The photos above were taken by Peter Fisher on assignment for National Geographic. This is Volcán de Fuego, an active volcano in Guatemala. Its eruptions killed a couple of hundred people in 2018, and has caused mass evacuations several times since then.
Fisher spent several days on this photoshoot. He tells about climbing up the mountain to the camp, then walking several hours each day to get to the volcano, hoping for a good shot at an eruption. At 12,000 feet of elevation, the days are brutally hot and the nights are very cold. Each step forward means sliding back on the volcanic ash. Ash gets into your airways and clings to your skin. And the volcano is a dangerous place be, yet you have to get near it. "It’s pure moth-to-flame energy."
Once an eruption begins, there is no time to set up shots, you just take them. Fisher explains that the squiggly lines in his photographs are because of the ground shaking beneath his feet. Read more about the experience of photographing an active volcano at A Time of Gifts. -via kottke
