One of my friends sent me a link to a photo blog project , to post your best 10 picture from 2012.

OK, Yeah, sounded like fun, so I looked for my favorite 10.

This was more difficult than I thought, as 2012 was a very good year for photos on Maui.

With the help of my Facebook family, I was able to narrow it down to 25 or so.

In the end the final choices were for the impact and interactions these images represent.

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We are blessed. This is the view from my deck in Pukalani Maui.

On any give day you will find my wife and I enjoying the sunset at the end of the day.

God has been good to us and we enjoy sharing it with others. #Offthedeck

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This image was hands down the most popular photo this year.

Taken at the summit of Haleakala crater Maui.

Here is a blog post about it.

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I spent some time this year documenting the sugar cane burns.

While this is a controversial subject, it is a fascinating study.

The cattle egrets flock by the hundreds to eat the bug and rodents as they flee the fire.

 Click here to see a time lapse of one of the burns.

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This image is a collaboration with Maui artist and friend Tim Garcia.

Tim had the idea of shooting his hulas dancers with the Blue Moon this year.

3am in the morning and  it all came alive!

Thanks Tim for the inspiration!

Click here to see a FB gallery of the Hula Circle Blessing at the Maui Winery.

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2012 was an amazing year for celestial activities, stars, planets, meteors and eclipses lighting up the skies.

The Transits of Venus  was the rarest of these celestial phenomena, the last one in our lifetime, as the next one is in 2117!

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Maui is the home of one of the biggest waves on the planet. Peahi (Jaws) only breaks a few times a year.

This image is of  Dave Wassel on 1-4-12, this wave won him the Monster Paddle award for 2012.

This photo was the one chosen to represent his amazing ride, very honored.

Mahalo Billabong!

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This photo of the Puunene Sugar Mill was inspired one of Maui’s finest photographers, Randy J Braun.

This year has been an amazing  journey of meeting and working with so many amazing photographers,

through social media meetups, online and in person.

Thanks to the Maui Camera Club for providing encouragement and opportunities.

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This was the first year of travel for me after a couple of  major surgeries.

This service trip to Nicaragua was amazing (God is so gracious).

The Miskito people of the Rio Coco river are amazing, thank you!

The skies were alive with volcanoes, amazing sunsets and lightning storms!

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The vistas on Maui are awesome, inspiring and dangerous.

I almost drove off the road looking at this one, finally had to pull over to shoot this panorama.

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This image is a 10 shot panorama taken from the top of Haleakala at sunset, on one our many photographer meetups.

I’m always amazed at how 20+ people can be taking pictures at the same time and yet get such an awesome variety of images!

Thank You for looking :)

Mike

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OK, this one #11 and  is from 2011, but came back up again in 2012 for another popular round of exposure.

It is my most popular shot ever, with tens of thousands of  views,

and  thouthands of “likes” and comments and continues to be one of my best sellers.

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OK, yeah… I gotta put this one too :)

The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.

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New Years Eve delivers a great end of the year surf session at Peahi!

Click on the picture to go to the full gallery.

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Copyrighted Material! Please do not use without permission.

Editorial Web Use $35 each.  (Blogs, Facebook, Instagram, etc.)

Print Orders Click Here

All other uses send request to: Mike - E-mail 

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Click on the picture of the Day to go to the gallery….

Peahi 12-31-12

Peahi 10-9-12

Peahi 10-10-12

Peahi 1-31-12

Peahi 1-30-12

Peahi 1-4-12

Peahi 1-8-12

8-30-11

Surf 7-6-11

Peahi 3-15-11 (Jaws)

Peahi (Jaws) 2-8-11

Peahi (Jaws) 1-20-11

Peahi (Jaws) 1-16-11

12-26-10

Peahi (Jaws) 11-2-10

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Living out in the middle of the Pacific ocean has it’s advantages,

clean air, clear skies and on Maui a 10,000 inactive volcano offer never-ending opportunities.

A photographer by the name of  Wally Pacholka inspired me to give it a go a couple years ago.

Click here to see those shots.  

I’ve been hooked ever sense. Moon shots, night sugar can burns, planetary events and of coarse starry nights.

But none have generated the response this shot of the Milky Way over the top of  Haleakala.

I’ve been getting asked quite a bit about the recent Milky Way shot:

Is this for real? How did you do this? Is this Photoshopped? Is it HDR? Did you use fill lighting? And what were the settings?

Here are the stats… Canon 7D, 16mm fish-eye, 30s, 2.8, iso 1600 – a couple seconds of my headlamp for the foreground,

a couple second with a spot light on the building. Camera on the ground (on wadded up surf trunks to be exact – forgot my sandbag :)

2s timer – Processed in Camera Raw 7.0 CS6 – Here is a screen shot of bridge showing the default raw file and the finished jpg.

Screen shot in bridge. Here you can see the raw file and the edited jpg, also some of the other takes that evening.

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Here on Maui the changing of the seasons is subtle. The weather doesn’t change that much, maybe a little more rain and less wind in the winter, but pretty much perfect. For the surfer, we see a huge change, swells from the north will turn our quiet shorelines into raging playgrounds for the adventurous at heart. For our #offthedeck sunset / sunrise addicts, it means the sun will move south, clearing the mountains and setting in the ocean once again. Sunrise are better and the rainbows more plentiful! I, for one any ready for winter :)

Here are some of the end of summer images as we head into winter.

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Here’s a taste of surf to come!

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Photo Pricing: 

Custom Prints and Framing by request.

E-mail: Mike@NealStudios.net  size / type for pricing.

Online Store –  Cards, Prints, Posters

Click Here.

If you don’t see what you would like, please ask.

Night Photography Prints are custom order, as they take special handling.

E-mail: Mike@NealStudios.net  size for pricing.

Fine Art:

E-mail the specific type and size for  pricing.   Mike@NealStudios.net

Canvas Gallery Wraps:

12″x16″ – 40″x60″

$75  -  $1000

Unstretched - 30% off – shipped rolled

Aluminum

12″x16″ – 40″x60″

$100  -  $1200

Watercolor paper and other fine art media available.

Shipping, crate and handling charges extra.

Standard matting and framing avalible.

Custom framing with Maui hardwoods available.

Custom orders welcome, so ask if you don’t see what you want.

Commercial use, please e-mail  Mike@nealstudios.net

Personal and commercial photo shoots are available starting at $300.

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• Koa is the most beautiful wood I have had the pleasure to work with. The color, texture and amazing three dimensional depth, put it in a class of it’s own. A variety of the Acacia tree family, unique to Hawaii. It grows to be eighty plus feet tall, from sea level to near the tops of the mountains. Unfortunately it is also rare, having been cleared for cattle and burned to process sugar in the late 1800′s. There is a movement to restore it, but that’s another story.

• The wood that I use for my creations comes from “windfall” trees, downed by the forces of natural. None of the mills I work with cut live trees, so it is often difficult and expensive to come by.
• This particular  piece of wood is from a tree from the upper slops of East Haleakala on Maui. It had been on the ground for a while, so it had begun to decay. This process called “spalting” can add dramatic color and depth to the wood.

• When I’m looking for a piece for a rocker, there are two things I look for, structural integrity and dynamic patterns in the figure and curl. I look for natural curve in the grain for the runners and solid straight grains for the support components, as well as distinctive patterns and curl for the arms, seat and headrest. This can take some time, at $45-$65 a board foot (12″x12″x1″) you don’t want to make a mistake.

• After selecting the raw slabs, I lay out the design (each chair is different, as I do not use stock templates) and rough cut the various components. These pieces are stacked in my drying shed to stabilize. After two months they were ready to be shaped and sanded to a near finished point before assembly.
• Each component must be hand fitted to ensure tight joints. This process takes weeks, as each section is glued and cured. Each rocker’s wood has a different weight and balance point that must be careful worked out before the final glue up. I use a marine epoxy and waterproof glue,  so it needs to be right the first time. I let the glued up chair sit for a few weeks to cure and stabilize before finishing.
• The next step is to sand the entire chair over and over, applying thin layers of lacquer sealer until all the grains and joints are baby bottom smooth. A final lacquer finish is sprayed and a hand rubbed wax and oil is applied.
• My goal in a rocker is to create a piece of furniture that is both comfortable and aesthetically pleasing, revealing the amazing beauty of the wood.

Aloha,
Mike

This chair was SOLD at Native Intelligence 

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With each new swell at Peahi the bar is raised, new heroes are made and reputations are solidified!

Here it is only October and the bar has been set really high!

For two days Peahi dished up some of the biggest, cleanest waves the world has ever seen.

Where do we go from here?

I can’t wait to see!

Click on any picture to go to the gallery of the day :)

Day one – 10-9-12                   Day two – 10-10-12

Albee Layer 10-9-12

Mark Healey 10-10-12

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