This shot was a mistake; It never should have happened. Somehow, it snuck onto the end of my roll before I left Joshua Tree. You can see the staple marks and circles on the very end where it was held. I've been on the fence about posting this one, but the flames have intrigued me for some time. There is something utterly captivating about photographs of fire, yet I cannot quite describe it. The motion, streaks, and little details create a sense of presence in the moment the shot was taken. When I look at it, I can imagine myself sitting beside the raging fire, wood crackling and embers burning, heat pouring out from all ends. The thing I love about photography and more so art is that they are subjective. They aim to elicit an emotional response from the viewer and it is quite easy to do so, though that response may not always be positive. I could take a picture of my foot and call it "fine art" and you could call it crap...and we could both be right. So, what do you see?

This shot was taken a while back on my backpacking trip through the Umpqua Dunes Scenic Area near Reedsport on the Southern Oregon coast. I was trudging my way back from camping overlooking the beach when I saw this scene. At first, I wasn't really sure what to make of it. From what I could tell, it was the remnants of a tree that had perished in a fire. How a fire started in the middle of a coastal dune area I have no idea. What most intrigued me about it was the way everything was scattered randomly, yet in a pattern that faintly resembled a galaxy. Take another look and let me know what you see.

This is another shot from the roll I finished from 35,000 feet above the sea. I love how the clouds look from this high up. Shot with a Yashica Mat using Ilford FP4.