The Campfire.  One of the best things about camping.  Everything’s dark except for the flames licking the air.  Coldness lurks but your body stays nice and warm.  Toasted marshmallows and smore creations.  I’m in!  And Camp Corbett did not disappoint with the campfire.

Oh, and the fire stick.  Apparently that’s a big deal too.  Alan, have you measured the angle on that stick yet to recreate it?  He looks way too excited to be using that fire stick, if you ask me.

Rachel is quite the firebug.  She confessed that even she takes dozens of pictures of the campfire when they visit Rough River.  Since she tended the fire so often, I had to catch the firebug in action.  And this made for good photog practice.

I sat up tripod (*gasp* – yes, I took the tripod), hooked up the camera and snapped away.  It’s all about trial and error when shooting in the dark.  Finding the right marriage between aperture and shutter speed.

I wanted the sky dark and the flames dancing which tells me slow down that shutter.  But I also wanted Rachel in the photo.  And not be a big blur.  Look at that fire flame up.  Awesome.

I kept my ISO rather high and my shutter rather fast (exp 0.6) to capture a “still” Rachel.  It took quite a few tries.  And I swapped out lenses trying to find the perfect one (the ultra-wide proved to be the best in this case).  In any case, the sparks that were flying made everything completely interesting while I repeatedly failed.

Then I had the money shot:

The sky is dark with the glowing moon.  The fire is dancing.  Rachel’s face is lit up and in focus.  Gracias, heysoos!  I love it love it love it.  Rachel, I want to frame you and nail you to my wall.  I could watch those sparks fly all day long.

This is the life, my friends.  No work, no worries, no internet, no qualms to mention.  Camping with the Corbetts was well worth the dirt under my nails.  I believe I will be doing this again.  Soon.  Very soon.

PS – More campfire photos are posted on my flickr.  I picked my favorites of the night to highlight on le blog.  And remember, only you can prevent forest fires.