The BigIslandView.com Blog has many visitors, but far fewer people explore what is available on the rest of the website. For information about a particular Big Island spot, a blog post covering that spot is for you. But you may not realize that there are photos of many other Big Island locations that you may not have seen or heard about. The photo galleries on the rest of the website may help you select a few places to visit while here. I do this myself when visiting a new place, by checking websites like locationscout.net to see what's there before I go.
The Recent Gallery
The Recent gallery opens when you enter the website, and it contains a scrolling display of photos of places I have recently visited on this Island. I’m on the Island about 5 months/yr, so there will almost always be some new things to see here if you visit the website periodically.
Hawaii Image Collection
The heart of the website is the Hawaii Image Collection, found under the "Galleries" menu.. There are almost 200 photos here (and growing) from all over the island. You can scroll through all of them if you want, but there are a couple ways to narrow the list to photos you are most interested in.. First, click on the title or the down arrow labelled “Select Photos”. You should see the following tool:
You'll see a the same tool if you are using a phone or tablet, formatted to your screen. Using this tool, you can narrow down the photos displayed. The map divides the Island into 6 regions. There is a box with radio buttons and dropdown next to the map under "Search By". “Island Areas” is pre-selected by the radio button when you first enter this tool. Beneath that is a dropdown menu where you can select which of the 6 map areas you want to explore. Pick one, (like "Hilo") and the map will update to show your choice.
All the website photos for that area will be selected and displayed below in a scrolling display. If you prefer a slideshow, click the box labelled “Click here to change to a slideshow view” and the image display will shift to a slideshow instead of a scrolling display. If you just want a background display of nice Hawaii pictures on your device, use this option.
The tool also has a dropdown menu labelled “Pick a Subject”. For any Island area, or the whole Island, select a subject type such as “Waterfalls”, “Sunsets”, “Rainforests”, etc to narrow down the images further. So if you only want to see what Waterfalls are near Hilo, you can easily select just these:
Currently, there are 17 photos that fit these choices. If you want Waterfalls in South Hawaii, well, I haven’t seen any yet so you won’t get any photos there.
To reset the dropdowns to include all photos, just tap the round reset buttons to the right of the dropdown menu.
For a specific location, like Akaka Falls for example, click the “Location Name” radio button. The dropdown will change to “Pick Location” and the dropdown menu will display a long list of places I’ve photographed. Select “Akaka Falls” and the map will change to the area where it's located and you will see the photos I’ve taken there:
You can pick a subject type in the Subject dropdown to further limit what is displayed.
Check this tool out. Most people like it when they try it!
Panoramas Gallery
The Island is filled with grand vistas that lend themselves to panoramic photos. Some of these are included in the Hawaii Images Gallery, but they are very wide and appear like skinny narrow photos there. To remedy that, I created the Panorama Gallery (under the "Galleries" menu) where the wide photos are displayed in a format that spans the screen (and then some) on all types of devices:
You can scroll horizontally to see the entire image on your tablet or phone. You can turn your phone sideways and see a wider display as well.
Special Subject Galleries
I use blog posts to illustrate specific hikes or locations we visit. There are some subjects where I have a series of photos that have a common subject or theme. I display these as Special Subject Galleries and change them out from time to time. Right now, there are galleries devoted to other Hawaiian Islands (Kauai and Oahu), or Big Island places where I have spent a lot of time (like Laupahoehoe). There is a tab for each gallery on this page:
International Gallery
I take photos wherever I go, and have a collection that covers many parts of the world. For those curious, I have a small International Images Gallery showing some of my favorite images from past travels:
Shop
While I want people to visit the website to be educated and inspired by what’s on the Big Island, I also want to sell photos to those interested. In the Shop, I have selected around 20 images that can be purchased in a number of different formats from small unmounted prints to large installations:
The page has detailed descriptions of the various formats and options within them. Click the arrow next to "More Info" and you will see some help topics about ordering prints:
Click any heading for more info. If you haven't purchased photo prints before, these topics will tell most of what you need to know:
Selecting any image will take you to a cart page where a few clicks will define what you want and show the price:
I have used Bayphoto.com as my preferred print lab for years and offer their services here as well. My pricing for the image in every format is simple: cost of production plus 25%. Tax and shipping are just what Bayphoto charges without markup. In most cases, prints purchased will be shipped directly to the buyer. Special requests can be made on the cart page, and I will respond with pricing before you buy. It is the simplest way I know to select a personalized fine art print.
You can view Example Installations that I’ve already created for various customers and in my own home. You can also see “mockups” where different prints are shown as they might appear as an installation in an actual home. Any of these can give you a sense of how an image might look in your own home.
The Blog
Well, if you’re reading this, you’ve found the Blog. Hopefully, its apparent that the blog is where you can learn more about specific hikes, or locations that you might be interested in visiting. Which post is most popular? Apparently a LOT of people want to explore Mud Lane.
About and Contact
If you want to learn more about me and Big Island Images, or contact me with a specific question or request, look here. I will usually be able to reply pretty quickly.
Guest Book
If you like what you’ve seen, or have a comment or concern to share, please visit the Guest Book by clicking on the link at the bottom of any page. You may leave your comment anonymously. I will not contact you unless you request it. I always love to see comments!
That’s it. There is a lot here! I hope you will spend a little time exploring the site and find value for your own Big Island explorations. Thanks for visiting!