Sydney Bushfires - M6 + 6D (32mm, 11-22mm, 100-400mmL II)

EOS M6 + 32mm - Dense smoke on my street this week... over 95km from where the fire is.

.
SYDNEY'S BUSHFIRES:  December 2019
This is a catastrophe of epic proportions as Australia is hit by the worst fires on record.  The city has been subjected to smoke levels that are so bad that spending more than a few hours outside is said to be as bad as smoking two packs of cigarettes at once.  Even in the suburbs, almost 100km from the nearest fires, the smoke is so bad that your body reacts the moment you open the door to your home. In Sydney last week, the smoke was so thick that it set off all the fire alarms in Sydney... over 128 km away from the fires that were emitting the smoke. Visibility was reduced to just 3km.  Airports closed.  Ferries were cancelled. I chose not to put my air-conditioning on, even during a heatwave with 37C temperatures and yet I was getting headaches from the smoke that had made it into my house.  As if the bush-fires weren't bad enough, we're in the middle of the worst drought in 200 years.  Next week, a new heatwave is hitting the country and tonight's NEWS warned that the South of the country is expected to experience temperatures over 50C degrees!  Nobody knows when it will end.
.

EOS 6D + EF 100-400mmL II - Picking up my wife after work in the smoke-filled air.

.
Photographing the Fires and Smokey Landscape:
Being a once in a lifetime chance - as these are the worst fires in 220 years, I thought I'd go up to the mountains and was surprised to find the air was clearer in some places. Carrying a camera meant several things happened.  The larger lens branded me as a journalist so the Firemen asked me not to publish their faces (images not shown below) and the tourists would constantly ask me to take their pictures with their own cameras at the lookouts.  Another thing that happened was that quite a few photographers came over to talk equipment with me, especially at the lookouts.  They were all extremely polite.  Two weeks prior I was literally screamed at by a Nikon-toting woman with a cheap model DLSR and kit lenses... who claimed I'd walked into her shot as she crouched between two rocks, dressed entirely in camouflage clothing with the sun behind her. My camera wasn't visible so I think she just felt entitled.  What she was doing by challenging me was actually breaking the law but what's the point in challenging someone who is self-focused. We ended up exchanging profanity and I took her picture, just to irritate her a little more.  And to mark the exact time of the incident.  In all my years, that was a first.  I'm always very courteous towards others in the real-world and I've never had a confrontation with a photographer before.
.

EOS M6 + 32mm - Sunset on the first day of the fires, over a month ago.

EOS M6 + 11-22mm - The fierce Wollomi National Park Fire - about 50 km away from me.  Taken 3 weeks ago - long before the fires reached the size they are today.  These fields eventually burned. Note how dry the grass is on the right.  This fire was believe to have been deliberately lit and is now, three weeks later, looking to consume more than 400,000 ha, not including the other fires.

.
I chose to carry the gear listed below and that enabled me to carry two different bodies with me. The EOS 6D is my leisure DSLR and I bought it especially for Astrophotography.  I wanted to have the EOS M6 handy with the 11-22mm lens so I felt that the EOS 6D was for the best performance with the EF 100-400mmL II lens... although I did have the lens adapter with me in case I wanted to mount it to the M6.  I also chose to use the 11-22mm lens because the f/4 aperture and wide field of view were in my interest for landscapes. After sunset I swapped to the 32mm lens for the f/1.4 aperture.
.
I made the mistake of taking a hike without putting sunscreen on my arms or wearing a cap so my forearms were severely burned from the UV light in the thin mountain air.  I had what was close to second-degree burns and it took 4 days for the pain to drop. The smoke in the air imitated the effects of fog to a degree.  The main difference being that fog dissipates as the day grows longer.  So I got quite a few interesting shots were smoke created a layering effect in the landscapes at the time of day when fog wouldn't be present.  I've only oploaded images that I felt were of key interest and out of a few thousand shots (after I'd edited out the flies), I ended up with a lot of repeats but about 500 keepers. With some of the rich colors and smooth skies or smoke filled scenes, banding was a slight problem if I wanted to push the colors further during editing... so I generally left them as they were.  It only affected a few images (three) and the only image that annoyed me was the canyon shot with the blue sky (below).  Fortunately, I had taken two shots of that scene and exposed for both the sky and the land. The end result is a slight blend of the two. RAW would have possibly offered more leeway but I was happy with these results and there's still room to edit them far beyond the JPEG files captured.
.
The city (Sydney) is swamped in smoke and there's a warning about tomorrow being hazardous in terms of air-quality.  But I have to get in there to visit the Markets to buy something my wife spotted a few weeks ago... so I'll be in the city with the 32mm lens again.  I got some great shots with it last week in the city and it's just the right focal length for the sorts of shots I like to take.  But in the mountains, a wider 11mm view that can be quickly reset to 22mm is my preference from the EF-M lenses.  I always try to keep my posts to under 10 shots although these images are scattered in different folders and I was assured in the past that it wouldn't be a problem as long as it wasn't a common occurrence.  Just trim my post any replies to keep the forum tidy if you can.
.
Two Cameras / Wide-Zoom + Telephoto-Zoom
As usual, the benefit of carrying two different systems leans heavily towards the strengths of each sensor type.  Longer focal lengths with less light transmission and CPL filters at 400mm really did benefit from the Full Frame sensor.  And wider focal lengths with smaller apertures made the most from the APS-C type cameras when it comes to landscapes.  Most of the time I couldn't really tell if the shots were okay until I got home.
.
There was also a fly plague in the mountains so every third shot had flies in it. They were even sitting inside the lens hood of both cameras and that posed a problem sometimes. They were on my lenses and on my clothes.  I sprayed my face with repellent but they went up my nose and into my eyes behind my sunglasses.  Bush-flies don't get out of the way when you swipe at them.  I saw a woman slap herself in the face by accident, knocking off her glasses and cap from the accidental blow while trying to swap flies.  When I got into the car between locations, my record was 80+ flies trapped inside.  I even took the time to count them and film them.  The rest just stuck to the car, waiting for me to return. it took another 8 hours of driving to get them out of the car again. There was a third camera: The Apple iPhone that I had with me.  It performed quite well with panoramas and at one point it outperformed the M6 + 11-22mm lens - at least up until the editing stage.  I was happy to snap a few shots with the iPhone simply for convenience - just as long as the sun wasn't facing the lens optic.
.
Hope you like them.  The blend between the different cameras and lenses helped to keep the images interesting and refreshing.
.
Cameras:
Canon EOS M6 Mirrorless
Canon EOS 6D  Full Frame DSLR
Apple iPhone6S (samples not show here)
.
Lenses:
Canon EF-M 32mm f/1.4 STM
Canon EF-M 11-22mm f/4-5.6 IS STM
Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM
.
Other:
Hoya Circular Polarizer
Manfrotto Monopod
Manfrotto Tripod (Night shots only)
.
Settings:
Setting vary from P-Mode to M-Mode
All images taken in JPEG
Edited for color/contrast in Lightroom and Photoshop
.

EOS M6 + EF 100-400mmL II -  colorful sunsets on my street over the last few weeks

EOS M6 + 11-22mm  - Clear skies and a moon to the North... but those clouds" on the horizon are from a monstrous 361,000 ha fire that is sending ash all the way to the New Zealand glaciers.
EOS 6D + EF 100-400mmL II - 'Elvis' the Sky Crane - about to drop 10,000 liters of water
EOS M6 + 11-22mm - New spot-fires working their way up an escarpment.

EOS 6D + EF 100-400mmL II - Trails are closed to prevent tourists from getting burned.
EOS M6 + 11-22mm - Tourists tolerating the smoke at "The Three Sisters" lookout.

EOS 6D + EF 100-400mmL II - Park Ranger using infra-red cameras to locate spot-fires.

EOS 6D + EF 100-400mmL II - another wild sunset on my street

EOS M6 + 32mm - The type of colors we're seeing in the skies at the moment

EOS 6D + EF 100-400mmL II - a massive fire that threatens Sydney's water supply.

EOS M6 + EF 100-400mmL II - More weird sunsets on my street

EOS 6D + EF 100-400mmL II - worst garden hose ever (venomous snake)

EOS 6D + EF 100-400mmL II - Almost like a cheap watercolor.

EOS M6 + 32mm - Another nebulous sun overhead.

EOS 6D + EF 100-400mmL II - Eastern Water Dragon trying to get some sun.

EOS 6D + EF 100-400mmL II - Smoke between the hills at Narrow Neck Ridge, Katoomba

EOS M6 + 11-22mm - Stunning Panorama at Cahill's Lookout, Katoomba

EOS M6 + 32mm - Last light - from where I parked my car.

EOS M6  + 11-22mm - Another photographer stops to admire the view

EOS 6D + 100-400mmL II - Massive fire to the South contributes to the effect.
EOS M6 + 11-22mm - Waiting for the sun to drop further.

EOS 6D + EF 100-400mmL II - Looks like a shot from the Mars Rover.

EOS M6 + 11-22mm - Last Light

EOS M6 + 11-22mm - Another fellow photographer

EOS M6 + 32mm -  Fires in the distance that only the lens saw + Venus - at Lincoln's Rock

EOS 6D + EF 100-400mmL II - The fire-front at Katoomba

EOS M6 + 11-22mm  - Chatting with the Ranger

EOS 6D + EF 100-400mmL II - Two other photographers at Boar's Head Rock.

EOS 6D + EF 100-400mmL II - Fellow photographers setting up for a sunset.

EOS M6 + 11-22mm - The famous "Three Sisters" rock formation at Katoomba

EOS 6D + EF 100-400mmL II - Amber sun through the trees.

EOS 6D + EF 100-400mmL II - Smoke rising between the ridges on Narrow Neck Ridge.

EOS M6 + 32mm - Fire approaching my location - under moonlight.

EOS M6 + 32mm - Fire on the other side of the road from where I parked.

EOS M6 + 32mm - A peculiar ochre colored Ash Moon on my street this week

EOS 6D + EF 100-400mmL II + EF 2x III - closer view of that Ash colored Moon

EOS M6 + 32mm - Red sun with barely any light

Marco Nero wrote:

EOS M6 + 32mm - Dense smoke on my street this week... over 95km from where the fire is.

.
SYDNEY'S BUSHFIRES: December 2019
This is a catastrophe of epic proportions as Australia is hit by the worst fires on record. The city has been subjected to smoke levels that are so bad that spending more than a few hours outside is said to be as bad as smoking two packs of cigarettes at once. Even in the suburbs, almost 100km from the nearest fires, the smoke is so bad that your body reacts the moment you open the door to your home. In Sydney last week, the smoke was so thick that it set off all the fire alarms in Sydney... over 128 km away from the fires that were emitting the smoke. Visibility was reduced to just 3km. Airports closed. Ferries were cancelled. I chose not to put my air-conditioning on, even during a heatwave with 37C temperatures and yet I was getting headaches from the smoke that had made it into my house. As if the bush-fires weren't bad enough, we're in the middle of the worst drought in 200 years. Next week, a new heatwave is hitting the country and tonight's NEWS warned that the South of the country is expected to experience temperatures over 50C degrees! Nobody knows when it will end.
.

EOS 6D + EF 100-400mmL II - Picking up my wife after work in the smoke-filled air.

.
Photographing the Fires and Smokey Landscape:
Being a once in a lifetime chance - as these are the worst fires in 220 years, I thought I'd go up to the mountains and was surprised to find the air was clearer in some places. Carrying a camera meant several things happened. The larger lens branded me as a journalist so the Firemen asked me not to publish their faces (images not shown below) and the tourists would constantly ask me to take their pictures with their own cameras at the lookouts. Another thing that happened was that quite a few photographers came over to talk equipment with me, especially at the lookouts. They were all extremely polite. Two weeks prior I was literally screamed at by a Nikon-toting woman with a cheap model DLSR and kit lenses... who claimed I'd walked into her shot as she crouched between two rocks, dressed entirely in camouflage clothing with the sun behind her. My camera wasn't visible so I think she just felt entitled. What she was doing by challenging me was actually breaking the law but what's the point in challenging someone who is self-focused. We ended up exchanging profanity and I took her picture, just to irritate her a little more. And to mark the exact time of the incident. In all my years, that was a first. I'm always very courteous towards others in the real-world and I've never had a confrontation with a photographer before.
.

EOS M6 + 32mm - Sunset on the first day of the fires, over a month ago.

EOS M6 + 11-22mm - The fierce Wollomi National Park Fire - about 50 km away from me. Taken 3 weeks ago - long before the fires reached the size they are today. These fields eventually burned. Note how dry the grass is on the right. This fire was believe to have been deliberately lit and is now, three weeks later, looking to consume more than 400,000 ha, not including the other fires.

.
I chose to carry the gear listed below and that enabled me to carry two different bodies with me. The EOS 6D is my leisure DSLR and I bought it especially for Astrophotography. I wanted to have the EOS M6 handy with the 11-22mm lens so I felt that the EOS 6D was for the best performance with the EF 100-400mmL II lens... although I did have the lens adapter with me in case I wanted to mount it to the M6. I also chose to use the 11-22mm lens because the f/4 aperture and wide field of view were in my interest for landscapes. After sunset I swapped to the 32mm lens for the f/1.4 aperture.
.
I made the mistake of taking a hike without putting sunscreen on my arms or wearing a cap so my forearms were severely burned from the UV light in the thin mountain air. I had what was close to second-degree burns and it took 4 days for the pain to drop. The smoke in the air imitated the effects of fog to a degree. The main difference being that fog dissipates as the day grows longer. So I got quite a few interesting shots were smoke created a layering effect in the landscapes at the time of day when fog wouldn't be present. I've only oploaded images that I felt were of key interest and out of a few thousand shots (after I'd edited out the flies), I ended up with a lot of repeats but about 500 keepers. With some of the rich colors and smooth skies or smoke filled scenes, banding was a slight problem if I wanted to push the colors further during editing... so I generally left them as they were. It only affected a few images (three) and the only image that annoyed me was the canyon shot with the blue sky (below). Fortunately, I had taken two shots of that scene and exposed for both the sky and the land. The end result is a slight blend of the two. RAW would have possibly offered more leeway but I was happy with these results and there's still room to edit them far beyond the JPEG files captured.
.
The city (Sydney) is swamped in smoke and there's a warning about tomorrow being hazardous in terms of air-quality. But I have to get in there to visit the Markets to buy something my wife spotted a few weeks ago... so I'll be in the city with the 32mm lens again. I got some great shots with it last week in the city and it's just the right focal length for the sorts of shots I like to take. But in the mountains, a wider 11mm view that can be quickly reset to 22mm is my preference from the EF-M lenses. I always try to keep my posts to under 10 shots although these images are scattered in different folders and I was assured in the past that it wouldn't be a problem as long as it wasn't a common occurrence. Just trim my post any replies to keep the forum tidy if you can.
.
Two Cameras / Wide-Zoom + Telephoto-Zoom
As usual, the benefit of carrying two different systems leans heavily towards the strengths of each sensor type. Longer focal lengths with less light transmission and CPL filters at 400mm really did benefit from the Full Frame sensor. And wider focal lengths with smaller apertures made the most from the APS-C type cameras when it comes to landscapes. Most of the time I couldn't really tell if the shots were okay until I got home.
.
There was also a fly plague in the mountains so every third shot had flies in it. They were even sitting inside the lens hood of both cameras and that posed a problem sometimes. They were on my lenses and on my clothes. I sprayed my face with repellent but they went up my nose and into my eyes behind my sunglasses. Bush-flies don't get out of the way when you swipe at them. I saw a woman slap herself in the face by accident, knocking off her glasses and cap from the accidental blow while trying to swap flies. When I got into the car between locations, my record was 80+ flies trapped inside. I even took the time to count them and film them. The rest just stuck to the car, waiting for me to return. it took another 8 hours of driving to get them out of the car again. There was a third camera: The Apple iPhone that I had with me. It performed quite well with panoramas and at one point it outperformed the M6 + 11-22mm lens - at least up until the editing stage. I was happy to snap a few shots with the iPhone simply for convenience - just as long as the sun wasn't facing the lens optic.
.
Hope you like them. The blend between the different cameras and lenses helped to keep the images interesting and refreshing.
.
Cameras:
Canon EOS M6 Mirrorless
Canon EOS 6D Full Frame DSLR
Apple iPhone6S (samples not show here)
.
Lenses:
Canon EF-M 32mm f/1.4 STM
Canon EF-M 11-22mm f/4-5.6 IS STM
Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM
.
Other:
Hoya Circular Polarizer
Manfrotto Monopod
Manfrotto Tripod (Night shots only)
.
Settings:
Setting vary from P-Mode to M-Mode
All images taken in JPEG
Edited for color/contrast in Lightroom and Photoshop
.

EOS M6 + EF 100-400mmL II - colorful sunsets on my street over the last few weeks

EOS M6 + 11-22mm - Clear skies and a moon to the North... but those clouds" on the horizon are from a monstrous 361,000 ha fire that is sending ash all the way to the New Zealand glaciers.

EOS 6D + EF 100-400mmL II - 'Elvis' the Sky Crane - about to drop 10,000 liters of water

EOS M6 + 11-22mm - New spot-fires working their way up an escarpment.

EOS 6D + EF 100-400mmL II - Trails are closed to prevent tourists from getting burned.

EOS M6 + 11-22mm - Tourists tolerating the smoke at "The Three Sisters" lookout.

EOS 6D + EF 100-400mmL II - Park Ranger using infra-red cameras to locate spot-fires.

EOS 6D + EF 100-400mmL II - another wild sunset on my street

EOS M6 + 32mm - The type of colors we're seeing in the skies at the moment

EOS 6D + EF 100-400mmL II - a massive fire that threatens Sydney's water supply.

EOS M6 + EF 100-400mmL II - More weird sunsets on my street

EOS 6D + EF 100-400mmL II - worst garden hose ever (venomous snake)

EOS 6D + EF 100-400mmL II - Almost like a cheap watercolor.

EOS M6 + 32mm - Another nebulous sun overhead.

EOS 6D + EF 100-400mmL II - Eastern Water Dragon trying to get some sun.

EOS 6D + EF 100-400mmL II - Smoke between the hills at Narrow Neck Ridge, Katoomba

EOS M6 + 11-22mm - Stunning Panorama at Cahill's Lookout, Katoomba

EOS M6 + 32mm - Last light - from where I parked my car.

EOS M6 + 11-22mm - Another photographer stops to admire the view

EOS 6D + 100-400mmL II - Massive fire to the South contributes to the effect.

EOS M6 + 11-22mm - Waiting for the sun to drop further.

EOS 6D + EF 100-400mmL II - Looks like a shot from the Mars Rover.

EOS M6 + 11-22mm - Last Light

EOS M6 + 11-22mm - Another fellow photographer

EOS M6 + 32mm - Fires in the distance that only the lens saw + Venus - at Lincoln's Rock

EOS 6D + EF 100-400mmL II - The fire-front at Katoomba

EOS M6 + 11-22mm - Chatting with the Ranger

EOS 6D + EF 100-400mmL II - Two other photographers at Boar's Head Rock.

EOS 6D + EF 100-400mmL II - Fellow photographers setting up for a sunset.

EOS M6 + 11-22mm - The famous "Three Sisters" rock formation at Katoomba

EOS 6D + EF 100-400mmL II - Amber sun through the trees.

EOS 6D + EF 100-400mmL II - Smoke rising between the ridges on Narrow Neck Ridge.

EOS M6 + 32mm - Fire approaching my location - under moonlight.

EOS M6 + 32mm - Fire on the other side of the road from where I parked.

EOS M6 + 32mm - A peculiar ochre colored Ash Moon on my street this week

EOS 6D + EF 100-400mmL II + EF 2x III - closer view of that Ash colored Moon

EOS M6 + 32mm - Red sun with barely any light

The fires we had here in California this last Summer were also set by a arsonist. It seems every year they get worse. Lightening I understand. But people setting fires, especially to our forests, should be thrown under the jail.  God forbid that any are killed....and in some cases they have.

Once again - incredible photos.  Thank you for sharing.  Unfortunately, this is a terrible tragedy for all who have been affected.

Marco Nero wrote:

EOS 6D + EF 100-400mmL II - Almost like a cheap watercolor.

This is a very nice composition, Marco!  Like it!

Yikes, what a terrible thing.

But you captured it marvelously (as always!).

R2

Pssst, Panamforeman.  Might be nice if you could edit out such a long series of images. 

Thx

Great but very worrying photos

Lets hope the Blue Mountains and the rest of the area can be saved

Stay safe

Thanks Marco. Great phtography. Sympathies from Melbourne. Been cooler here, but means back end on summer gonna be bad. Very touching and well done.

.A few more images from the initial sets that I took.  It's really not getting much better here with the suburbs around Sydney bathed in thick smoke even yesterday.  I caught a bus and train to get into town because I didn't want to risk parking - just in case I was in the city longer than expected with a chance to shoot a wild sunset there... but the air there was a bit clearer..  A lot of people were wearing masks yesterday.  It reminded me of those classic sci-fi movies - 'Blade Runner 'mixed with 'Soylent Green'.  I may or may not head into the mountains again tomorrow as some of my favorite locations have now started to burn in the last 24 hours, including a few places that I like to test lenses (such as Mount Tomah in the Blue Mountains).
.
Thanks for the replies and I apologize for any lack of communication lately but I have been out in the city or in the country each day this week.  I'm simply sharing these as a matter of interest and regret that I haven't caught something more dramatic so far - although I agree with Thunder Storm that there's something peculiar about the angles in that shot that catches the eye. Stay Safe everyone (even the US is burning these days).
.

EOS 6D + EF 100-400mmL II - Smoke in my street last week.

EOS M6 + 32mm - Packing up and moving on after sunset.

EOS 6D + EF 100-400mmL II - Smoke dissipating after waterbombing.

EOS M6 + 32mm - Fire headed towards a homestead around midnight - under moonlight.

EOS 6D + EF 100-400mmL II - Amber Sun in the Afternoon

EOS 6D + EF 100-400mmL II - The valley floor landing for the Scenic tour was evacuated.  Water is being pumped into the surrounding trees at the end of the structure to reduce fire damage.

EOS 6D + EF 100-400mmL II -  The other end of that Red-Bellied Black Snake

EOS M6 + 32mm -  Spot Fires starting alongside the road.

EOS 6D + EF 100-400mmL II -  "Elvis" the Sky Crane about to dump 10,000 liters on a fire.

EOS 6D + EF 100-400mmL II - 'Elvis' in the Valley

EOS M6 + 11-22mm - Only one way in.
EOS M6 + EF 100-400mmL II -  Orange Sapphire Sun

EOS M6 + 11-22mm  -  Tourists at the lookout, choking on the smoke.

EOS M6 + EF 100-400mmL II -  This is exactly how the sun looks to the eyes.

EOS M6 + 32mm -  Just Weird Red Suns every day.

EOS 6D + EF 100-400mmL II -  A fairly clear sunset on my street..

EOS M6 + 11-22mm - The drought afflicted top of a 2,000 foot waterfall.
--
Regards,
Marco Nero.

R2D2 wrote:

Pssst, Panamforeman. Might be nice if you could edit out such a long series of images.

Thx

How do I do that? I'm not being sarcastic, I really don't how.

panamforeman wrote:

R2D2 wrote:

Pssst, Panamforeman. Might be nice if you could edit out such a long series of images.

Thx

How do I do that? I'm not being sarcastic, I really don't how.

Underneath the post are several options: Reply • Reply with quote • Reply to thread • + More options.

If you "Reply with quote" everything in the post you're replying to will be quoted (re-posted) which is handy if you wish to insert several reply comments inside the body of the quote, a pretty handy feature at times.

If you click on "More options" you will see several things you can do, including Edit your reply.  I'm not certain but it may not be possible to edit your post after it has been replied to - but if it is, you can highlight everything you don't want in your post and then delete it.

I hope others will chime in here, especially if I'm not quite correct, but I think most forum users reply without quoting, especially when it's a single subject or quite obvious.  Sometimes replying with quote is quite helpful to clarify what is being replied to ... quoting a particularly long post, especially one with lots of photos, tends to make the thread a lot longer.

Hope this helps.

panamforeman wrote:

R2D2 wrote:

Pssst, Panamforeman. Might be nice if you could edit out such a long series of images.

Thx

How do I do that? I'm not being sarcastic, I really don't how.

JRET covers it well.  As you're replying to a post you can delete out any of the previous post(s).

And once your own post is replied to, it cannot be edited again by you.  That's why I didn't reply directly to your post above (leaving the editing option open  ).

Click on  + More options  and select  Edit.  You can do up to about 9 separate edits in total.

LOL I really don't intend to sound like the "Forum Police," and I figured you were just unaware of the option...

R2

Thanks! I needed to know that.

No, not at all. Thanks for the help.

Thank you.

Your images really struck home. Horrible fires.

D Lynch wrote:

Thank you.

Your images really struck home. Horrible fires.

A friend of mine posted me this images from her property yesterday showing starving kangaroos.  The grass is dry and they have little or no water at all.  She lives at Sofala - about 2 hours from my home in Sydney. NOT MY PICTURE - Taken by my friend.

GOVETT'S LEAP LOOKOUT - The view from my EOS M6 last weekend.

GOVETT'S LEAP LOOKOUT - Northern view from my EOS M6 last year.

GOVETT'S LEAP LOOKOUT - Source: Twitter. Same lookout a couple of days ago.
NOT MY PICTURE

GOVETT'S LEAP LOOKOUT - North-East view from my EOS M6 last year.

GOVETT'S LEAP LOOKOUT - Source: Twitter. Same lookout a couple of days ago.
NOT MY PICTURE

.

The main fire has already destroyed an area SEVEN times the size of Singapore. It's one of hundreds that are covering our state. Two men died yesterday. Two volunteer firefighters died the day before when their truck rolled. One firefighter was charged with lighting 15 of these devastating fires deliberately on his own. 14 other people, many of them children between 10 and 14 years old were caught lighting the earlier fires that killed three people.  A photographer who loved out there in the mountains was burned alive and firemen found his body on a trail where he was overrun.  The size is just unfathomable to us in terms of scale. But the loss of animal life and the pain these animals are suffering in the worst drought in a generation is also hard to imagine. And today, Sydney is expecting temperatures of 48C where I am in the outer suburbs. That's almost 50C. And the winds will pick up, which has resulted in an Emergency Alert that today is now listed as "Catastrophic". A Catastrophic Warning is a new warning level we recently introduced. It means you will indeed likely die if you are on the ground and unable to flee the area. I'm sort of in a mixed mind as to whether or not to take another drive out to see what I can see and photograph. There's a dark beauty to all of this. I'd like to try to capture some of that if I can - but not if it puts me in the way of others. I'll think about it tonight. When the sun rises it should take a few hours before the heat rises alongside it. I also need to get out over the mountains to where the drought is hitting the farmers as there's some inspiring colors (or lack thereof).
.
I'll have the EOS M system with me if I make it out there but any decisions I make need to me cautious right now. I'd like to drive south to visit friends before Christmas but my wife just told me that enormous fires have cut off some of the roads there.  They just introduced an $11,000 fine for people dropping cigarettes from cars as there's a total fire ban in effect.  That didn't stop a busload of Chinese tourists from smoking cigarettes as they stood in the wind in front of me last week and took photographs of the fires.  It's just insane.
.

So many fires were deliberately lit this year.  More than 16 people have been arrested.

EOS M - Same location (Mount Tomah Botanical Gardens)

SAME view as above ...from this week - Fires approaching .  Source: SMH Newspaper.
NOT MY PICTURE

NEWSPAPER CLIPPING
NOT MY IMAGE

NEWSPAPER CLIPPINGS
NOT MY IMAGE

SYDNEY LAST WEEK - SOURCE: LOCAL NEWSPAPER 
NOT MY IMAGE

NEWSPAPER CLIPPING
NOT MY IMAGE

The size of the nearest fires around Sydney.  Sydney City (lower right) is a MASSIVE city that extends to all the pale regions in the center (which is where I reside). That large single area that is burning (top) is over 450,000 ha in size.  Imagine the loss of animal life there.

Pulling back further, you can see all the other fires burning within a few hours drive north of Sydney - and this is just part of the central coast.
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Regards,
Marco Nero.

An interesting article on how the largest fire in Australia started and why it's still out of control.  Article is free to view (no subscription required)... feel free to read if this is of interest to anyone...
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https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/the-monster-a-short-history-of-australia-s-biggest-forest-fire-20191218
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