Golden Path
This bamboo forest is one that I’ve had the pleasure of traversing through dozens of times. It is exquisite in every way. It sits at the edge of a rainforest, is lined with millions of bamboo that seems to go on as far as the eye can see, it is all healthy and it is incredibly pleasing to the senses.
Walking through the area is like being inside a wind chime, as the bamboo in the forest gently sway side to side, softly kissing each other and giving way to the most zen-like sounds of far away lands.
Although the image looks bright with golden and green hues, it was actually quite dark in the bamboo forest. The thickness of the bamboo left little room for light to enter. So, where I was standing for this photograph was among the darkness of the bamboo forest, looking out to the golden light of the pathway beyond. I thought it looked inviting and mesmerizing all at once. Almost like a sign from beyond… ooooooooohhh hahaha!
Behind the camera
When I shot Golden Path, I was giving a private photo tour to a gentleman from Omaha, Nebraska. We were hiking through a bamboo forest and he came upon this view of the path and wanted to photograph it. It was really dark and usually the wind pushes these bamboo too much for this to be a viable shot without the leaves blowing too much, but on this day the winds were unusually light.
He set up to shoot the scene as I guided him in the back of the camera. Looking at his perspective, I really liked it, so I set up my camera next to his and shot this take. That just goes to show that even someone like myself who has been up this path a hundred times still needs to learn to look around and try to see through the eyes of others to find the beauty in the world around me.
Thanks Dan, for helping me capture this scene! I literally wouldn’t have been able to get this without you!
Image Details:
Golden Path was photographed on the Island of Maui, Hawaii in June, 2021. It was shot in RAW format on a Nikon D850 with Nikon 24mm-70mm f2.8 lens. Aperture was set to f9, shutter speed was at 4 seconds to compensate for the darkness in the bamboo forest. It was shot at an ISO of 100. The camera was sitting on a Gitzo 3540L tripod about 5′ off the ground.
