The Old Saddle Road on the Big Island of Hawaii was built during World War II to facilitate defense of the island by the US Army. It connects both sides of the island and goes from sea level to a saddle between two massive volcanoes at 6000 feet of elevation.
It was quickly built, following the contours of the land, and was not intended for high speed travel. The road has since been replaced by a modern highway, but sections of the old road still exist as seen in this photo. There are major undulations in the road as it meanders along the volcano slopes and I had been looking for a good opportunity to use a long lens to compress the curves into a snake-like path.
The higher elevations are often in the clouds as was the case this day. The visibility was a bit poor, so we slowly travelled down the road looking for a satisfying view. In this image, the road undulates out of sight, vanishing in the mist. I used a small aperture to maintain focus throughout. I liked this composition with more featureless sky than normal since it emphasized the sense of unknown beyond.
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Dimitri Vasileiou • Editor