Haunting photos of the Cape fire
The fire that raged over large swathes of Cape Town is finally extinguished. Around 5 500 hectares of land, stretching from Muizenberg to Hout Bay, were destroyed in the blaze – which broke out on Sunday, March 1 and was finally contained nine days later.
On the same day, a massive fire also broke out in the Stellenbosch area.
Photographer Greg Hillyard was at Uitkyk Wine farm and captured these eerily beautiful images.
Reflecting on his photos, Greg says he was able to get close to the flames by standing on the windward side of where the fire line was. “The wind was very strong and only blowing in one direction [so] it made it easier to be close,” he explained.
And as far as his composition of the photos goes, Greg says mostly it’s instinctive. “I always try to consider my content and compose to create a complete image based on how I feel about the situation and subject matter.”
“I also (luckily) possess an immense amount of energy so I was able to run from one hill to the next to catch many different angles and thus give a more complete account of the situation.”
Meanwhile, Stellenbosch residents have been on high alert to evacuate over the past few days as firefighters battled a fire in the nearby Jonkershoek valley.
Luckily, it seems that fire has also now been contained.
(All photos by Greg Hillyard. Join him on Facebook)