How we took this photo of a barn fire

I captured this photo of a barn fire near Warrenville last year.

It won a second-place award for spot news from National Press Photographers Association monthly clip contest was taken with a drone.

Actually, it was my first assignment using one at the paper. I had received my FAA remote pilot license two weeks earlier.

I was sent to the scene of the fire and I had to park a fair distance away and hike up to it. Most everything was blocked off and there was no way I could walk up to the actual fire. It was pretty big and the barn was set back behind trees, which was not visible from the road.

It became apparent that the only way to get a worthwhile photo was with the drone. I made a few photos from the blocked-off area, and then I walked back to the car to get the drone.

Although I had flown a drone before, I was nervous taking it up for the first time in a news situation with a lot of emergency vehicles, police and firefighters nearby.

I lifted it off from a nearby parking lot and flew it over the trees, keeping it in sight and a safe distance away from emergency personnel.

Because there was hay in the barn, there was a great deal of smoke and it made a pretty dramatic photo. Using the drone was the only way to get a photo that shows how extensive the fire was.