You’ve never seen a sunset until you’ve seen the sun set in Maui. The island is known for its one-of-a-kind shows at dusk but on this night in particular, it was pretty much showing off. The evening started out like many other nights on island: the sun slowly crept towards the horizon turning the blues of its backdrop into different shades of purple. But then just as it disappeared into the sea, something happened. We watched in wonderment as the entire horizon lit up and shot a fiery orange into the sky. Light bounced off the clouds and revealed textures and patterns that couldn’t be seen just moments prior. Each photo we took was better than the last and our faces hurt from smiling so much.

This moment lasted for about 15 minutes before subtler pinks replaced the orange and eventually turned into dark blues of the night sky. Short-lived? Yes. But that’s why you get the shot.

• Contrary to popular belief, the most impressive part of a sunset is after it actually sets. It’s not when the orb hits the horizon; it’s when it disappears beneath it and you can no longer see the sun at all. This period of time just after the sun sets is what you want to capture. And the more clouds there are, the more dramatic the show can be.
• To get the dramatic backlighting like we did in these shots, we took advantage of the magnificent light source before us. Crouching down on the ground and pointing the camera upwards so the subject is above the horizon line produced optimal framing for what we wanted our photos to look like. Shooting from that angle, we could then pose however we wanted to and it would still have looked cool with the sky as our backdrop. But the palm trees were the coolest by far.