CALIFORNIA WILDFIRES
It’s dangerous and beautiful. It creates its own light and can turn on you in an instant. I always enter a fire scene fully geared up with the same stuff firefighters wear for safety and have a huge amount of respect for what they do. These massive out-of-control wildfires used
to be rare, but they’ve been happening more frequently and are getting harder to control. Fires are one of my favorite things to cover, so I hope my passion for telling these visual stories is apparent through this set of images taken in the fire zone.
![List of wineries damaged in the Wine Country fires [Updates], photo by Josh Edelson/AFP](https://edelsonphotography.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/c83be165-d827-4acf-92d0-cb030dbb6bff.webp)
License Wildfire Photography
The images in this gallery were shot on assignment for AFP, and the published frames are distributed by AFP and Getty Images. What most editors do not know: I keep the copyright on comparable outtakes from the same fires. These are frames from the same scenes, the same moments, that never moved on the wire, and I license them directly for editorial, educational, and commercial use. This is work that leads front pages: a frame from this coverage led the Los Angeles Times on August 26, 2026.
If you are covering wildfires, building a textbook or documentary, or need California fire imagery for a climate story, tell me the subject or mood you need and I will send a matching selection. Licensing direct, my rates run about 20 percent below the major stock agencies. Get an instant estimate on the image licensing page, or email josh@edelsonphotography.com.
Want to use one of these images? These photographs are available to license for editorial or commercial use. Get an instant quote.