In my career, I travelled often and earned a lot of airline and hotel points. In 2012, I had earned enough points for my wife and I to take a 10 day trip to the island of Kauai, Hawaii. I was lucky to have the air, hotel, and rental car covered by points. (The only time that ever happened.)

We visited waterfalls, volcanic mountains, a black sand beach, and Waimea Canyon. We saw the Na Pali coast from the Kalalau Trail and also from a zodiac boat. Another thing that I wanted to do for the first time was to take a helicopter ride over the island. Since I was definitely going to take photos during the trip, I wanted to have an outside seat on a chopper with no doors, so there would not be a problem with reflections on the inside of the windows. Not all of the flight companies do it with no doors, and for several days I could not find one that would guarantee me an outside seat.

Finally, on day six, I was able to make the exact arrangement that I wanted. After we took off, it was very smooth, but I kept the camera strap around my neck at all times. I had some guidance that to shoot without motion blur I should have the shutter at no less than 1/500. It took some extra ISO to do that even in full sun. We spent nearly an hour flying over Kauai. It was a scenic playground. This was a favorite shot from the flight. We were in Honopu Valley, along the Na Pali Coast on the island's northern side. I enjoyed the perspective of the eroded ridges in the volcanic layers, and the bright mix of colors.