"the fact that this summer has been quite mild is not that bad, as we did not have as many problems with fire as we did in the past..." - I recal hearing this on tv as I drive to my home town (its more like a very small village)...

I don't know why, but I tend to think a lot about photography while driving... This time, besides fire, I'm thinking about why I don't have created a single image around my home town...

When I was young I was forced to spend the whole 3 months of my summer holidays in this place, near the geographical center of Portugal, a region known for the heat and the abundance of pine trees... Over the years I saw this region burning over and over again... The first fires I remember seeing, where just a small column of fire in the horizon, then some of them started to last days and even weeks and as the time passed by the whole area around my home town was burned several times...

I remember being small and looking up at pine trees amazed by their size... Now, the landscape is completely different most of the big trees are gone, and although this has been a mild summer, I can still see the traces of the areas that where recently burned...

Why don't I take pictures over there... Well perhaps I'm too busy when I go there, or my emotions just don't let me start...

The picture you see above was taken in 2004 at a Sequoia grove in Yosemite national park (US) during a managed fire... Over there fires are provoked in a controlled way in order to create the conditions for the survival of the giant Sequoias and to keep the forest clean... (in case you wonder, this is not what we are doing in Portugal)...