Mark McKinnis is a surf photographer based in Oregon.

It's an unlikely location for a surf photographer to be based.

Despite Oregon having a coastline, having good waves, and being really picturesque, the water is cold,

it's sharky, and the conditions are subject to dramatic shifts in weather, which makes it incredibly

difficult for non-resident surfers to score good waves there.

And for professional surfers who can only execute so many surf trips in the course of a year,

it makes Oregon a risky proposition for their goal to return home with publishable photos

and video.

But for Mark, he was raised there,

which bred in him in innate fondness, familiarity, and intuition for where to find waves, and

for how to compose those lineups with the dramatic backdrops that all that powerful North

Pacific weather has created over eons. And most professional surf photographers make their living

on the road anyways. And the west coast of the U.S. is a great jumping off point to get anywhere

in the surf world. That was, of course, until we all stopped traveling six months ago in March of

2020. And in this period of time, Marks found himself grateful to be stuck at home,

a place he loves, and a place that really is designed for social distancing, with empty beaches

and a lifetime of empty forest and hiking trails to explore, which is precisely where Mark

found himself on Monday, September 7th, 2020. It was approximately

8.20 in the evening when an unknown cause sparked a wildfire, now known as the Holiday

Farm Fire. In the two weeks since, the fire is 27% contained, has burned 173,094 acres, and among it Mark's entire home and all of his personal

effects, belongings, and his entire body of work.

All of his photography, hard drives, backups, gone.

...