sean king has been photographing the volcanoes and lava flows of pahoa island since he left behind his life as a carpenter in new york and moved his family to hawaii eight years ago.
"i usually shoot wide angle 15 to 25 second exposures during the night, so i need to get extremely close, usually about an inch away," sean says. “ flows can move at around 5mph and can really make you sweat or melt your gear.”
"i have to be super careful," he adds. "poisonous fumes and the unimaginable heat [2,000°f] from the lava is extremely dangerous …but the adrenaline is insane.”
sean, who is colour blind, notes, “i found that it’s my color blindness that makes my pictures attractive to people. you’re actually getting a vision of what i actually see, which is that certain colors are brighter and more intense. it’s really cool.”
“i want people to understand that this island is alive,” he says. “it’s the heartbeat of the world. it grows, it pulses and you can physically see everything that i capture in my camera.”