Fuego’s Pyromaniac Show

Almost a week later Fuego volcano decided to perform for us another pyromaniac show. This time I was near Tanque de La Unión when I was alerted by Nelo, Norman and Guy about the eruption and pyroclastic activity and luckily I had my camera gear with me. I decided to take on Nelo’s idea to photograph Fuego on the background and the entrance of Antigua Guatemala on foreground so I went to give it a try, but after surveying the area and trying with different lens I decided it was not the right location because of the amount of light and vehicular traffic in the area. Then, I decided to drive home and try to do a time-lapse video by leaving the camera taking photos all night long. We´re lucky to have panoramic vistas of all three volcanos from our balconies. However, before I was able to get home I drove by Tanque de La Unión, my usual route to get home, and right there and then I saw Fuego’s magnificent pyromaniacs show framed by the arches. I stopped, parked and got my camera gear to take photos of bright red eruptions against a stark dark sky. After a few tries, once again, I was disappointed that I could not get Fuego volcano framed by the arches; further, there are so many street lights around the Tanque de la Unión park and since eruption photos are long exposure images, too much light burns the photos. Somehow, by pure magic of framing correctly I was able to hide the street lights behind the columns of the arches of Tanque de la Unión, I zoomed in and focused on Fuego volcano and then pulled away until I was able to get the roof and cupolas in the bottom part of the image I shot away about five or six photos.

This is one of them and one that has been liked a lot in the anti-social networks; you know Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. Check out my mobile photographic dairy to see other photos of the eruption.

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