Remembering Wildfires in Northwest Nebraska

Sunset over the Nebraska National Forest, August 2020. (Photo by Daniel Binkard)

Smoke from wildfires in Colorado has drifted across western Nebraska the past several days. It's been hot, and the red flag warnings are up. The Douthit Wildfire came through this area in 2012, and the skeletal trees across the landscape show the aftermath. You get the sense of a wasteland on a day like this, far more so than on a warm June day when the grass is still green. As I left the area, lightning flashed regularly. The Spotted Tail Wildfire of 2006 started from a lightning strike.

Sunset over the Nebraska National Forest, August 2011. (Photo by Daniel Binkard)

Late afternoon over the Black Hills Overlook in Chadron State Park, April 2011. (Photo by Daniel Binkard)

Aftermath of the Douthit Wildfire at the Nebraska National Forest, September 2012. (Photo by Daniel Binkard)

Aftermath of the Douthit Wildfire at the Nebraska National Forest, September 2012. (Photo by Daniel Binkard)

Aftermath of the Douthit Wildfire at the Nebraska National Forest, September 2012. (Photo by Daniel Binkard)

Security and photographers clear C-Hill the as the Spotted Tail Wildfire approaches Chadron, Nebraska. The fire crested C-Hill July 28, 2006. (Photo by Daniel Binkard)

C-Hill the day after the Spotted Tail Wildfire burned to the edge of Chadron, Nebraska, July 29, 2006. (Photo by Daniel Binkard)

C-Hill the day after the Spotted Tail Wildfire burned through, July 29, 2006. (Photo by Daniel Binkard)

View through the smoky haze from the Nebraska National Forest, August 2020. The nearby trees burned during the Douthit Wildfire in 2012. (Photo by Daniel Binkard)

Looking through smoky haze toward Crow Butte from the Nebraska National Forest, August 2020. The nearby trees burned during the Douthit Wildfire in 2012. (Photo by Daniel Binkard)

View through the smoky haze from the Nebraska National Forest, August 2020. The nearby trees burned during the Douthit Wildfire in 2012. (Photo by Daniel Binkard)

Sunset over the Nebraska National Forest, August 2020. (Photo by Daniel Binkard)

Sunset over the Nebraska National Forest, August 2020. (Photo by Daniel Binkard)

Sunset over the Nebraska National Forest, August 2020. (Photo by Daniel Binkard)

Flowers and Yucca in the Nebraska National Forest, August 23, 2019

Sunflower double exposure at the Black Hills Overlook in the Nebraska National Forest, August 2019. (Photo by Daniel Binkard)

This is a double exposure with a focus shift. One frame is focused on the flowers, the other on the yucca leaves. The unfocused areas in each frame create haloes of color and tone around the sharper elements. I like the sense of sharp and unsharp this technique brings. There are little details, like the stem of the foreground flower, that draw the eye as you try to make sense of what’s in the scene.

Sunset at the Nebraska National Forest, August 24, 2012

Sunset at the Nebraska National Forest, August 2012. (Photo by Daniel Binkard)

Sometimes the sky is just right and you can see the sun as it drops behind the distant hills. There is great variety in the lighting and color of the clouds, plus the gradient of bare sky as it goes from blues to reds.