The Transformative Power of Fire

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Macro photography is often associated with beautiful flower photos, but during a past trip to Yosemite National Park I decided to use my macro lens to document the impact of a controlled fire that was set on the valley floor. Rather than take a standard wide view of a fire scared landscape I decided to use a macro lens to capture a more intimate landscape of shape and texture. The jigsaw puzzle like bark of the Ponderosa Pine has always fascinated me and taking a closer look before and after made for an interesting subject.

Ponderosa Pine Tree Bark Detail, Yosemite National Park

The bark of the Ponderosa Pine from afar looks as though its covered in large scales, but as you get closer the large scales actually reveal their true structure. Layers upon layers of puzzle like pieces create the thick protective layer and structure to the trunk of the tree.

Burnt Bark of a Ponderosa Pine Tree, Yosemite National Park

Taking a closer look at the burnt bark of trees in the vicinity, loose layers of bark are gone leaving only a tightly packed layers of bark. The puzzle like pieces of the bark retain their loose shape, but glisten like shiny charcoal.

I’d venture to say that most people wouldn’t think of burnt bark as having any quality of beauty, but as a macro subject I thought it did. Granted I much prefer seeing a forest in a lush state rather than burnt, identifying burnt bark as a photographic subject is a lesson in itself.

When photographing nature subjects, or any other really, its important to check preconceived notions of beauty at the door. Observing the world as though you’ve never seen it before has a lot of merit. Mind you I will admit it bugs my wife when we go on walks… I’m always observing and pointing out minutia of the environment that most normal people would never have taken a second look at.

A while back Chase Jarvis posed the question, “When was the last time you shot something for the first time?” and I’d counter, “When is the last time you photographed something as though it were your first time?” Getting into the mode of rediscovery has proven to be as invaluable to me as immersing myself into a new environment to photograph. Try it. It might just light a creative fire for you.

Technorati Tags: Photography, Macro, Fire, Yosemite, Yosemite National Park

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Posted by Jim on 06.25.2009 at 11:35 pm
Tagged: California, Locations, Macro, Nature, Photography, Stock Photo, Yosemite , Macro, Nature, Photography, Yosemite

ttnewton

Great post! Beautiful pics! Thanks!
http://www.reefbeasties.com Suzy Walker

amazing structure! I love that 1st one especially
http://photo.latestrend.com/general/the-transformative-power-of-fire-%c2%bb-jmg-galleries-%e2%80%93-jim-m/ The Transformative Power of Fire » JMG-Galleries – Jim M … – Images and Photograph in natural..

[...] American Society of Media Photographers (ASMP), Jim produces … Here is the original post: The Transformative Power of Fire » JMG-Galleries – Jim M … This entry was written by irisz, posted on June 26, 2009 at 1:35 am, filed under general and [...]
http://roia.tumblr.com roia

Your photographs are beatiful…

Greetins from Argentina…

Roia.
roia.tumblr.com
http://www.grafphoto.com/wordpress Mark

I am a big fan of bark abstracts Jim – these are cool. Sometimes I find myself just getting lost in them.

p.s. something seems to be up the the formatting of your comment box. It is shifted over into your 2nd column. Just thought I’d let you know. (on Safari 4, Mac)

Jim Goldstein Reply:
June 30th, 2009 at 9:03 am
Mark… Amazing how much detail there is in such a limited amount of space for tree bark. Truly a microcosm of photographic opportunities.

Thanks for the heads up about the comment box problem. I’ll look into this further. I’m not seeing the same layout issue.
http://www.gdanmitchell.com/ G Dan Mitchell

As a frequent traveler to the Sierra and a backpacker I’ve long been fascinated by landscapes charred by wild fires. (A recent photograph of a burned forest near Mariposa grove is an example.)

These macros are really wonderful, Jim – both in terms of the idea of the subject and in terms of the execution. I especially like the first one.

Dan
http://www.rwongphoto.com/blog Richard Wong

Unusual shapes and patterns Jim. I like that people wouldn’t identify this as a tree right off the bat.

As for last time I shot something for the first time, uh, video on the 5D this month.
http://blog.mctimages.com Martin

I agree. I love how macro photography has opened up a whole new world of images to take.
http://www.jmg-galleries.com Jim Goldstein

Thanks everyone for commenting. It’s great to hear that I’m not alone in being drawn to these fascinating designs. The fire component of these types of macros opens doors to now photographic opportunities. As they say one mans garbage is another mans treasure… I think the same could be said in regard to photographic expectations. One look at a charred landscape it might be easy to think an opportunity has been lost when really one has been created. Of course this is all tied to the philosophy of photography. I think we’d all agree in an ideal world we wouldn’t have vast amounts of charred landscape.
http://www.gdanmitchell.com/ G Dan Mitchell

Jim, in a more natural world we have an appropriate and natural amount of charred landscape – and we would learn to accept it and the different sort of beauty it holds. I’ve moved a good distance in that direction over the past decade or so.

Dan
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