My view is not the most beautiful view I know but it is my view. Many places, like Kaua’i’s Napali Coast, parks in the American Southwest and views in the Canadians Rockies, are grander but in those places I must return to the car or hotel and eventually leave on a plane.

Frank Lloyd Wright said, “Own your view” so it cannot be controlled or blocked by another.  I own enough of my view in that way. It always instills a sense of Wonder.  Greek philosophers discussed Wonder more than any other topic. I love the Sanskrit term: Adi butta: Wonder and Amazement. It describes how I feel multiple times per day sitting and gazing or just catching a glimpse of Kealakekua Bay below me.  These waters are the most historic in Hawai’i. They were the site of Captain James Cook’s contact with this island as well as where he died. Kealakekua translates as “pathway of the gods” and thousands lived on the sloping landscape when Cook arrived in 1779.

Every glimpse of the bay moves me. It never has the same light, clouds, water color, water currents, surf or surface activity.  Photographically, I feel I am channeling Edward Steichen (original curator of Museum of Modern Art’s Photo Department) who spent years photographing a single shadblow tree on his pond in Connecticut.

Days pass without a photo taken to add to my Lanai Views Gallery.

https://alvisupitis.zenfolio.com/p558513389 

But other days everything changes in a flurry.  One dawn these clouds deserved a panorama.

During the day, the view was still a moment to be admired, but not photographed.  It took me years to learn when to just look and when to shoot.  Here are interesting clouds, brought out with a polarizer, but not something I would return to via a photo.

Then the clouds and rain came and I assumed I’d be off duty for any possible sunset photo.  But at dinnertime a rain cloud came down over the bay with a distinct edge.  So different than the morning and the day and certainly worth a photo.

 Adi butta….