Burn at Nelson Lake

I planned to go back to the zoo today, but that was not to be. Instead I responded to a suggestion Rick had to a post in Flora, and in doing that, I discovered a burn was going to take place at my favorite local forest preserve, Dick Young Preserve / Nelson Lake where we have the only registered geocache.

So since I've had some training in prairie burns, I got permission to photograph it, drove back home and got my 300mm lens that I used yesterday at the zoo. I took 120 images over two hours, sorted them down to 25, and this is my favorite of those.

You can see the lake on the right (which finally again has water in it), the fire, a preserve employee, and what I like best is how the air over on the upper right, due to the change in refractive index with temperature, simulates a picture I posted this winter through my window covered with ice.

Pentax K-5, ISO 100, 1/200s, f/5.6, tripod.

Anyone familiar with burns will tell you they are very unpredictable and things can go horribly wrong in a matter of seconds. Good timing, eh? posted here almost exactly 24 hours ago !!