Whether it's floating dangerously close to volcanic lava or risking a tumble in a big wave, a group of Hawaiian photographers take incredible chances to capture stunning images.
"We pride ourselves on our stupidity,'' joked C.J. Kale. "It's pretty dangerous. We take calculated risk."
Kale joined Nick Selway and Clark Little on TODAY on Monday in Honolulu to discuss their work.
Kale has been shooting professionally for more than 16 years, and Selway has been doing it for nine. Together they own Lava Light Galleries in Kailua Kona, Hawaii. It took more than five years to perfect shots of lava flowing into the breaking waves of the ocean, with a 1 a.m. wake-up for a three-hour drive to the volcano and an hour-long hike.
In September 2012, Selway and Kale captured incredible, never-before-seen images of lava hitting the water through a breaking wave. They had to jump into water that was nearly boiling in order to get the shots near the edge of volcanoes located on the island of Hawaii.
"We put ourselves in those positions most people won't,'' Selway told Savannah Guthrie.
"I've dropped 20 feet into the lava tube, (and) shattered my ankle,'' Kale said. "It can happen to somebody who's been doing it for years, so it's pretty dangerous and pretty stupid.''
Little's expertise is in surfing shots often taken inside the barrel, giving viewers a perspective that's similar to the surfer's. He uses swim fins and a waterproof camera, hovering inside the wave for the perfect moment.
"As the wave's sucking up and barreling over I'm basically holding the trigger and trying to get as many shots as I can so it's facing in the tube,'' Little told Guthrie. "Sometimes I get sucked over the falls and get smashed, but it's worth it to get the epic shot.
"You get a feeling of it. You kind of know like, 'OK, that was magic,' until you go on the computer and you look and you zoom in 100 percent and then you know for sure it's a (great shot). It's a lot of work, but it's fun."