It’s worth it, I think, to have public parks, they make it a little easier to feel in harmony with nature. Maintaining a natural setting requires some work. Setting fire to a prairie seems counterintuitive, but it does actually help keep the land healthy and productive. This weekend there was a controlled burn at a nearby park, so I went to take some photos:
ISO 160 170mm f/5.6 1/640
It was a sunny morning, so I was able to set my ISO low and still have a high shutter speed. The image you see above is an HDR image. I bracketed the photo while I was shooting so that I could create an HDR image later in Photoshop. For this shoot I was using my 70-200mm lens; it allowed me to get great shots but not get in the way.
The images in the gallery below tell more of the story of the burn. I decided to not edit them at all, keeping them as close to what I saw for the viewer.
It was interesting to watch them work. This particular park of the park is beautiful when it is in bloom. The burn will help keep it that way.
Don’t you love it when interesting photography shoots just drop in your lap? Have you ever seen this type of work being done? What do you think of the HDR version? Feel free to leave a comment below.
Cheers!
Photography Journal Blog 
Great photos, Amy.
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Thanks!
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Great photos 🙂
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Thank you!
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Well, it didn’t exactly drop in your lap! You had to go out with camera and shoot it. The HDR is especially interesting because there is motion in the shot which typically ruins HDR but in this it worked very well. So glad our forestry service finally figured out how important the controlled burns are to the health of our forests. Well done!
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I find it interesting to play with images that have motion in HDR. It is very hit or miss though. In the case of this burn, it is actually some very forward thinking local folks who made this happen. I agree with you though regarding the larger areas of land that are handled this same way.
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Lovely photos all round. The fire certainly takes the spotlight in the first photo, and right in the centre too. Like you, I love it when an interesting scene pops up and I have my camera. However, a lot of the time, my camera isn’t on the setting that I want and sometimes if it’s a fast-moving scene, I’ll miss the shot 😀
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Yeah, missing the shot happens all the time, which makes it all the more sweet when everything falls into place 🙂
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Oh, Amy, this is where the latest camera phones come in handy. I wouldn’t mind a $ for the photo opportunities I missed when I didn’t have any camera to hand. Now, I always have at least the iPhone 😉
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I feel that way about my “phone” as well, which honestly I use more as a camera and calendar than a phone.
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Yes, interesting photo shoots dropping in laps is great! Such a different post showing something I really know NOTHING about. Thanks Amy.
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They had an information person at the site, and it was interesting because it they got into a conversation with my youngest child, who it turns out, actually knows quite a bit about these types of burns.
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Amy – I never expected this topic for harmony, but it is great. I have seen this done in Florida and it feels so “wrong” – yet it is so “right” and helpful. I like the HDR version, and I also like the unedited photos for the feel of the whole experience.
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I agree, it does seem wrong in some ways, which is why I think it is only recently we have come to embrace it as a way of helping our lands stay healthy. For so long it was all about avoiding fire.
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Oh and I wanted to show you that our local Target is selling the coolest art – and this piece (with flowers and antlers) has an O’keeffe feel and reminded me (yet again) of one of your posts!
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Interesting, it does have that O’Keeffe feel doesn’t it?
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It’s always interesting to see them in action !
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I had always wanted to see something like this, so was pretty excited to check it out, I kind of arranged the rest of my day around this actually.
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HDR shots bring “strength” to the image… Great captures, you were in the right place at the right moment.
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Thank you very much, I was excited that the timing of this worked so well.
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Thoes are some very interesting images, and i think it is pretty neat you were able to catch the beauty of a park, in its really early stages (as the control burn is in fact healthy and good for the land to keep it beautiful
)
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Thanks, I was pretty excited to be able to witness it.
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I used to see this work when I lived in British Columbia, and would drive from Prince george to Vancouver. It’s very important to enriching the forest biota and preventing forest fires from reaching towns and smaller communities.
Every summer, forest fires devastate the province.
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I really love the opening image.
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Thanks!
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HDR, it’s one of the things I want to learn.Great shots! 🙂
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It’s one of those things that is pretty easy to get started with.
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Very different set of photos Amy….
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Thanks!
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cool photos 🙂
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Thanks!
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Before “civilisation” fire was a natural cycle. It clears the underbrush and stimulates fresh new growth. The superfires we get these days is a result of breaking this cycle.
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Yes, I saw a very interesting presentation on that at Yellowstone National Park several years ago. For this burn, there was an “information officer” there to explain that concept to people who had questions about the burn.
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