Samuel Markham, My Country Burns (Single Shot 2020)

I have been in some pretty bad weather events as a landscape photographer but nothing could have prepared me for being straight in the line of a Pyrocumulonimbus Fire Storm which had a built in Flashover with temperature exceeding 1,000 degrees. My family and friends were protecting our home on News Year Eve in the bush fire crisis in Australia. This thing sounded like a jet engine powered by incredible easterly winds. It turned daylight into darkness. Slowly a trickle of embers began to emerge from the sky above. An extreme southerly wind pushed this monster of a blaze straight up the hill towards us. Raging with 40+ metre flames and showering us with embers. It then sucked every last bit of oxygen from the air. This was an absolutely terrifying experience. I'm happy to say that we are all ok and saved our family home. This image was taken approximately 20 minutes after the main fire front had passed.

Images have been resized for web display, which may cause some loss of image quality. Note: Original high-resolution images are used for judging.