Native wildfire photographer to launch photobook impressed by Bridger Fire

BOZEMAN — After witnessing the aftermath of the Bridger Foothills Fire firsthand, one native photographer, Jessica Hays, was impressed to create a e book exhibiting how harmful wildfires could be and the influence of local weather change.

“The Earth was just completely blackened after the fire,” stated Jessica Hays, as she confirmed a photograph she took of the fireplace.

Hays is a lifelong Bozeman resident, instructor at Bozeman High School, and longtime photographer. “When I was majoring in photography, I really found my voice,” stated Hays, who says rising up in Montana led to her curiosity in photographing nature.

MTN News

“I think my interest in landscape and how it affects us and how we effect it is tied to my upbringing here in Bozeman, in a town that’s so connected to the mountains and the landscape,” she stated. Hays says her curiosity in wildfire images particularly got here after seeing the devastation attributable to the Bridger Foothills Fire.

“It was so different and so changed, I was like devastated and I remember just, like, crying in my car,” she stated.

After the fireplace, Hays helped a household who misplaced their home get well their belongings.

“I remember each step I took, there’d be, like, a little poof of ash and it would release the smell of the fire.” stated Hays.

WATCH: Photographer captures emotional toll of wildfires throughout the West

Montana photographer captures emotional toll of wildfires throughout the west

After witnessing the brutal destruction of the Bridger Foothills Fire, Jessica got down to {photograph} fires everywhere in the West to point out the “emotional and existential distress caused by negative environmental change.”

She additionally hopes to create “empathy and understanding for what it’s like live through these events in your home.”

Five years, and 50 fires later, Hays’ e book is full with 80 wildfire pictures and a number of brief essays. For Hays, ending the e book in time for the five-year anniversary of the Bridger Foothills hearth feels “like it was meant to be.”

To buy Hays’ e book and look at her pictures, go to this link.

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