Waking up before the crack of dawn to drive 1.5 hours through dark, twisting mountain roads isn’t always the “smartest” thing to do. There was never any guarantee that my efforts would even be worth it.
I spent the entire drive looking up towards the sky, trying to discern through the dark murkiness of the midnight sky whether the clouds were breaking or not.
Some risks are worth the reward
When I arrived at Haleakala National Park, the sun had already risen, casting the entire scene in a flat white hazy glow. Still beautiful, but not what I drove all this way for.
I could have turned around, but something told me to stay. Maybe it was just the delusional hopefulness that all photographers experience when their desired composition isn’t quite working out yet.
I found a secluded corner of the park, nestled amongst the loose broken rocks that formed the edge of the volcanic crater, and waited.
For over an hour I stared at the fast moving clouds, desperately hoping for the morning sun to poke through. “just a little bit, please” I thought.
Then suddenly….
It was all worth it in the end
The Panoramic image above is composed of 25 total images - Each of the 5 images that comprise the expanse of the panoramic view was individually created by stacking 5 individual long-exposure photographs taken at 1-stop intervals. This means the panorama isn’t just a panorama - it’s a long-exposure HDR Panorama of a scene that will never be recreated atop Mount Haleakala.
If you want to own a piece of this unique print, large format options are available in both Canvas, Metal, and Acrylic prints with various size options.