Water Drop

Making a pass for a water drop. I obviously had a challenge with the

focus on this because it was moving faster than I could focus. More

comments please.

Please see my portfolio for additional photos in this series.

i fight forest fires for a living but on a much larger scale.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v403/BIGPOLEHERBEAR/Work/th_firewhereweranfrom.jpg

I suggest faster shutter speed or set camera to sports setting.

Thanks for the comment. Luckly this was a small fire. These were shot in the middle of the area that burned during the Cedar fire a few years ago in San Diego. This fire consumed about 50 acres or so. It didn't get out of hand due to the response of 12 -15 engines 4 helicopters and 2 tankers on standby.

these are crappy shots from my old camera,if your interested.http://bigpoleherbear.stumbleupon.com/review/1847318/i still dunno how i made it out of that fire that day,a memory i will never forget!..Your lucky you never got hit with big water bomber,you wouldn't have a camera left,not to mention the weight of the water drills you into the dirt!,lol,In an emergency we call on water bomber and they hit our machines to cool them off,sometimes it blows the windows right out if we're not sitting in proper direction.When a fire is out of control the water from the bombers or choppers doesn't even hit the fire,it evaporates from the extreme heat well above the fire.The chopper you took a shot of is made for small fires,ones that carry baskets can fight larger fires cause they are obviously well above the fire but the basket itself can go right through the fire.here like these.This fire was approx 300 acres,this is last day with only two choppers left to finish up .Originally there were ten.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v403/BIGPOLEHERBEAR/th_P1040119.jpghttp://img.photobucket.com/albums/v403/BIGPOLEHERBEAR/th_P1040129.jpghttp://img.photobucket.com/albums/v403/BIGPOLEHERBEAR/th_P1040126.jpghttp://img.photobucket.com/albums/v403/BIGPOLEHERBEAR/th_P1040123.jpg

 

click to enlarge,notice the pilot is hanging out the window,he has to to be able to fill up the basket,not to metnion it gets awful hot in chopper!!! We lost 5 pilots in our area last summer,hats off to thos guys,it's a pretty thankless job but satisfying that we're making a difference.have a good one! and don't play with fire!!

I live in Ramona California, right in the flight path of Ramona Airport which is a California Deptartment of Forestry Air Attack Base. I see a lot of fire fighting aircraft go in and out of here during a tough fire year. Ramonans especially and San Dieagans in general respect our fire fighters. They saved San Diego during the Cedar Fire. The Cedar Fire is the worst fire in the history of California. It burned an area about 20 miles by 20 miles lost over a thousand homes and I don't remember how many live 20-25 I think. To one that fights huge forest fires this may not seem large but bear in mind it was burning through residential areas, jumping freeways. The only reason it didn't go into the city directly, is because of the guts of the fire fighter. I salute you and those you work with. Thank you for what you do!