Josh Edelson, Wildfire Photographer
by Dan Wagner
All Photos © Josh Edelson 2023
Armed with determination, Nomex fire suit, and a pair of Nikon cameras, wildfire photographer Josh Edelson goes where others fear to tread. On an average assignment, Josh drives hundreds of miles, endures 130 degree heat, dodges falling trees and electric lines, sleeps in the back of his Toyota 4Runner, and prays low-flying planes wont crush him beneath a load of misplaced fire retardant.
Gazing at Josh’s compelling wildfire photography, one can’t help but look for clues as to how he was able to survive—let alone capture such wonderful photos. Lucky for us, we can take a break from our gazing, and speak to the man himself. So, let’s get this fire started and ask Josh how he did it.
DW: Josh, as a fellow photographer and a fan of your work, I’m very grateful to have this opportunity to interview you. How did you get interested in photography? What was your path toward becoming a professional photographer?
JE: I started as a writer. I majored in advertising at San Diego State, and got into the creative side of advertising as a writer. Eventually, I made the switch when I realized I could achieve the same goal with a photo as I did with a piece of writing. Namely, I was interested in impacting people through creative expression.
The advertising industry really didn’t pan out. So I jumped ship and went to the mortgage industry for a while, which was totally left-brain. I needed a creative outlet. That was when I picked up photography. It was mostly for fun—like on travels. I took photos of random people—portraits and stuff. Eventually I realized the way of achieving what I was going for—impacting people with my photos—was to chase news. The trick was trying to figure out how to find a story before the news had found the story.
I started chasing fires, because I knew there weren’t that many people chasing forest fires. Through trial and error, I learned what to do, and what not to do. That gave way to photographing protests, taking on a photojournalism mentor, and eventually forming my business model. This model has been 80% corporate and headshots, and 20% news. News doesn’t pay that much in terms of income, but in terms of creative satisfaction, it’s 80% of my joy of photography. That’s been my formula over the years.
As a freelance photographer, I regularly work for newswires such as AFP (Agence France-Presse), AP (The Associated Press), the Los Angeles Times, and am available for commercial and editorial assignments as well.
DW: You’ve made a lot of progress in a short amount of time. What were your thoughts on the photography industry when you started?
JE: I started in digital and hit the ground running. I realized I was aspiring to be successful in an otherwise dying industry. It’s still not the healthiest of industries to become successful in. But I’ve always believed that if you just don’t give up, and if you have perseverance, and you find people who are successful, and copy their business model, then there’s no reason you can’t be successful in whatever business you want.
I just pushed forward. I never believed at first that photography would be my main source of income. It was always something I kind of did on the side. Eventually I saw a path for it to become my primary source of income—and a pretty substantial one at that. I didn’t realize that you could actually earn a living as a photographer until I met a bunch of photographers that worked both in photojournalism and in corporate. That really got me excited.
I worked hard. I did everything my mentors told me to do. I studied every photographer who was better than me—which at that time was pretty much everybody. Over the course of three or four years I just went through the motions of shooting the stories, even though I wasn’t on assignment. Eventually, I started meeting people, earning some street cred, and started getting some assignments here and there.
DW: The wildfire photographs on your website are not only beautiful, but also very informative and tell a story—which can be a rare combination for news photos.
JE: I think when it comes to news there are two goals. One primary goal is truth—to tell the story, as it is in the most truthful way possible. A secondary goal is art—to create something that is visually interesting and compelling enough to interest people in looking at it. Otherwise, if the only goal was documentation without regard to any artistry, then everybody might as well use an iPhone to take a snapshot. There is something to be said about an artistic photo that cuts through the clutter—especially these days when everybody has a pocket camera. There are a million photos of every circumstance. You have to be able to cut through that.
DW: How do you deal with the inner turmoil and emotions created by witnessing the effects of wildfires on people and animals?
JE: Sure, good question. Although it’s probably not the healthiest of methods—
I’ve found that the camera kind of creates an emotional barrier for me. Often, whether I’m at a memorial with people in front of me, or at a fire with things exploding all around me—my inner monologue is so loud that it sort of overwhelms any emotion that I could feel at that moment. To stay focused, I’m thinking who’s the person who’s going to cry next, who’s about to speak—hand goes on face, or there’s a propane tank—I need to move over to this direction. Is that car going to explode? Watch for the gas tanks. Look out for power lines!
There’s just a constant inner monologue that doesn’t really allow me much bandwidth to stop and take in what’s happening. Most of the time it might be hours, days, or even weeks later—and I look back at what I just experienced through my pictures or just think about it—and that’s when what I experienced really sinks in. But in the moment, I’m pretty on guard, and I feel protected by my distraction—namely the camera in front of my face.
DW: I read you wear the same protective gear as firefighters. Please describe this gear. Is it heavy? What sort of breathing apparatus do you carry? And how does the gear affect taking photographs?
JE: Sure, we do wear what the firefighters wear, but it’s not heavy. We don’t wear tanks or anything, because it’s not a structure fire. For wild land wildfires the gear consists of a yellow Nomex fire suit, jacket and pants, helmet, mask, gloves, and a safety shelter (fire shelter), and that’s it. The fire shelter is 7-10 pounds or so, which you strap onto your belt. Otherwise, we’re just out there with our cameras. I think structure firefighters wear tanks—and they’re heavy. But, when you’re walking around in 110-degree heat on the ground, with flames nearby where it can easily reach 130-degrees, you definitely want to be as light as possible.
DW: Do you own your own gear? And what does this type of gear cost?
JE: Yes. A Nomex fire suit is $200-250. A fire shelter is surprisingly pricey, and costs around $500. And hopefully we never use it. I’ve never used or even opened mine. Plus, it’s a one-time use, only for extreme emergency situations or life or death scenarios. It’s a requirement that we have one when we’re out there. Masks, goggles and stuff are relatively cheap—perhaps under $100. All in all, to be fully geared up for fires, it probably costs $800 or so.
There’s other super helpful equipment that isn’t mandatory. Such as scanners, different phone apps, communication radios, and extra antennas. I drive a four-wheel-drive Toyota 4Runner, which I sleep in the back of when I’m at fires. I wanted a vehicle that was both capable and comfortable for sleeping in the back. I don’t know that I’d count that as equipment, but it’s a vehicle that I bought specifically because I shoot fires.
DW: Do you carry your gear in a modified camera bag? How do you keep your gear safe from fire, dust, water, and other dangers?
JE: I’d say 90% of the time spent in a fire zone is spent in the car. Contrary to what the perception may be, it’s a huge amount of driving around. For a typical wild land wildfire, that maybe lasts 2-3 days, I might drive between 600 to 1,000 miles. It’s constant driving from one end of the fire to the other looking for flames. For almost the entire time, I’m within 100 feet of my vehicle. I need to always be able to access my vehicle in case I need to get out of there in a hurry.
For my gear I carry a Think Tank Airport Takeoff. I keep all my gear in there. And when I leave the car, I just carry two cameras with attached lenses. So, I’m walking around pretty light. If I need to switch lenses, I can run back to the car—which, I wouldn’t do if there were flames nearby. If I’m shooting burnout, and there’s an airdrop coming in, then I’ll return to the car for a longer lens.
DW: Which cameras, lenses do you typically use for photographing wildfires?
JE: I shoot with a Nikon D5, D4s, Nikon Z7, and a variety of Nikon lenses.
DW: Do you bring a satellite phone?
JE: I just use my iPhone. I use the hotspot on it for transmitting images with my laptop. It’s often difficult to get a signal. In those cases I’ll just wait until I’ve got a signal, or drive until I can find a signal. Some of us regular fire photographers caravan in and out of fire areas, and we have different service providers such as Verizon and AT&T. Depending on which service provider has a signal, we’ll sometimes share our hot spots. Sometimes there’s no signal at all. And in those cases we often use Google Maps. We pre-download the maps into the cellphone’s cache while offline. This way, we can still access the maps, and the GPS will still work.
DW: Have you suffered any injuries during wildfires, or damaged any equipment?
JE: No injuries so far. Equipment damage? Yes, actually during the Camp Fire in Paradise California wildfire. God, I’ll never forget this one. I was driving and there were flames on both sides of the road—the entire town was on fire—as I’m sure you’ve heard about. I had my cameras on my passenger seat, with my laptop on the floor and I was driving around 15 miles-per-hour when all of a sudden out of the dark there was a fallen power line stretched across the street. The power line bounced over my hood and windshield. When I slammed on my brakes, the cameras went flying and cracked my laptop screen. It was pretty devastating because it was the first day of the Camp Fire, which I knew was going to be a long one, so that was definitely challenging, especially because I hadn’t transmitted images yet. I ended up driving to a Best Buy in Chico about forty minutes away and bought a new MacBook Pro. While at Best Buy I transferred my data to the new computer and filed my photos online.
Josh Edelson in Action!
DW: In terms of covering wildfires, what are some of the things you’ve learned to do, and not do?
JE: Oh man! I’ll list a few of them for you. There’s a lot. I could probably list a hundred dos and don’ts for wildfires.
Number one: always leave your car engine on. Through the entire fire, 24-hours a day, as long as you’re awake, and not sleeping in your vehicle, always leave the engine on. That’s because sometime the fire can become so intense that it will choke out the oxygen, and if your car is off, you might not be able to restart it.
Number two: firefighters may need to access your vehicle if flames are approaching, or if you happen to be blocking something, so they need to be able to hop into your vehicle and move it as necessary.
Number three: we always yield to firefighters. That is more important than getting the shot. We try to be as inconspicuous as possible. Because the firefighters are out there to do the real work! And we’re just documenting it. So if there’s a one-lane road that you might block, you either park and walk in, or you just don’t go down the road. You always give right-of-way to firefighters!
Number four: never stand directly under power lines, even if they’re not on fire. Sometimes things burn from the inside out and you can’t see if they’re on fire or not. It may take days for things to smolder and weaken a power pole or tree, which is probably the most dangerous part of shooting wildfires. Contrary to popular belief that flames are the most dangerous part, it’s actually trees, because they fall all the time. For this reason I also carry straps and a chainsaw in my car. My biggest fear is getting trapped between two sets of downed trees in an area where there’s fire approaching. The straps allow me to tow something out of the way and get out in a hurry.
DW: Do you have to do anything special to get access to photograph wildfires? Do you need a press pass?
JE: You do need a press pass in California and New Jersey. These are the only states where the press has a hundred percent full access to where firefighters are able to go during fire.
DW: Do you have to take special precautions when planes drop fire retardant chemicals?
JE: Generally no, with the exception of if it’s dropped really low, or on you. If they’re dropping pink fire retardant over you, then it’s a good idea to seek shelter because the stuff can be toxic. But more importantly, if a plane happens to drop fire retardant too low, the weight of the materials can not only damage a vehicle, it can also kill you. If that happened, it would be an error on the part of the pilot because they’re not supposed to drop too low or directly over people.
As a side note, we never fly a drone during fires. Ever! Because all air operations will be grounded if there’s a drone in the air, which would tamper with fighting the fire. You have to wait until the TFR, or temporary flight restriction, is lifted. Every time you hear of someone flying an unauthorized drone, all the helicopters and planes fighting the fire are immediately forced to land. And if the fire then takes multiple buildings, or lives, then it would be the fault of the drone operator. It’s unsafe for pilots to be operating when there’s a drone in the air.
DW: Have there been any lighter moments while photographing wildfires that you and your fellow fire photographers laugh about later?
JE: Sure, tons of them. We have a strong camaraderie and joke around with each other a lot, but it’s just a way to keep things light and relieve stress when shooting super heavy situations.
DW: I see you’ve also photographed tornados. What’s scarier—photographing a wildfire or a tornado? Are there other dramatic events on your photography bucket list?
JE: Absolutely! To answer your first question, I suppose it depends on the actual event. Fires and tornadoes can rage at varying levels. I think wildfires are probably more dangerous overall because they take up so much more area. I’ve heard of tornadoes being up to a mile wide, but most of them are a lot less. But fires can be ten to fifty miles or longer. And the fire front winds can change directions at any time and surround you. There are so many different scenarios where it can be dangerous.
As for my bucket list, I’m super-passionate about shooting natural disasters such as earthquakes, hurricane aftermaths, and floods. I’ve done a handful of floods, and a couple of earthquakes. I was planning on shooting some aftermaths for the upcoming hurricane season, but I’m rethinking that now because of COVID-19. The biggest natural disasters on my list that I’ve been jonesing for are erupting volcanoes. That is something I’m super excited about. I haven’t seen too many photos from the moment of eruption, and ash covering towns. It’s a bit challenging to figure out how to get to those scenes because they happen seemingly randomly all around the world. And an eruption can last for days or minutes.
DW: How did your cat Kitty Time learn to turn lights off with her paws?
JE: Our cat Kitty Time is super smart, and we taught her to turn the lights off in our house. We put a chair next to the wall and through clicker training she would just jump on the chair and paw at the light switch.
DW: Have you made a YouTube video of that?
JE: We haven’t. But I do have videos of it.
DW: You write on your website that you proposed to your wife while skydiving in Spain. Was she on the ground? Just kidding. Seriously, what was that like? And was your wedding proposal photographed?
JE: Eventually my wife was on the ground, but I landed first. We went to Spain for our one-year anniversary. I surprised her with a skydiving trip. We both jumped tandem with instructors. I jumped about 15 seconds before she did. Earlier I had coordinated with the instructors so they could put me on the ground a few minutes before my wife landed. While in the air, people on the ground set up a billboard-size banner painted by yours truly that read, “Will You Marry Me?”
When I landed, I got on one knee and held up an engagement ring. As my wife landed she saw me on bended knee on the banner. That’s how I proposed to her.
DW: Was this photographed?
JE: Yeah! The cool thing about skydiving is that they send a cameraman with each person. So we have stills and videos from both perspectives of the whole thing, which is awesome!
DW: What are some of your future photography plans?
JE: I want to experience and witness as much as I possibly can. From fires, to politics, and protests. That’s part of the reason why I’m passionate about what I do. The camera and my ability to take professional photos allow me access to be able to photograph and share these things.
DW: Josh, it’s been a pleasure interviewing you. Thank you!
JE: You’re welcome!
I hope this interview has inspired you. Thanks for visiting The Cranky Camera!