The photo was taken at this year’s “Matsuage” Festival in Hirogawara, a small mountain village north of Kyoto. A Japanese pine tree is erected in a clearing. All the branches have been removed except for the top. The young men of the village hurl burning bundles of wood toward the top. The goal is to set the top of the pine tree on fire. As soon as the tree is ablaze, the fire cuts through the ropes holding it up, and it topples over. The festival continues until the tree has fallen. Last year, this took nearly 1 1/2 hours, and the participants were visibly exhausted. This year, a participant landed the decisive hit after just two minutes.
I used a tripod and a 3.2s exposure to get this shot.
The lighting situation with the bright flames and the dark background was quite challenging (at least for me). I look forward to see your interpretations.
IMG_2026-08-24_20-59_0195.CR3 (47.5 MB)
IMG_2026-08-24_20-59_0195.CR3.xmp (24.0 KB)
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