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Thread: Shooting in burn areas

  1. #1

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    Shooting in burn areas

    So I'm trying to get in shape after the stents, and accompanied my son (the tall kid) to a rock formation he enjoys climbing, I thought it was really cool being volcanic rock with all the whimsical features one finds common in volcanic rock----excellent material to capture on film.
    Access is a short---maybe 1/4 mile--- but steep hike up from a firebreak road----normally very doable lugging the 8x10 however the area suffered a devastating forest fire, I'm guessing one or two years ago.
    The area had been densely forested and by now most of the dead trees have been downed by wind and snow and the branches shattered on impact.
    It's like walking up a mountainside on ball bearings.
    This makes hiking difficult, even with both hands free and no pack on my back. I wore good hiking boots with lugged soles (Alicos) and am glad I did, but even then it was rough going. I know I wouldn't be up for this while carrying my camera and tripod---yet, anyway---and
    I'll humbly admit in the past I've always avoided burn areas and have no experience going cross country through burns, so I thought I'd ask here for any tips or suggestions? Would ski poles help?
    Last edited by John Kasaian; 28-Jun-2020 at 08:01.
    "I would feel more optimistic about a bright future for man if he spent less time proving that he can outwit Nature and more time tasting her sweetness and respecting her seniority"---EB White

  2. #2

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    Feb 2020
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    Virginia
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    Re: Shooting in burn areas

    Walking stick for sure. That's like a clear cut on a mountain side.

  3. #3
    Tin Can's Avatar
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    Dec 2011
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    Re: Shooting in burn areas

    My tip is don't cut yourself or bruise anything

    I had big problems with visible bleeding not stopping while on blood thinners after one stent

    Any scratch was a mess...
    Tin Can

  4. #4
    Foamer
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
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    South Dakota
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    Re: Shooting in burn areas

    While I was on anticoagulant therapy I carried this sort of product with me:
    https://www.amazon.com/Medique-MP233...%2C173&sr=8-45

    https://woundseal.com/faqs/


    Kent in SD
    In contento ed allegria
    Notte e di vogliam passar!

  5. #5

    Re: Shooting in burn areas

    Quote Originally Posted by Two23 View Post
    While I was on anticoagulant therapy I carried this sort of product with me:
    Another, related, option would be to carry what's often called "combat gauze"--it's the same idea, but without the attendant danger that the powder has of blowing back in your eyes out in the field. A wrap or two of Compeed tape and you'd back in action.

    Otherwise, I'm a big believer in trekking poles on-trail and off, the passage of time having eroded whatever cat-like reflexes I might have once possessed...

  6. #6
    Vaughn's Avatar
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    Re: Shooting in burn areas

    Most of my experience walking through burn areas are while they were burning...wasn't worrying about photographing and at the time was young enough not to worry about locomotion -- just trying to keep my beard from torching up.

    I have photographed in some of the Yosemite burn areas (above Foresta) -- but that area burnt hot enough that walking around was easy that first early winter. I printed a small series, and I like them...but I have never been motivated to show them much...especially after our fires these past years.
    "Landscapes exist in the material world yet soar in the realms of the spirit..." Tsung Ping, 5th Century China

  7. #7
    Drew Wiley
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    Re: Shooting in burn areas

    Oh gosh, just this past week I thumbed through a number of old LF chromes of burn colors that I would absolutely love to print either via interneg or dye transfer. The subtlety of the hues is amazing. I do have a number of Cibachromes from other specific chromes, but that option has dried up. I'd wait for a bit. Stirring up a bunch of ash and dust isn't going to do your camera gear any good. But a pair of trekking poles will alleviate slipping. But I take it, its the volcanic pebbles that are really the ball-bearings, and not the forest fire ash. And that won't change. It's just hard work. Don't overdo it until you get repaired.

  8. #8
    Vaughn's Avatar
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    Re: Shooting in burn areas

    Charcoal is highly reflective. Blackened trees can reproduce as silver columns when stuck by the sun.

    I set up for the 5x7 and exposed a sheet of film while the burnt snag was still in full sun. I noticed that the sun was going behind the walls of the Yosemite Valley and could see the shadow line approaching me from the rear. I saw the opportunity to make the snag standout far more against El Capitian, so waited with thumb on the cable release for the below image. One concern was how far the shadow line was going to progress across the meadow before the last of the sun left the top of the snag (about 15" tall).

    I printed both, but this is the one I show. There are two dots on the face of El Cap -- fun to see enough of their progress in the second image.

    PS -- this is a single transfer carbon print...the image is reversed for those familiar with the face of El Cap.
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails WSBurntSnagElCapJune.jpg  
    "Landscapes exist in the material world yet soar in the realms of the spirit..." Tsung Ping, 5th Century China

  9. #9

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    Re: Shooting in burn areas

    Wonderful...and how appropriate for a "carbonized" subject! Would love to see the relief of this in person!

  10. #10
    Vaughn's Avatar
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    Re: Shooting in burn areas

    Thanks...If I was to be more 'authentic', I would have scrapped some charcoal off the snag (any rangers looking?!) and used it as my pigment for the print!

    It has been done making carbon prints of abandoned coal operations.
    "Landscapes exist in the material world yet soar in the realms of the spirit..." Tsung Ping, 5th Century China

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