In July of this year, on a hot day at the height of summer, I seized an opportunity to photograph the active eruption of Hawaii’s Kı¯lauea Volcano. A river of molten lava, glowing neon red, pulsed from the chasm known as Fissure #8. Generating huge explosions of noxious gas and steam, it flowed through once-tranquil neighborhoods and forested terrain into the sea.
You don’t get near to this kind of action on the ground, so I worked from a small helicopter, doors removed, at the closest distance allowed of 3,000 feet. The experience of photographing this incredible phenomenon activated and exhausted all my senses. The sights were surreal, the heat extreme, the noise and vibration of the rotorcraft intense. While I love aerial photography and I’ve photographed from open helicopters,…
