Chasing the Perfect Sunset
Storyteller: Kevin Kaminski, USA
What were the reasons for your travels?
The main reason for my travels is to create a balance in my life. The term “work hard, play hard” is definitely a motto I live by. My fiancée and I both work very hard to allow ourselves the time to be able to travel around the world. It has become a way of life for us—we both know that life is short and that we must take every opportunity to see all that this world has to offer. That desire to explore what’s around the next bend in the trail, that burn in the legs while climbing the summit, and the moment when you have the opportunity to take it all in—this is why I do what I do. In the end I just hope that my photography can instill an emotion in my viewer to want to travel more themselves.
What compelled you to take these scenic images?
I think for me it's that desire to create something beautiful, and to freeze a moment in time that will last forever. I also think for me it's a never ending challenge—always striving to be better at my craft. It’s the hunt to find that perfect scene, chase the perfect sunset, and the gamble of never knowing what you're going to get.
What is your favorite image and why?
I would have to say my black and white image of the Na Pali Coast on the island of Kauai. I had to really work for it! I had to backpack 10 miles of a rugged, slippery, muddy, and dangerous Kalalau trail to reach this viewpoint. I was also lucky enough to arrive about 30 minutes before sunset. That lighting created an incredible scene where the light was hitting on the ocean mist coming down the mountains just perfectly. This produced an incredible scene of highlights and shadows to create this layering and dreamy effect along the Na Pali Mountains.
What is your favorite story behind a single shot in the book?
The shot of “The Great Sand Dunes” of my fiancée walking up the sand dune. This was a National Park I've always wanted to backpack and sleep overnight on the sand dunes. We got the very last permit that day to be able to do this. As you can see in the photo the sand is whipping across the sand dunes at a very fast speed. This was something we really didn't prepare for, and I was quite worried about all of the sand damaging my camera. But as I always do, I took the risk and we went for it, and in hindsight I'm so happy I did. Though every crevice of our bodies was covered in sand and I'm pretty sure I sand blasted my ND Filter, I ended up capturing some amazing images from that trip. The effect the high winds were creating with the sand just made everything so much more dramatic. It was a bit of a “suffer-fest” but totally worth every minute of it.
