B.C. Blog Post #1

Hey what's up everybody, I'm Brent Courtney.

I don't use social media too often anymore, but this week, while on FaceBook, I came access a friend's profile and he had this image (the photo posted) as his main profile picture. Very intrigued, I messaged him about where and how he captured this photo. As it turns out, this image was taken while the Thomas Fire was ablaze in Ventura, CA and astonishingly took 281,893 acres with it. This took place just this past December - January. According to him, a curious Ventura resident, he went on a daring night hike with his dog to witness the fire up close. He was able to snap the picture as you see here with a tripod camera while at the base of a mountain being scorched by the fire.

What stood out and provoked me to reach out to him was just how EPIC this picture is. No color grading, no photoshop, no editing, all natural. This picture screams "you can always find beauty in chaos". I think what makes the picture so unique and 3-dimensional is how the subject is illuminated from behind. Backlighting, as seen in movies like Nightmare on Elm Street, A Clockwork Orange, or any Neo-Noir film really, has the fantastic quality of creating a credible layer of villainy or heroism. Basically, it makes the subject stand out. What's exclusive to this picture is that the lighting happens to be provided by fire (natural light) compared to artificial light. Whether on stage or film, there's something raw and instinctual about the illumination from fire. Albeit a safety concern for sure, I think fire used as backlight, frontlight, or sidelight, no matter what medium, adds a layer of depth, creativity, and tonality.

Thanks for reading.
-Brent