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Photo: Volcan de Fuego Erupting!

click photo to enlargeVolcan de Fuego

Yesterday morning while leaving Antigua for the beachside town of Monetricco, Daniel and I were treated to an awesome sight. The active Volcan de Fuego (Volcano of Fire) was erupting and spewing smoke and ash into the sky. The driver of our shuttle stopped for everyone to get a good look and I jumped out to take this quick shot. The driver had pulled over behind some trees so I had to run down the road a little ways in order to get any sort of view at all. I’m sure the locals who were around got a kick out of this crazy gringo running down the road with a camera to take a picture of something they see all the time. Unfortunately the shot is out of focus and not the most composed thing ever but I’m sure I’ll get better at dealing with spur of the moment things like this as the trip goes on and I get used to my new camera. This shot is of the first cloud of smoke from the eruption but there were a few more afterwards. It was truly a great thing to see!

{ 38 comments… read them below or add one }

mikeyz January 8, 2011 at 2:05 pm

EPIC!!

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Christy @ Ordinary Traveler January 8, 2011 at 2:08 pm

Love it!

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Tijmen January 8, 2011 at 2:38 pm

Although it’s a bit out of focus, you still saw an erupting vulcano!! I would love to see that as well one day. Got close one time in Iceland, but that one erupted a day after I left the country :(

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Matt January 8, 2011 at 11:55 pm

Ah man, I’ve seen pictures from the Iceland eruption and that looks incredible!

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steffy January 8, 2011 at 3:11 pm

Wow, you’ve been so lucky to see this and even tho you see the shot is out of focus, it looks pretty good to me. Thumbs up!!!!

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Matt January 8, 2011 at 11:45 pm

Thanks! It is harder to see the flaws when the photo is resized this small, but on the original you can see it clearly

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Ayngelina January 8, 2011 at 4:25 pm

Nice work!

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Jessica January 8, 2011 at 4:36 pm

Awesome! Sounds like you guys are having a great time.

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Kyle Morgan January 8, 2011 at 6:06 pm

What a lucky shot!

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Jeremy B January 8, 2011 at 7:12 pm

Wow, great shot and what an experience! Good thing it didn’t blow it’s top and you weren’t too close or you never would have gotten a chance to share the photo! :)

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Matt January 8, 2011 at 11:46 pm

Yea, luckily this is a fairly safe Volcano (if there is such a thing). It erupts (really just smoking) on a regular basis and they are all fairly small and calm.

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Harrison January 8, 2011 at 7:24 pm

Great picture! Lucky to see a volcano erupt. Good thing no crazy pyroclastic flow coming down that mountain!

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Matt January 9, 2011 at 7:08 pm

very very good thing!

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Glen January 8, 2011 at 9:41 pm

Great shot… It’s not “out of focus” it’s “selective focus” with the foreground in focus, creative use of depth of field!

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Matt January 8, 2011 at 11:47 pm

lol, well if you knew what I was trying to focus on it’s out of foucs, haha. But I’ll take your description!

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Mike Collins January 9, 2011 at 12:04 am

You should have brought marshmallows and a really really long stick! Awesome pic bud!

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Matt January 9, 2011 at 7:06 pm

hahaha, a very long stick

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inka January 9, 2011 at 5:59 am

You were truly at the right time at the right place. Awesome to be able to witness such a spectacle of nature. And the shot is great. Spontaneous, like the eruption!

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Caz Makepeace January 9, 2011 at 7:59 am

Definitely not something you see every day!

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robin January 9, 2011 at 11:41 am

What a moment to be present at!

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jade January 9, 2011 at 1:18 pm

that is awesome!

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Ted Nelson January 9, 2011 at 1:50 pm

Normally out of focus is a bad thing, but I think it really adds to this photo. The slight blur shows excitement and the power of nature. Nice work.

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Matt January 9, 2011 at 7:07 pm

another good way to look at it :) I’m just going to start telling people this explanation so they assume I did it on purpose!

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Jozef Maxted January 9, 2011 at 2:21 pm

I’m so jealous! That must have been so amazing to witness!

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Andrew M. January 9, 2011 at 2:34 pm

Very nice Matt! Glad to see you made it and the camera is working well.

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Cathy Sweeney January 9, 2011 at 7:24 pm

Wow – I think your photo is terrific. What a sight to see!

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Amy January 10, 2011 at 12:28 am

Amazing that you got to see something like that up close!

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Lorna - the roamantics January 10, 2011 at 4:24 am

omg adding that to my bucket list right now!!! what an amazing thing to see- great photo!

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Laurel@ExpatGermany January 10, 2011 at 9:34 am

Very cool! It was only smoking a little bit when I was there. I love that volcano so much, that I named my cat, Fuego, after it!

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Matt January 11, 2011 at 12:32 pm

haha, wow, that is a lot of love

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Norbert January 11, 2011 at 5:58 pm

Watching and feeling a volcano erupt is really impressive. I had the chance to see Arenal Volcano erupt last year. What impressed me the most was the combination of seeing lava, feeling the tremble, and hearing it – all at the same time.

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Matt January 11, 2011 at 9:29 pm

Oh wow, I bet that was really awesome. This is just a small eruption and there wasn’t much to feel, nor any lava. Still really cool though.

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Jobs in Australia January 13, 2011 at 12:10 am

I agree, Being able to see a volcanic eruption up close is certainly something worth seeing. And in your case, your so lucky to be there at the right time so you were able to see the true beauty of the volcano. But beware of being to close to it, as it has some bad effects on your health.

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Sophie January 21, 2011 at 10:25 am

We were in Antigua for just one day (7 January) and saw that volcano erupt, too!
For once, the word awesome is a very apt description :)

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Matt January 21, 2011 at 11:47 am

Great timing!

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Mee :D November 23, 2011 at 12:10 pm

hey, niceee. :D perfect for my report

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Piet December 14, 2011 at 4:50 pm

I woz there 3 weekz ago :D

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Jessika March 27, 2012 at 2:34 pm

Damn !!

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