At first glance it could be a scene straight from a winter wonderland but Nowra landscape photographer Samuel Markham's stunning image is straight from the aftermath of a devastating bushfire.
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The incredible photo, Extinguished" has been shortlisted for the Australian Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year in the Landscape category.
On December 31, 2019 Sam and his family were desperately trying to defend their house and property at Parma, around 16 kilometres from Nowra.
While he's been in some bad weather events as a landscape photographer, Samuel said nothing could have prepared him for being straight in the line of a pyro- cumulonimbus firestorm, which had a built in flashover with temperature exceeding 1000 degrees.
"This thing sounded like a jet engine powered by incredible easterly winds. It turned daylight into darkness," he said.
"Then nothing. Silence. The wind dropped. Slowly a trickle of embers began to emerge from the sky above."
The silence was suddenly replaced with what Sam describes as like someone 'turning on a fan and opening up the oven door'.
An extreme southerly wind pushed this monster of a blaze straight up the hill towards Samuel and his family and raging flames of more than 40 metres high showered the with embers from above.
With every bit of oxygen then sucked from the air, Samuel said it was a terrifying experience. As a couple of days passed, he gathered his camera up and surveyed his surroundings - and took the photo that's landed him as an Australian Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year finalist.
"The burnt trees and ground were still venting smoke and a crazy storm came over our house and dropped golf ball sized hail stones everywhere," he said.
"From one extreme to another. Heavy rain and large hail stones batter a fire scorched and damaged Australian landscape bringing much needed rain and relief. It was smoke, hail and rain combined."
While he's been photographing landscapes for 10 years, Samuel said the image came to life when he was simply in the 'right place at the right time.'
"Trying to get smoke, hail and rain all in the same photo would be incredibly hard, you cant plan a image like that," he said.
This years competition had more than 2,200 entries from 17 countries. The awards night will be held in Adelaide on August 26.
Get in touch; Samuel Markham, Australian landscape photographer
