Rain or Shine, Hawaii
Hawaii calls to mind images brimming with life at every glance. But the Hawaii that photographer Lee Yujin discovered, on her first visit since the pandemic, was a different one: moments found by walking out the door in any weather.
Rain or Shine, Hawaii — Whether the Rain Falls or the Sun Shines
Photographer *Lee Yujin captures the moments she encountered in Hawaii, which she revisited for the first time in a long while since the COVID-19 pandemic.
Words & Photos Lee Yujin
* Captivated by the beauty of Hawaii, she began taking photographs. She has traveled to Hawaii many times, capturing its varied landscapes on camera, and gathered her travel records into a book, ‘Hawaii: 99 Spots Locals Love.’ In 2020, she took part in the Seoul edition of the global campaign that Fujifilm Korea and Pitch by Magazine ran together.
I headed outside, whatever the weather.
I love the sun, and on cloudy days I easily feel down, even more so when it rains. For that reason, in Seoul I never bothered to leave the house on bad-weather days. Yet in Hawaii, I made a small but, for me, significant resolution: to go out no matter what the weather was like. My stay was limited, but the truth was also that the weather was hard to predict anyway. Because Hawaii is made up of several islands, the weather differs from island to island, and even within a single island it often varies from area to area. The rainy season doesn't mean rain pours all day long, and even in the dry season there are places where it rains often.
On past trips to Hawaii I mostly stayed on Oahu, but this time I spent much of my time on Maui. I stayed mainly in an area called Hana, a quiet place about two to three hours by car from Kahului Airport on Maui. It is also home to the * Kipahulu District of Haleakala National Park. Staying in one area, I had hoped for somewhat more predictable weather, but from what the locals told me, Hana's weather seems to be quite changeable even by Maui's standards. So instead of checking the forecast, I simply went outside and walked. Rain or shine.
* An area on the southern coast of Haleakala National Park. Along with open ocean views, it offers a glimpse of Maui's unspoiled nature, including tropical rainforest and waterfalls.
On clear days I saw waves sparkling in the sunlight; after rain, the grass and trees took on a deeper green; and sometimes the sun, hidden behind thick clouds, came out and lit up the island. A single ray of sunlight on a cloudy morning felt even more precious than the sun on a morning that began clear. There were mornings when a drizzle was falling and I went out quietly hoping it would stop, only for a downpour to make even my umbrella useless, but I kept walking all the same.
Life is like the weather, which never arrives as predicted. It doesn't flow only as we imagine, yet it keeps changing and moving on. Like the scenes I came across when I stepped outside, rain or shine, looking back, life has often let me see what I had been missing when I accepted the present as it was, rather than when I tried hard to control it. Even now I sometimes feel anxious amid changes I can't control, but I want to trust a little more in what life gives me.
These photographs are a record of moments I met in places where I chose to step forward, willing to accept whatever life offered, whether sunlight or wind and rain.
