This brief photo essay by one of the world’s most renowned lava photographers will take us back to the beginning, providing vibrant insight into the formation of geological features, and the minerals that were created as a result. He’ll present some of his favorite images (and the stories of capturing those images) from lava at a volcano’s caldera, lava fields devouring terrain, and the chaos that occurs as lava hits the sea. He will highlight lava oddities from Pele’s Hair to floating rocks, rocks on fire, rivers of lava, “water falls” of lava and things not to step on if you would like to keep your foot attached.

Don Hurzeler is a guy who loves rocks, specifically, liquid rocks. Don lives on the side of a volcano on the Big Island of Hawaii. He, his wife Linda and business partner, C.J. Kale, own Lava Light Galleries, Inc…and specialize in getting right next to the flowing lava for their shots… close and sometimes too close.

Don has won awards for his books (he has written seven), his photography (winner of the Nature’s Best Photography Windland Smith Rice International Award) and he was an NCAA Division ll All-American sprinter/hurdler back when the earth was young.

During his forty-year long business career, Don was CEO/President of Zurich Middle Market Insurance and world-wide president of the 25,000 member Society of Chartered Property and Casualty Underwriters. Don also served on the board of directors of American Nuclear Insurers and as president of the Zurich Foundation.