For more information about prairie ecology and conservation:   • Aldo Leopold Foundation

I am captivated by the sight of fire; the speed of its trip through the landscape, its dance through plants and trees, the swirling white wraiths it leaves behind resembling morning fog.

The Ancients celebrated the mystery of fire: while it destroys, it replenishes; where it burns, plants flourish. Today fire in controlled burns enhances land management, reducing invasive species and nurturing biodiversity.

The first meadow burn I photographed was my own six acre prairie restoration. Since then, for the past four years it has been my privilege to accompany highly trained 'burn teams' as they worked in Midwestern fields, prairies and upland forests. We forged an understanding that as long as I wouldn't get in their way they'd allow me to stand in the thick of things, lugging my tripod and large 6X17cm panorama, creating images of fire in unpeopled landscapes.

I have developed hands-in-the-dirt closeness to prairie and combined it with more than thirty years experience behind the lens and in the darkroom. As an artist I am nourished by fire and the land.