pascal at 10:24 AM on May 9, 2008


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