‘HI Altitude: Hawaii’s Tallest Volcanoes’ brings viewers through stunning high elevation landscapes featuring the highest peaks in the Hawaiian Islands. Mauna Kea, Mauna Loa, Hualalai and Haleakala are the four highest mountains in Hawai’i, experience these volcanic giants through epic time-lapse sequences captured from the otherworldly slopes of Maui and Hawai’i Island.
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I was born and raised on the slopes of Mauna Loa here in south Kona. In recent years I’ve been building a long term time-lapse project with many different adventures around the island. With elevations reaching close to 14Kft, sub-freezing temperatures and 40% less oxygen than sea-level, these towering majestic mountain slopes can make for some extremely intense and potentially dangerous productions.
As part of my Cinematic Volcanoes Adventure Filmmaking Vlog (CVvlog), I documented my solo production on three of the time-lapse sequences featured in HI Altitude. In Lake Waiau Part 1, I set out on a mission to capture a 6 hour Milky Way time-lapse from the only lake on Hawaii Island. Lake Waiau sits at around 13,025ft elevation and the night sky views are absolutely some of the best you’ll find around the world. Though these incredible high elevation views do not come easy, Mauna Kea summit is a pretty inhabitable zone especially at night. If you’re prepared and know what you’re in for, the opportunities for clear sky photography are unmatched. The Lake Waiau sequences in HI Altitude make up my favorite scene in the film.
Check out the vlogs below and remember to follow Page Films on YouTube!
Cinematic Volcanoes: Lake Waiau Pt.1 – Milky Way Timelapse – Mauna Kea, Hawaii
As you’ll see in HI Altitude, there’s a sequence that begins at dusk, quickly exposes for the rising Milky Way core and follows it throughout the entire night until dawn. In my CVvlog installment ‘All Night Milky’, I go into detail of how I use the eMotimo Spectrum ST4 to program keyframes that allow my camera to make such a dynamic move over a 10 hour period. This one was shot at around 8Kft on Mauna Kea’s neighboring giant, Mauna Loa.
Cinematic Volcanoes: All Night Milky – 10 hour Milky Way Timelapse – Mauna Loa, Hawaii
The Milky Way reflection shot captured in Lake Waiau Pt. 1 is followed by a night-to-day holy grail sunrise time-lapse sequence from above the lake. In the 3rd CVvlog about the making of HI Altitude, I chronicled my 2nd filmmaking adventure to Lake Waiau. This time around I set up a 3-axis slider rig and began the sequence in full darkness, shot for 4 hours all the way into full sunlight. Stay tuned for Lake Waiau Pt.2 to be released in the coming weeks.
Cinematic Volcanoes: Lake Waiau Pt.2 – Sunrise Holy Grail Timelapse – Mauna Kea, Hawaii (COMING SOON)
