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Featured Travel PhotoReturn to Central America - Winter 2011

Photo: Volcan de Fuego Erupting!

Carlo -

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!

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37 comments
  3. Tijmen

    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 🙁

    1. Matt

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

  5. steffy

    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!!!!

    1. Matt

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

  7. Jessica

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

  9. Jeremy B

    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! 🙂

    1. Matt

      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.

  10. Harrison

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

    1. Matt

      very very good thing!

  11. Glen

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

    1. Matt

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

  12. Mike Collins

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

    1. Matt

      hahaha, a very long stick

  13. inka

    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!

  17. Ted Nelson

    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.

    1. Matt

      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!

  19. Andrew M.

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

  21. Amy

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

  23. Laurel@ExpatGermany

    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!

    1. Matt

      haha, wow, that is a lot of love

  24. Norbert

    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.

    1. Matt

      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.

  25. Jobs in Australia

    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.

  27. Sophie

    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 🙂

    1. Matt

      Great timing!

Comments are closed.