Camping After The Bobcat Fire – Photographing Mt Pacifico – By Justin Aguirre

In late October of 2020, the last vestiges of the devastating Bobcat Fire are winding down. In its wake, 180 square miles of the Angeles National Forest were burned, making it the second largest fire in Los Angeles County history after the 2009 Station Fire. Large sections of the forest are formally closed to the public until mid 2022.

I was fixated on watching every piece of information about the Bobcat I could find. Night after night the acreage kept going up, yet the containment lines stayed the same. West Fork, Bear Canyon, Chantry, Devil’s Punchbowl, names of places familiar to every hiker in Southern California falling like dominos to the flames. I’ve been hiking, camping, and photographing those mountains for years and watching it all burn up was like saying goodbye to your best friend.

This is why I believe it’s important to photograph your life as you live it. If 2020 has taught me anything is that time is precious and none of us know how much time anything fully has until it’s gone. Documenting these moments is what drives my images. The story within each frame is so important and years from now I want to be able to look back at my life and remember all the memories and emotions of those days. And it is my hope when others look at them, it will make them feel something too.

So when the flames finally subsided and the forest started to reopen, I was eager in figuring out not only which areas survived but were also legally open to enter. This is where Mt Pacifico came in, a beautiful little peak sitting at the 7100’ level. I’ve been up there before and admired the peace and beauty the place holds. There is a small campground at the summit that’s free to use and is accessible by the world famous PCT trail or by a short high clearance spur-road off of forest road 3N17.

The timing couldn’t have been better. My girlfriend and I both had a gap in our schedules and this was before a longer photo project was about to begin in Death Valley. We decided to trek up the mountain for a quick overnight getaway and final gear shakedown for our bigger trip.

Upon arriving we had the entire campground to ourselves and after a quick scout we picked a beautiful site that had a panoramic view of the mountains and the city of Palmdale below us. I positioned my truck next to our tent to act as a wind block and set up dinner as the sun slowly set.

For this trip I decided to bring with me my trusty Olympus OM-G with two primes, a Zuiko 24mm f2.8 and the 50mm f1.8. A single roll of Kodak Gold 400 was my film of choice.

By the time we finished up dinner, the twilight hour was nearly finished. I only shot a few frames before we turned in for the night. My favorite is this image of an old burned tree, left over from the 2009 Station Fire. It was right near our campsite and I remember the feeling of serenity I got from looking at it against the purple sky.

The next morning we awoke just before sunrise. It was quiet and unzipping the tent we were greeted by the silence of the forest. Hiking around our camp as the sun came up, I developed a cinema-verite mindset as I photographed what I saw before me. It was very freeing. Being able to stay in the moment with the one you love and the compositions you compose aren’t really heavily structured. A quick glance through the viewfinder and adjustment to make sure the exposure will be in the ballpark and snap.

The colors and grain blew me away when I first saw the scans. The purples and blues combined with the grain created an emotion of what I hoped this little camping trip would be. A comforting body of work, when viewed makes me want to grab a jacket and a thermos and venture back there. Back to the wilderness and my escape from my day-to-day.

I’m looking to expand this series. Maybe even combine it with a video element. I’m a cinematographer by trade and adventures like these allow me to have a creative break and really try new things.

Justin Aguirre
www.justinaguirre.com
www.instagram.com/justins_lens

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