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The one frame from the fire season
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Show notes
The one frame from the fire season
Harriet and a photographer who has covered wildfires in British Columbia for a decade each bring one frame from a fire season. They talk about how it was made, what they were not able to photograph, and whether a disaster picture should ever be beautiful.
- The frame Harriet made at 4am outside Mallacoota and why she almost did not file it
- Working inside an evacuation without becoming part of the problem
- The ethics of colour, smoke and a sky that looks like a painting
- What editors want and what communities remember
- Caring for yourself after a season like that
This episode discusses fires and evacuation. Both photographers' images are on the show page with their permission.
Transcript
Hello, Harriet Lowe here, and this is Golden Hour Is a Lie. This week is a quieter one. I have asked a photographer who has covered wildfires in British Columbia for ten years to join me, and we have each brought one picture. Just one, from one fire season. Mine was made at four in the morning outside Mallacoota, and for a long time I did not want to file it, because it was beautiful and I did not think it should be. We talk about how those pictures get made, about working inside an evacuation without getting in the way of the people doing the actual work, and about what you do with yourself in the weeks afterwards. It is a conversation about ethics as much as craft. You are listening on Witspeak Podcasts.
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