Helicopter Over Louisiana Winter Fire

Clear dry light cuts through the haze of a forest fire in Louisiana during the dead of winter. A helicopter hovers at eye level, its rotors blurred by motion against a backdrop of charred cypress trunks and skeletal branches. The sky is a pale, washed-out blue where a storm has just cleared, leaving the air thick with smoke. Brown ash coats the ground, against the remaining green needles on some trees. The aircraft casts a sharp shadow on the scorched earth below. Dust rises in small spirals around the landing gear as the machine maintains its position.