What's Left

Photographer

Shilohbear Photography

Category

Fine Art Photography - Open Theme

Company

Shilohbear Photography

Submission Group

Amateur

Year

2021

Country / Region

United States

In October of 2017, I was living in Sebastopol, California when the catastrophic fires that destroyed over 8,000 structures whipped through Sonoma County. Luckily, neither I nor the house suffered any physical damage. I was, however, shocked and traumatized by the fury of the blazes.

Recently at dawn on a chilly mid-winter day, I began driving around Fountaingrove, one of the hardest hit areas. The scope of the devastation took my breath away. Everywhere I turned there was annihilation. Where there used to be homes, gardens, people, animals—life—I was seeing only ruins. Blackened skeletons of burnt trees. Dirt and rock, piles of fallen dead branches. Occasional oddball debris like a stove on its side in the middle of nowhere. Endings.

But there were also beginnings. Sprouts of new growth trees, homes in the early stages of construction, white narcissus whose bulbs had slept underground through the cataclysm and were now, over a year later, producing their lovely blossoms. I began pondering what’s left after the fires. Heartbreak and hope, chaos and endurance, bewilderment and resolve.

And art. There was a stark beauty with a kind of minimalist vibe, inseparable from the profound ache I was feeling. The inexorable power of fire—and life’s utter persistence—blew my mind.

So I present these images to the viewers with the hope that they might also see something of light—and promise—in what’s left.

Amateur
2021
Monument to The Unknown Reality of a Deep Past - Photography Winner

Photographer / Company

Henrique Murta

Category

Nature Photography - Aerial/Drone

Country / Region

Brazil

Professional
2021
The Farewell - Photography Winner

Photographer / Company

Lillian Liu

Category

Fine Art Photography - Photomanipulation

Country / Region

Canada

Professional
2021
Anonymous Women: Domestic Demise - Photography Winner

Photographer / Company

Patty Carroll

Category

Fine Art Photography - Fine Art / Other

Country / Region

United States

Professional
2021
Landing Angels - Photography Winner

Photographer / Company

Craig Bill

Category

Fine Art Photography - Panorama

Country / Region

United States