The Story Behind The Image; Maui Jumpers

Maui Divers (click to enlarge)
Nikon D200; 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 lens @75mm; 1/180th sec. @ f/7.1; ISO 100

After my career as a police officer and chief of police, I went to work for the United States Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NICS) managing several information sharing projects in various locations around the United States.  One of those projects was in Hawaii.  Even though I was fortunate to be able to travel to Hawaii ten times over a period of five years, most of my time on the various islands was spent working.  But now and then, I did find a bit of time to tour and photograph.

My traveling for NCIS was extensive and when I traveled I only took one camera and one lens.  On this particular trip to Hawaii, I took my Nikon D200 and the 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 zoom lens.  Also, I took a polarizing filter.  That combination served me pretty well as a travel kit at the time.  

On this trip I was based in Honolulu but working daily on the island of Maui and my flight back to Honolulu didn't leave until late afternoon.  I took the opportunity of a few hours free to look around the island a bit in the rental car.  As I was passing this spot (in the image above), I saw these kids jumping from the rocks into the ocean.  Thinking that this may make an interesting photo, I parked the car and got out my camera to record what I thought was some innocent fun by young teenagers.

As they jumped into the water then crawled back up the rocks to the top to jump once again, I thought to myself how wonderful it is to have such a fun opportunity so close to home.  I zoomed in to make close ups of the kids as they cannonballed off the rocks.  As each jumped, I snapped off a few frames to try to catch them in mid-air.  There wasn't a view of the water so I couldn't photograph them as they hit the water.  Then I spotted the crosses and my mood changed.  I hadn't seen them as I concentrated on the kids themselves.  I then realized what must have happened and the meaning of this image now became the crosses along with the kids ignoring the danger.  The images I then wanted to create would have an entirely different mood.

From seeing those two memorials, I concluded that at sometime in the past, two persons died while doing this very same activity.  My thoughts about a group of young teenagers just having fun turned to asking myself if they are foolish for doing so?  Are they not worried?  Can't they see that the activity they are pursuing can cause their death?  Are they just reckless youth thinking that they are immune from injury and death?  Of course, this is conjecture but a reasonable inference to draw from what was before my eyes.

After a few minutes of watching and making images I was on my way.  Maui is such a beautiful island and I soon forgot about the kids, the earlier tragic events and the entire scene itself.  Only after I returned home and was editing my images, did I remember and hope that none of those kids were as unfortunate and none would be in the future.

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Thanks for looking. Enjoy!  

Dennis A. Mook  

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