House On Fire ©2010 Bob Hills
This is a startling image, mostly because the title’s not just a clever name. Bob Hills’ decision to call it House on Fire is quite apt. A couple of people have walked by while I’ve been sitting with my review copy of this photo, and their reactions were identical. “Whoa. That house looks like it’s on fire.” Yes. Yes, it does.
The trompe l’oeil of this rock formation and ancient dwelling is something else, and Bob Hills captured it at the exact right moment. The fiery effect is a combination of variation in the orange-y red hues that make up the rock itself and perfect timing with regard to the light. He snapped this shot just as the sunlight burst in on the right side of the frame and set the rocks above ablaze. (Pun 100 percent intended.) The angle is key for the illusion, too. The lines in the rock rush straight overhead, making it seem all the more flame-like. If Hills had positioned himself even a little bit downhill, the effect would be one of impressive geology rather than fiery deception.
This little house seems like a dangerous place to be, all afire and whatnot, but I’d guess it was one of the safer places to set up a homestead back in the day. Since the house and its surroundings are stone, it’s rather flameproof. The irony. Maybe its original inhabitants thought its striking resemblance to a conflagration would keep the baddies away.
Or perhaps they were drawn to it because, as my always perceptive other half pointed out, it also looks a bit like Don King’s hair.
Weber Carlman
The Untrained Eye
About Erin Carlman Weber as “The Untrained Eye”
Erin Carlman Weber likes food so much that she tracked down and enrolled in a graduate program at Boston University that’s comprised entirely of talking, thinking and reading about food, with a liberal sprinkling of eating and cooking, too. What does that have to do with photography? Well, she also enjoys a good photograph every now and then, since one cannot live on food alone. (Or can you? Erin will have to check on that…) She is a freelance writer and a contributor to The Urban Grocer and Leite’s Culinaria and has been writing for Le Fotografie since October 2010. But I’m not sure how long we’re going to be able to keep calling her “The Untrained Eye” since she’s starting to get pretty good at writing about things that aren’t food.
-Ed Riddell
Curator, Le Fotografie
