Wildfire photo last night near Bend, OR

I came home last night after a movie and saw the amber glow in the sky and it felt a bit too close to home. Fortunately, it wasn't close enough to pose any immediate danger (to us), but it was ominous none the less. We all ran up to the upper deck when we got home and watched this scene through the trees. My 8 yr. old son stared silently for a while, then simply said, "I don't like that."

I got a ladder and climbed to the rooftop to get a better vantage point and shot this image with a 70-200mm f2.8 Nikon lens on a D3. It was a 13 second exposure at f3.2 and ISO 500. I downloaded it direct to my iPad, downsized it, and added the border and text with Photogene, then emailed it directly here to the blog from the iPad. Pretty cool mobile workflow, although it would have been cooler if I had done everything from the roof :-)

Sent from my iPad

Comments

[anne mcquary]

Glad to hear you're safe from harm. Still, I have to agree with your son. This is a beautiful, if harrowing shot. And the iPad is a great tool to add to the bag, isn't it?! I'm not a pro, but I love having it when I go on vacation. I just got Filterstorm from the app store and have been playing around with it. I'll check out Photogene next.

[Sonja]

Wow, great pic. Hope it a productive fire and not a harmful one. I was in Missoula a few years ago and the town was surrounded by them. Had to breath smoke for 2 weeks. Need to get an ipad.

[Kelly Carmichael aka Pentaxfan]

Kevin, I know the feeling of having that wildfire close by. I live 15 miles west of Salem Oregon (not far from you) and we had a fire that was about 10 miles away 2 years ago. It was pretty safe but still unnerving just knowing that fire is out there moving in all directions and nothing you can do if it comes your way. I too went out and shot it around midnight and was in the local newspapers. I almost went to Detroit Oregon last night so I could get a shot of the Sisters fire.

Take care and keep Crushing It!

fyi, I could not get photo to load, is there a problem??

Thanks!

[Muffet Petrehn]

Hey Kevin, I love your image!! I'm glad too to hear that you all are safe. I had a similar experience a yr and a half ago. I went out to feed the horses Jan. 1st and my whole backyard skyline seemed to be on fire. I grabbed my camera and went 1/8 th mile down the street to find 200 acres on fire. Thankfully no one got hurt and I ended up with a merit print and a good fireman friend. : )