Black and sad Burned Sataf forest photographed on 120 BW film.
Victor Bezrukov
Photographer, Storyteller, Life Photographer
based in israel
Just one week before this visit the place was green, happy, and full of the natural energy of the forest growing on the hill. This hill, like many others, is part of the huge Jerusalem mountains area, located close to Jerusalem and spread to the south, west, and east of the city. The huge fires took us by surprise, as they do every single year and for a few days, firefighters worked very hard with the goal to stop the raging fire before entering the city and the numerous towns and villages, located everywhere. All entrances to this area were closed for the people not living there and not involved in extinguishing a fire.
When I went there, the area was open to all visitors. There were not many. I found myself walking alone and was happy not to see the onlookers. I felt the heat of the burned earth. It still was hot and the white ash-strewn. Yes, all this was too surrealistic – the high layer of the white ash. In some places already blown away by the strong wind. In other places like this – it still was here.
I almost cried. The feeling of the massive loss was so strong and unbearable. These forests always were densely populated by wild animals. I have no idea where could they go, but I saw big flocks of black crows, who know better where to look for animals killed in the fire. I will work on the body of work with more images from the burned earth and will write and publish my “report” later
Just a few words about the technical part of this post. I used Fuji GA645 medium format camera, Rollei RPX400 film and Kodak d-76 developer diluted 1:1.
Photography © Victor Bezrukov
Public Project
Black and sad Burned Sataf forest photographed on 120 BW film.
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