It's easy to imagine how ancient cultures viewed volcanoes as openings to the underworld when viewing these glowing tendrils of molten lava winding among earlier, slightly more hardened flows from vents near the Pu'u 'O'o eruption site in Kilauea National Park, Hawaii.

For almost as long as I can remember, I've wanted to see the lava flows of Kilauea's now 33-year long eruption, and I was ecstatic when I received an unexpected call from good friend and regular photographic road tripper Sky Matthews, saying that he had a two-day conference to attend in Hawaii and that, since his wife and kids unfortunately were unable to make the trip with him this time, there could be an opening for a quick photographic expedition.

A very kind invitation like that just can't be missed, so we set about researching what photographic opportunities we could hope to work into the short time we would have in Hawaii.

Much of the credit for this amazing volcano photography experience and all our cool abstract lava images goes to the great help given us by renowned Hawaii lava photographer Bruce Omori. I have to say that Bruce is one of the nicest people you'll ever come across, and he is truly an outstanding photographer. Bruce quickly advised us that the best, and presently only (the active area is closed to hikers right now for good reason), way to see what we wanted to see and maybe get some of the shots we imagined, would be to shoot from a helicopter from very low altitude.

Bruce often partners with the with exceptional professionals at Paradise Helicopters, and he put together this sunrise flight for us and was kind enough to fly with us that morning and give us some great tips, which we sorely needed since neither of us had ever shot from a helicopter before.

While I have to admit to being a little nervous for the first few minutes up there in the helicopter with the doors off, I have to say it absolutely was one of the coolest experiences ever! And I say coolest in a metaphorical sense, of course, because when the helicopter got very low, you could really feel the heat coming off the lava.

Many thanks again to Sky for including me on this trip, and please also make sure to check out Bruce's stunning work online or in the Extreme Exposure gallery which Bruce and Tom Kuali'i have in downtown Hilo. Bruce and Tom also offer excellent photography tours and workshops to visitors to their beautiful area, always giving their all to help visiting photographers like us have an unforgettable experience.

Thanks for visiting!

Tags:   Kilauea Hawaii Volcanoes National Park P u'u 'O'o Hilo Lava Erupt Eruption Flow Volcano Flank Glow Molten Big Island Mauna Loa Travel Nikon Landscape Sunrise Cloudy Helicopter Low Close Heat Hot Close-up Abstract photobenedict Volcanic

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Small trees stand sentinel from seemingly tenuous positions near the edge of the Kilauea caldera, as an otherworldly orange-red glow from a lava lake and a persistent column of smoke and steam erupting from the Halema'uma'u crater (nested within the larger Kilauea caldera) light up the low clouds at the leading edge of an approaching pre-dawn rainstorm, Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, Hawaii.

Its hard to express how eerie it was approaching this scene at night for the first time. While I like this composition with the silhouetted trees, it doesn't even come close to communicating just how massive the glowing smoke and steam plume appeared at times and how much it lit up the surrounding low clouds in fiery tones. At times, the radiant plume almost looked like a mushroom cloud as it roiled into the rain clouds streaming in over the crater.

It was enthralling to watch, realizing at once the awesome power of the volcano, but also that we were witnessing only a very tiny fraction that power.

This shot is from the night before, or should I say just a couple of hours before, Sky Matthews and I met up with Bruce Omori for our incredlble doors-off, very low altitude helicopter experience shooting the scattered active lava flows erupting from the flank below the Pu'u 'O'o crater just a few miles away.

Thanks for visiting!

Tags:   Kilauea Hawaii Volcanoes National Park Halema'uma'u Hilo Lava Erupt Eruption Steam Smoke Flow Volcano Flank Glow Molten Big Island Mauna Loa Travel Nikon Landscape Night Cloudy Storm Low Close Heat Hot Silhouette Tree Trees photobenedict Volcanic Plume Crater Caldera

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A closer look at this jumble of emerging basalts reveals detail and interest among the varied molten, and recently molten, forms in the streams of cooling lava near the Pu'u 'O'o eruption site in Kilauea National Park, Hawaii.

Like many in recent months, I've been seeing the pictures and stories about the ongoing effusive eruption in Iceland, and I have to say I developed a bit of lava envy, which prompted me to go back to my old pics from a fortunate and amazing visit to Kilauea a few years ago. The small area of flow here was one of my favorites because it brought together so many intriguing formations (this image captures an area little more than a few meters/yards wide), along with memories of the heat radiating from the lava and the thrill of the whole experience.

Time and again, as in the left center of this image, we saw these amazing, jagged sawtooth or claw patterns at the boundary between the still glowing lava and the slightly cooler lava beginning to harden to a silver-gray surface that was almost a bit metallic in its initial appearance. Coarse rope-like forms then looped upstream from the sawtooth, and a bright globule of lava bubbled up from among the braids. And further below (toward the lower right in the frame) is a familiar "nautilus" form where the rope-like braids curl about ahead of an elegant reaching finger of still-incandescent lava.

Still other areas nearby appeared to have much finer structure, like thinner yarn moreso than rope, and visible here and there beneath it all is the darker, more-weathered and broken slag of earlier flows. Needless to say, I've yet to learn what slight variances in mineral composition, temperature or topography, among innumerable other possible factors, gave rise to these different forms in such a small area of the same flow. Yet more examples of the ceaseless wonders of our natural world.

Thanks for viewing!

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