Hanalei Pier on Kauai – a local favorite

If you are lucky enough to have visited Kauai, you are almost certain to have visited the small town of Hanalei with its gorgeous bay and small concrete pier. Over the years, I have visited it many times, always looking for that different view or treatment to show the magical nature of that part of the island.

We normally stay in the Wyndham timeshare resort of Bali Hai, which is in Princeville and a short 5-minute drive from Hanalei. That, coupled with the change in time zone which always has us waking up at 4am, means that sunrise is a common subject early in our visit to Kauai. Most mornings, I’m up and down at the beach before the sun actually rises to get the best of the changing light at that time of day. In this article, I’ll pull my favorite images of Hanalei Pier together and perhaps persuade you that a visit to the North part of the island could be on your bucket list!

This first one is a favorite, and also one of the earliest images in my portfolio. Taken back in January 2014, I thought the juxtaposition of the traditional Hawaiian canoe with the pier and the early sunlight illuminating the mountains in the background was a perfect scene for Kauai. I’m also a stock photographer offering images for magazines and publishers and this image has been licensed over 400 times. In fact, in the usual “update” that timeshare companies offer to their visitors, I noticed that in their book of properties around the world, this image was used to illustrate the Kauai destination! The canoe is still there but is now dragged further away from the beach after a big flood in April 2018 that destroyed several homes here and is in sorry state.

I’m very partial to a long duration exposure here by the pier. This particular one had an exposure of 8 seconds (you need to find a solid bit of sand to avoid the tripod legs sinking into the beach!). I like the very calm early morning feel of it with the waves and surf dissolving into a nice misty appearance.

I have an alternative view taken shortly afterwards with a shutter speed of about 3 seconds. It was very nice of that swimmer to stand still during that time – perhaps he was watching me watching him! The presence of a human figure gives a different feeling to the image – without it, your eye probably goes to the sunlit building on the pier, but we are trained to always look at a human shape however small in a scene.

During that same vacation, I visited again a couple of days later and captured this scene.

This is one that I have printed and have on my own wall. You can gaze at it and be reminded of the peace in this spot. The exposure here was 8 seconds and, amazingly, the people didn’t move much in that time. They were entranced by the sunrise colors, and you can wonder what they are all doing and thinking. The person on the bike decided to stop just there and watch the slowly changing scene, I’m guessing. Perfect! I also have a much wider panoramic view of the same scene in my online store if you would prefer that.

In 2015 I tried something different in this location, and although strictly speaking it is not a photo of the pier, I think it deserves a place here. This one uses a technique to have a short 0.5 second exposure but deliberately move the camera sideways through the exposure. This blurs things in a side-to-side manner and blends all the color together.

I think this would look lovely as a canvas print in a home by the beach somewhere!

Not every morning is calm and peaceful, of course. This particular image had an exposure of 8 seconds, but it was windy, and the clouds moved considerably in that time giving this stormy feeling:

My drone paid its first visit to Kauai in the February before we were all locked down in 2020 and I’m glad I was able to get it up in the air in such a delightful spot. This image of the sunrise over the bay is really enhanced by the man with his very long shadow mirroring the shape of the pier.

Just going through my many photographs of this area before writing this article reminds me of a key lesson for photographers (and visitors). You will always see something different on every visit to a place and sometimes the light will make something magical!

Finally, perhaps the pier itself should be the final image in the series. And where better than to stand underneath it and get a nice view of the waves gently lapping the sand at my feet!

If you would like to see more of my Kauai artwork, you can see all of my best images here in my store. Prints come with a 30-day money back guarantee and also are shipped free of charge in North America. You can also get a discount coupon for prints by subscribing to this site here.