Twenty years after forest fires swept through Yellowstone, we still see evidence of their destructive force. These charred tree trunks lie in the golden grass near the thermal basin at the West Thumb of Yellowstone Lake. Fire does more than destroy, however. It rejuvenates, encouraging new growth wherever it burns. The dead trees seem to float on a field of gilded life. Dark shadows flow across the bottom and top of the image, creating layers that are linked by the golden transitional layer in the middle of the frame. And within that transitional layer rests the subject itself, both the residue and the gift of fire.