My flight into Kauai landed shortly after sunset, leaving me no chance to scope out a location for sunrise the next morning. There were a couple of beaches that I had seen shots from close to my hotel, so I figured that was going to be my best option. All you need is a beach facing the east right?

It was dark when I pulled into the large parking lot at Lydgate State Park. It was hard to make out exactly what was where. I could recognize the lifeguard station and figured that must be where the man-made reef was at that I had seen in some shots. I was looking for something different, so I set out down the beach in the opposite direction. The waves were crashing in and I wasn’t finding anything for a foreground element. I couldn’t just take a picture of the sun coming up over a beach you know. As the skies gradually lightened, I was beginning to fret about finding my shot. I debated running back to the reef, but that wasn’t what I had conjured up in my mind. I picked up the pace and kept heading down the beach. I was elated to come around a bend and find some logs washed up on the shore. Most were facing the wrong direction, but just as the sky started to get some color, I came upon this one. I quickly framed it up and shot for the next fifteen minutes until the sun came up, capturing the waves in varying positions.

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