Photo Essay - Fire in Nature
Fire in nature, two of my favorite things combined to create one photo essay topic. Hiking has been a new found passion in my life in the past 2 years, indulging in the silence and peacefulness of nature calms the nerves and releases any tension that has built up. Nature never seems to become old or boring, there are always new things to discover, new lands to travel and new animals to see. “Rise free from care before dawn, and seek adventure”_Henry David Thoreau. Some of the photos featured in this project were from a day hike that I took with a friend, and this quote suited that day perfectly, I woke up at around 5:30 AM and we started hiking before the sun was fully risen on a crisp cold morning in late winter, we hiked for a few hours and arrived at a ledge overlooking a vast forest. We took a break from our hike and started a fire to warm up and cook up some lunch over the fire. Fire interests me because it provides warmth and comfort and the sight of a flickering flame puts me in a certain blissful trance where I am able to just stare into the fire and enjoy the time around it with friends. A fire is like a child (in a very rough sense) you have to tend to it and keep it happy, piling more sticks onto it in a certain way to keep the flames high. In the aims of creating good pictures, my friend and I gathered dry brush and leaves in some cases and threw them all on at once which is why some of the pictures have flames that reach 6 feet high (which is very dangerous and I would not recommend you try this but my friend and I are trained professionals.) We build fires in a safe manor; digging pits were possible and creating rock barriers around the fire pit to ensure that the fire will not spread to surrounding kindling. We also made sure to keep plenty of water nearby in case of a rogue fire; we would be able to extinguish it quickly.
This whole project was aiming to accentuate the idea of camping and being one with nature. To add to the mood of some of these photos I used sunset and low light settings to give the feeling of the end of a long day camping, hunkering down by the fire. In the photo with the subject (Darryn) sitting by the fire, this further explains my main concept of an outdoorsman relaxing by the fire. Visually all these photos are unified by the orange color from the fire as well as in some of the photos the further oranges casted from the setting sun. The story behind all these photos is the hikes that I have taken and the places that I have been (Freetown state Forest, Copicut Woods, Massasoit State Park, and Swansea Dam.) I plan on going on many more adventures ahead in the coming months, not all combined with fire (only because the legality of it) but still being one with nature. I hope this photo series inspires people to leave their homes and taking a day or two to be one with nature and enjoying the natural world.
This whole project was aiming to accentuate the idea of camping and being one with nature. To add to the mood of some of these photos I used sunset and low light settings to give the feeling of the end of a long day camping, hunkering down by the fire. In the photo with the subject (Darryn) sitting by the fire, this further explains my main concept of an outdoorsman relaxing by the fire. Visually all these photos are unified by the orange color from the fire as well as in some of the photos the further oranges casted from the setting sun. The story behind all these photos is the hikes that I have taken and the places that I have been (Freetown state Forest, Copicut Woods, Massasoit State Park, and Swansea Dam.) I plan on going on many more adventures ahead in the coming months, not all combined with fire (only because the legality of it) but still being one with nature. I hope this photo series inspires people to leave their homes and taking a day or two to be one with nature and enjoying the natural world.
hi josh