Ring of Fire
Last week we lauded the amazing coverage of the fires that roared through Southern California. Today we'd like to pay particular attention to the powerful photos taken by the staff of the Los Angeles Times. Their "Facing the Flames" photo gallery captures some of the most intense moments of the fires with great use of color and light. Karen Tapia's picture of 12 firefighters trapped by the inferno (the sixth one in the gallery) is a masterpiece of photo journalism as she frames the huddled heroes with a ring of smoke and flame (thankfully, we learn that the firefighters were eventually saved). Wally Skalij's image of a lone firefighter facing a wall of flame (the 22nd in the gallery) is another great composition with an angle that emphasizes the firefighter's seeming powerlessness. Gina Ferazzi, Stephen Osman, Robert Gauthier, Richard Hartog, Genaro Molina, Ken Hively, Don Kelsen, Robert Durell, Anne Cusack, Mel Melcon, Brian Vander Brug, Glenn Koenig, Gary Friedman, Irfan Khan, Lawrence K. Ho and Al Seib also contributed to the gallery and deserve praise for getting so close to the often dangerous action. www.latimes.com/news/local/la-ma-x28oct28-pg,0,4245956.photogallery