This
spring, during a photo workshop in my favorite
place - the Flint Hills of Kansas, I had my first
opportunity to shoot the burning of the Tallgrass
prairie pastures. This annual spring ritual of the
ranchers gets rid of old growth and invasive plants
such as sumac and, along with April showers and the
sun warming the charred earth, encourages the
growth of the new grass on which cattle are
fattened for market.
Our hosts, the ranch owners - Josh & Gwen Hoy and Josh's dad Jim, started their fires, and the participants scattered to try to capture the potentially spectacular scenes. We shot for over two hours, until after the sun had disappeared behind the smoke-filled horizon. Then as I meandered in the general direction of our SUV, but still looking for that one last shot, I spotted a lone tree on a rock-strewn hillside where the fire line was crawling sideways across the hill. The combination of fire, a lone tree, rocks and the hillside shouted “Flint Hills” to me, and I moved, as quickly as these old legs will allow, to a position where I thought I could compose a decent image while there was still a hint of light. I shot a number of frames, some straight and some with an ND grad filter, but the light was so even I didn’t really need the filter. Then it happened – that magic moment when the unexpected bursts forth and plops the cherry on top of the sundae! The sky began to glow pink above the hill, almost taking my breath away. My heart raced while I fired off still more frames, then in less than 2 minutes the color was gone. But I’d gotten it, a Flint Hills, and a photographic, moment that I’ll remember for a long, long time.
Equipment: Nikon D300, Nikon 18-200mm zoom, Manfrotto 3443 tripod w/Manfrotto 410 head, f16, 2-4 sec, Singh-Ray 2-stop ND graduated filter, and lastly, but most importantly, my heart...
Our hosts, the ranch owners - Josh & Gwen Hoy and Josh's dad Jim, started their fires, and the participants scattered to try to capture the potentially spectacular scenes. We shot for over two hours, until after the sun had disappeared behind the smoke-filled horizon. Then as I meandered in the general direction of our SUV, but still looking for that one last shot, I spotted a lone tree on a rock-strewn hillside where the fire line was crawling sideways across the hill. The combination of fire, a lone tree, rocks and the hillside shouted “Flint Hills” to me, and I moved, as quickly as these old legs will allow, to a position where I thought I could compose a decent image while there was still a hint of light. I shot a number of frames, some straight and some with an ND grad filter, but the light was so even I didn’t really need the filter. Then it happened – that magic moment when the unexpected bursts forth and plops the cherry on top of the sundae! The sky began to glow pink above the hill, almost taking my breath away. My heart raced while I fired off still more frames, then in less than 2 minutes the color was gone. But I’d gotten it, a Flint Hills, and a photographic, moment that I’ll remember for a long, long time.
Equipment: Nikon D300, Nikon 18-200mm zoom, Manfrotto 3443 tripod w/Manfrotto 410 head, f16, 2-4 sec, Singh-Ray 2-stop ND graduated filter, and lastly, but most importantly, my heart...
Bruce
Hogle
