What can you think of doing when you’re on top of the world for the sunrise high above the clouds?

That was the challenge I faced as part of a previsualization exercise I took away from Scott Bourne’s (of Photofocus) presentation at the Maui Photo Festival last week. The above shot is what I envisioned during the early, early morning drive up to the top of Haleakala Summit for our sunrise shoot.

I was pretty happy with how it turned out, but I had no idea it would win the Best Portrait Award for the 2009 Maui Photo Festival and Workshops. I’m still in a little bit of disbelief.

Overall, it was an amazing experience from the presenters, to the shooting excursions, to the doors-off helicopter tour, and to the nightly Paradise Cinema. There were so many pleasant surprises that blew my expectations out of the water.

More details coming soon. For now, I have a stack full of business cards that I received from so many of the talented photographers and presenters that I go to meet last week. I’ve never done anything like this before for my photography, and I was very happy that I gave it a shot.