Maui is a magical place. Experience the splendor through this momentary Maui escape: awe-inspiring beach sunsets, radiant sunrise skies, fluid-like clouds streaming past Haleakala's 10,023 foot slopes, stunning night sky scenes, transcendent Haleakala sunrises, "breathing" tide pools, peaceful tropical waterfalls, a rainbow in Nakalele blowhole mist, iconic green sea turtles, breaching and diving humpback whales, tranquil tropical flowers, plus some surprises!
This was a five-year time lapse project during several annual Maui visits. I wanted to showcase things that were "Maui," the things I miss when not on Maui, when I have "Maui on My Mind!"
The background music is Jeff Peterson's beautiful slack key guitar composition “Maui on My Mind” from his CD of the same name. Rather than simply playing the music behind the imagery, glimpses of Jeff's expressive performance were included to help convey the depth and soul of Maui.
Jeff describes the inspiration for writing "Maui on My Mind" as “The song was written during sunrise on a clear Maui morning. The mountain air had a chill but the sun quickly came through to warm things up and reveal views of Kaho´olawe, Lana´i, and the tip of Moloka´i in the distance. Even though I currently live on the island of Oahu and travel often outside of Hawaii to perform, music can transport me back to my family home on Maui in an instant. This song is my ticket home.”
Jeff has contributed to two Grammy Award-winning recordings and has been honored with seven Na Hōkū Hanohano Awards in Hawaii. “Maui on My Mind” was recognized as the Na Hōkū Slack Key Album of the Year in 2010 and was also nominated for a Grammy Award in 2011. More about Jeff and his music is available through his website at JeffPetersonGuitar.com.
It is impossible to illustrate all that is Maui in a 4 1/2 minute video. One way to convey more is to compress time through carefully crafted time lapse scenes. This project condenses about 30,000 photos and about 100 hours of Maui time down to this short video.
Many thanks to Mark's photo assistant Jodi Ellis! In addition to helping with photographic gear on location, Jodi contributed the gorgeous sunrise whale dive scene in the video.
Contact information for licensing time lapse footage (available up to 4K) or images of scenes within the time lapses is as follows:
Website: markellis.com
email: mark@markellis.com
Follow on Facebook: facebook.com/markellisphotography
Scene descriptions:
0:00 Sunset at Kameole Beach II
0:06 Sunset at Charley Young Beach
0:12, 0:16 Sunsets at Kameole Beach I
0:27 Full moon-rise above Ke'anae peninsula from Kaumahina State Wayside
0:34 Haleakala slopes at sunset from Leleiwi Overlook Trail
0:45 Sunset view of Haleakala crater from Visitors Center
0:50 Clouds flowing below Haleakala summit (West Maui Mountains in distance)
0:52, 0:54 Views from Haleakala summit at sunset
0:59 Sunset and sliver moon setting at Kameole Beach II
1:02 Clouds, stars, and Milky Way over Kihei
1:04 Night sky at Makena Cove
1:06 Milky Way rising as dawn approaches at Makena Cove
1:11 Wide view of Milky Way rising over Haleakala Crater from Kalahaku Overlook. Sliver moon rises, then sunrise
1:22 Haleakala sunrise over crater from Kalahaku Overlook
1:25 Haleakala Crater view from helicopter
1:28 Haleakala Crater from Kalahaku Overlook
1:33 Sunrise at Makena Cove
1:37 Sunrise at Ka’anapali Beach
1:40 Makena Cove at sunrise
1:42, 1:44 Lava rock tide pools at sunrise at Kameole Beach II
1:49 Rainbow and rain clouds at Black Rock Beach
1:51 Palms and moon view in Kihei
1:54, 1:56 Jacaranda tree near Kula
2:11 Rainbow eucalyptus trees on Road to Hana
2:13 Silverswards at Haleakala Summit
2:15 Upcountry view from Ali’i Kula Lavender Farms
2:21 Palms and clouds at D. T. Fleming Beach Park
2:25 Lower Waikamoi Falls on Road to Hana
2:26 Upper Waikani Falls (Three Bears) on Road to Hana
2:30 Small waterfalls near Upper Waikani Falls
2:32 Single-lane bridge and Wailua Iki Falls, Road to Hana
2:37 Bamboo and small waterfalls along Pipiwai Trail
2:39 Nekalele Blowhole with rainbow in its mist
2:49 Green sea turtles coming ashore
2:52 Swimming green sea turtle
2:59 Humuhumunukunukuapua'a (Hawaii state fish)
3:02 Manta ray near shore in Kihei
3:04 Mom and baby humpback whale breaches, Pacific Whale foundation (PWF) outing
3:11 Pec-slap and blow, humpback whales (PWF)
3:13 Fluke down dive at sunrise, humpback whales (PWF)
3:23 Spotted dolphins with baby (PWF)
3:25 Snorkelers and school of Mackerel scad (‘opelu) at Honolua Bay
3:32 Nene (Hawaii state bird)
3:35 Lava fields near La Perouse Bay (Keoneʻoʻio Bay). Watch for wild goat family!
3:37 Makena Beach (Big Beach) with Molokini in view
3:41 Sunset at Makena Beach
4:05 Sunset at Kameole Beach Park I
Wave sounds recorded at Ka’anapali Beach.
