Big Island photographer Rick Decker began taking pictures as a hobby more than 30 years ago. While living in California, he and a friend took up diving, and he began shooting photos while diving. He later was introduced to the desert, and while he continued shooting both for a time, Decker soon found a passion for landscape photography.

He moved to Hawaii 11 years ago, and found a new kind of landscape to photograph. He founded the Kona Camera Club as a way to meet other like-minded photographers and to get out into nature.

The solitude Decker finds outdoors is an important part of his work, and he lets nature shine through in his photographs. “;I try to show the least amount of man-made structures to show the earth in its unimproved state. My love is to show the Earth with no signs of abuse by the human race,”; he says.

Though he started out shooting film, Decker primarily shoots digital now. He has shot more than 40,000 images during a span of 20 years, but finds that certain images remain vivid to him. “;I can recall the moments of the shots that I keep. I really relive the moments of when I took a picture,”; he says.

More of Decker's images can be seen at the Web site: www.pbase.com/rickdecker.