Fighting the American Fire

When I was making my "shoot list" for my camping trip a couple of weeks ago, it did not include shooting two helicopters dipping water from Sugar Pine Reservoir from my kayak!

I love to shoot action and adventure. It's not so much about the subject matter, as it is about capturing the action and making photos with IMPACT. I want those who view my photos to "feel" what is going on in the scene.

It was getting late in the day and it would soon be time to head back home to Auburn. I was not going to leave without getting photos of these guys. I had two choices on how I could go about it. One was to hike to the area where they were dipping water, or I could opt to shoot from my kayak. Shooting from my kayak seemed like the better idea, plus it was a chance to get one more paddle in for the day. I kayaked out to the middle of the lake VERY near where they were dipping. My husband says I was about 150 feet away, but it felt much closer. I steadied myself in the kayak and waited until I heard them coming. The fire was only about 5 miles away. Shooting from a kayak was a little tricky. There were wakes in the lake and there was a good chance of getting my camera wet. I also had to make sure my photos were sharp and the shoreline was straight. I set my ISO to 400 and my shutter speed to 1/1000 sec and fired away. Since I knew they would be returning, I had time to view my photos and approve upon them if I needed to, the next time they dipped. The photos above are two of the best ones. It was an awesome photo experience, unfortunately the fire is still burning nearly two weeks later! Coming next week..."Camping at Sugar Pine Reservoir." Have a great weekend you all! ~Sherri Sign up for our Photo Newsletter Follow us on Facebook

Tagged as: American Fire, Sugar Pine Reservoir