The hiking came first.

I grew up on Oʻahu. The hiking started before the camera did. At first it was personal, something mental and physical I needed to work through. Somewhere along the way the places started working on me too, and the camera showed up later, once I wanted a way to hold onto what I was seeing.

What I keep going back to are the loops: up one ridge, across the summit trail, down another way. You’re up there for hours. The weather turns, the light shifts, and you come down with tired legs and a quiet that’s hard to find anywhere else on the island.

Most people know Hawaiʻi from sea level. My photos happen higher up. Ridgelines that lean into the valleys. ʻŌhiʻa lehua in reds and oranges you only really see right after rain. Long stretches where the only sound is wind, and sometimes a bird call somewhere above you.

Some days the light doesn’t show and you walk out with nothing. Other days you’re in the right spot at the right minute, and all you have to do is not get in the way.

The photographs here are from those days. Each one is a piece of a place I love.