Left in the Ash

I spent the end of the afternoon exploring the horribly desolate wasteland left behind by the Station Fire near Pasadena... awesomely decimated landscape. Despite the acres of death, I had a few touching encounters with some birds, I just wonder if they'll make it without any food. Here's one from my outing, I used my Singh Ray Vari ND to drop the exposure to 15 seconds, during which I tossed some ash in the air to get the atmospheric effect.

compelling image Floris. the thrown ash and orange light really gives this a great atmosphere.

Even among the death you found some beauty. Great job on use of light (and ash). You really captured the mood. Thanks for the image.

- DMP

Really compelling shot, Floris... I'm glad I wandered in here. The ash in the air really makes this image imo, a very cool idea.

Floris,

Great job in creating the atmosphere - definitely a look of choking dust in the air which adds to the story being told with this image.

Lon

Floris, thanks for sharing this one. Your comment about the birds of course brings to light the entire impact for all wildlife in that area as well.
Years ago a friend in the PNW area was fighting a fire and captured some amazing images of deer protecting themselves in a small river one night with flames all around them. Obviously they knew what to do for some protection, but it was a very graphic image I'll never forget.

Awesome, Floris. I think I may prefer this image over the one posted on flickr.

Very nice... love the idea to use a long exposure and ash. Creates a great mood! And I thought you hardly used that filter.

haha, thanks Eric, this is the first time I've used that filter, and kept the image needless to say, when I realized I wanted to do the ash thing, but couldn't get a long enough exposure, I was pretty excited to have it in my bag! It makes carrying it around for the past 6 months without use totally worth it... never know when you're gonna need something

Looks like some of the background was spared from the fire? Is it pretty patchy up there?
Floris, I really liked the series you posted on this.

Thanks Steve! In the Canyons the larger Oaks weren't completely burned (combination of being lower, and more wet I guess?), but all the leaves are brown. I hope some of those trees are able to pull through and make it... those Oaks have got to be pretty old!