The firefighting community knew it was inevitable. With several days of wind, dry brush and a scant amount of rain The National Weather Service has posted a red flag warning for the North and East Bay hills tonight through Sunday morning June 10, 2012. That means the winds will be [...]
The National Weather Service in Monterey has canceled the fire weather watch and upgraded to a Red Flag warning at 9:47 this morning above 1,000 feet. The warning includes Napa County and portions of the Mendocino National Forest in northeast Lake County as well as the east bay hills. Here [...]
The National Weather Service has issued a Fire Weather Watch for hot temperatures, low relative humidity and gusty NE offshore winds above 1,000 feet starting 6pm Monday lasting through 8am Wednesday morning. Remember, a watch suggests that critical weather conditions are possible. If October holds true to form, Red Flag [...]
Between assignments Friday, I made it to a brush fire located on the D Street extension in Petaluma. Not having enough time to put on the fire gear and hike up a hillside, I concentrated on shooting Cal Fire's Boggs Mountain water dropping helicopter. The smoke was pretty thick but [...]
Saturday morning June 12: At the RAWS station near Agilent in Santa Rosa's Fountaingrove this morning, the temperature at 7:30 is 75 degrees with a Relative Humidity of 28%. Winds are out of the NE to 17mph. At Hawkeye, where the low was 67 at 56 minutes past midnight, The [...]
The National Weather Service in Monterey has issued a Fire Weather Watch for the east bay hills and the Diablo Range from late Friday through Sunday for warm temperatures, gusty offshore winds and low humidity. As I sit here this evening with the sliding glass door open, the wind is [...]
Shooting a wildland fire at night can lead to great pictures. But it's only one part of an otherwise mostly technical shoot, balancing light and exposures to marry the surroundings. The sound a fire creates, natural and manmade, adds a unique twist while covering the event. During a fire [...]
How many frames in a photojournalists life? Millions. Literally.
I’ve lost count since I started shooting photos at eight years-old with a Polaroid Land Camera (which I still own). It’s a way of life this photojournalism thing which is endlessly fascinating. The trip along the way, now in my 31st year professionally and the last 25 with the Press Democrat, has been an adventure in life. What it has to offer, ranging from implausible beauty to the utterly cruel things life randomly pitches out have shaped and molded who I am. That means I get to witness history. Pretty cool, eh? This journey has included photographing lots of inanimate objects which can be terribly boring. I’ve also borne the brunt of people unhappy to see a photographer show up to document less than pleasant circumstances. Then there’s the weather, which wreaks havoc on the human race daily. So I document the clouds. My advice for anyone having a bad day is to go outside and take a picture of those clouds once in awhile. It will do wonders for the interior beast. Unless you are using a metal tripod in an electrical storm.
-Kent Porter