Photographing the Aftermath of a Forest Fire

Forest fires can drastically alter a landscape in just minutes, turning lush, green scenes into murky wastelands of muted colors. This excellent video follows a photographer as he ventures into the aftermath of one to photograph it.

Coming to you from Simon Baxter, this fascinating video follows him as he photographs the aftermath of a forest fire near his home. One thing I particularly appreciated is the healthy dose of realism brought about by the photos. In landscape photography, we often strive to show a sort of hyperrealistic representation of the natural world, something so polished that it shows a sort of ideal form — "ideal" of course being that which was imposed upon the scene by the human definition, not necessarily some canonical form of the idea within the scene itself. With these sorts of images, no matter how much we might try to impose that same sort of idealism, the scene is just too raw and powerful to allow it to overcome what's naturally there, and it makes for a refreshingly honest set of photos. Check out the video above to see all of Baxter's images. 

Of course, be extra safe entering any area where a fire may still be burning.