Day 19 of Our Tour of Maui, Hawaii - Maui Golf & Sports Park - Ma'alaea, Maui, Hawaii...Maui - Maui Hawaii Landscape Photography, Maui Hawaii Portrait Photography

Down in Ma'alaea, on the way to Lahaina, you will find the Maui Golf and Sports Park.  Our youngest son, Siua (see ew ah), thinks he wants to be a golfer.  We are not sure how we are going to accomplish that for him, since the only member of our family who understands golf lives thousands of miles away.  I guess, since it is Maui, we should be able to figure something out, though.  To start we took him to the Maui Golf and Sports Park for his birthday this year.  It is a fun place with some sporting events the kids can participate in.


The kids can play a round of miniature golf:

go rock climbing:

bungie cord jumping on a trampoline:

 or play in the small water park there:

If you would like to go to the Maui Golf and Sports Park during your stay on Maui, you can find information about the park at the following link:

http://www.mauigolfandsportspark.com/

Day 18 of Our Tour of Maui, Hawaii - Upcountry, Maui- Kula Farms, Kula, Maui, Hawaii...Maui's Pumpkin Patch - Maui Hawaii Landscape Photography, Maui Hawaii Portrait Photography

Come join us today for a tour of the pumpkin patches at Kula Farms, Maui locals' favorite spot for entertainment in October.

Every October, Kula Farms grows and sells pumpkins to us locals.  It is so much fun for the kids to be able to go and pick their own pumpkin, instead of picking them up in the store.  The grounds of the farm are decorated with all kinds of fun haunts for the kids to hang out and explore.



The pumpkin patch lies at the bottom of a long hill.  You climb down into the pumpkin patch and search among the pumpkins to find the pumpkin that speaks to you, looks as if it should be the one you should take home, or simply falls into your wagon by some pure chance.  Just ask Danae.  That's how her pumpkin came to belong to her this year.

This green one is mine!  I loved him immediately!  He was so unique.

One of my favorite things to do at Kula Farms in the fall is to see what kind of portraits I can get with all the great backdrops.  The challenge is that these portraits will often include a lot of our fellow Kula Farm attendees, because there are a whole lot of them there every day in October.  The other challenge is that the lighting won't be optimal.  Kula Farms closes long before the lighting gets great.  One day I'd like to call them and see if I could set up a portrait shoot in the hours after they are closed.  But in the past including this year, I've made do with what I had.  I'm happy with the shots I got to save for my posterity, and I think that is all that matters in the end.  Of course I have to admit that I love nothing more than a good formal portrait shoot with optimal light, all the right equipment on hand, a few assistants that know what they are doing...well I could go on listing all the elements of a great portrait shoot, but I won't.  I'll just commence showing what I did get on this afternoon.

There is still plenty to do, even after your pumpkins have been selected. We make our way up the steep hill to pay for the pumpkins we've selected for Halloween 2011.

Time now to head to the corn maze.

Upcountry Maui is known for it's flowers and plants, some plants that grow only on the hillside of Haleakala as well as some familiar to Mainlanders.  Views, scenery, foliage all these things are a photographer's dream.  Every where you look, there is something to aim your camera at, to test your skills on and to see if you can capture an image that is unique and different.