Hawaii Travel Photography

Recently, Mark and I went to Oahu to spend time with family. Luckily, our hosts (my brother and sister-in-law) planned for just about everything. Although the early morning hikes were tough to wake up for, it was totally worth it. If you're planning a trip there, plan around those beautiful sunrises and sunsets.

We spent our first night in Honolulu, and the rest of our time there we went up to the North Shore.

If you're in Honolulu, I recommend:

• Hyatt Regency Waikiki Beach Resort - The ocean view rooms are 100% worth it.
• Marukame Udon - Worth the wait and it's a great late night spot!
• Matcha Stand Maiko - The best matcha ice cream EVER. Eat a cone while you're waiting for Udon.
• Alicia's Market - This was our first stop after arriving and it's amazing. It was full of locals, not tourists, which is always a good sign. There isn't a spot to sit down and eat, so plan to take your food to go. Get a slice of the banana bread by the register, then sit and enjoy by the ocean.

After Honolulu, our Airbnb was about a 5-10 minute walk to the ocean, which was amazing. I spent most of our trip holding our baby nephew Jonathan - no regrets. I'm an only child so being able to experience a bit of siblinghood via Mark's family is pretty special to me.

When I'm on vacation, I try not to spend all my time taking photos and more time just being present. There were a few times I didn't hold back and took photos of all the plants (I couldn't resist). Hawaii has all the ferns I wish I could grow in Austin. Maybe it's finally time to build a tiny greenhouse and make all my fern dreams come true.

I was also pretty impressed with my new little Fujifilm X-E2's performance. It was light, easy to use, and sized just right. I'm even considering getting another lens. Most point and shoots are just too small and annoying to use on manual mode, so if you're looking for something closer to your dslr but not as cumbersome, look into the Fuji X series.

Scroll down to look through some of my shots from Kaena Point State Park, Waimea Botanical Garden, Ho'omaluhia Botanical Garden and Shark's Cove.