Moonrise over the Lava Fire's smoke column and cap cloud

[DemoTex]

I monitored the fire activity all day on a BLM TAC frequency. Quite frankly, the woman in charge of the side I was listening to was the best I've ever heard. Cool, calm, and extremely respectful to her crews. That was reciprocated.

Aviation was on the fire, big time (again). First the S.E.A.T.S. (single engine tankers), and then the big-guys out of Redmond.

The major problems at the fire today were dust-devils running through the fire and spreading it, and a big wind shift (COUNT ON THAT!) at about 5:00 PM. The wind shifted from SW to N, and increased in velocity. Like they say in wildland fire fighting: "Wind changes everything," which is closely related to F.E.A.R. (fuck everything and run).

I'm seeing beaucoup (and spectacular) torching on the southwest aspect of the fire. It is in a lava field, but we all know what happened in the Devil's Garden lava field last September. Deja Vu!

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. That is one stunning picture, my dear DemoTex!

The clouds are awesome, but the detail on the moon just blows me away!

I don't know how you did it, but the moon looks 3-dimensional. Amazing!

Good luck to the fire crews...

And thanks for keeping us in the loop with your pictures and stories...

[DemoTex]

2. Well, I did have to manipulate this one

I had to darken eveything in PhotoShop, and - ultimately - go to B&W. But the moon was darkened too, so I went to PhotoShop's "dodge brush," to brighten the moon.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

3. You did a beautiful job!

It doesn't look Photoshopped to me.

[Brother Buzz]

4. I totally love B & W photos

Are you capturing any of this on gelatin silver or is all that totally passé?