"Life and death, the ominous shadow and the blinding light, forever victim to dance together for an eternity." Braulio Fonseca

Renewal is a project exploring the contradiction between fire and the infinite cycle of renewal. I've been chasing fire for 20 years in this series. Standing on black earth, feeling intense heat, and being surrounded by white smoke transports me to another world. The smoke washing over me and through me as I breathe gives me a feeling of resetting, regrowth, and hope. It reminds me of Native American rituals and the sacred art of smudging. I am exploring the ideas of destruction, new growth, and the infinite cycles of life. We all dance with the dark and the light, giving and taking, living life and balancing renewal.

The prescribed fire season lasts a few weeks in early and late winter. To have a safe burn, you need enough wind to carry the fire but not too much to make it uncontrollable, the humidity can't be too high or too low, and the vegetation can't be too wet or too dry. When you add to that the conditions needed for photography, it makes for an exciting chase. Burns, by their very nature, make my chances for photography scarce, which feeds my energy for the dance.