After The Eaton Fire, ‘in The Gardens Of Eaton’ Finds Unexpected Beauty In Loss

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Night is falling successful Altadena arsenic bats circle, peacocks wail and photographer Kevin Cooley tries to seizure what’s near of a tree.

Using strobes and a agelong vulnerability clip to let nan maximum magnitude of disposable ray to deed his lens, Cooley snags astir 50 shots of nan 20-foot-tall tree, which stands vigil complete a thoroughfare wherever astir each nan homes burned. The tree’s limbs were lopped disconnected successful nan aftermath of January 2025’s Eaton fire, which ravaged Altadena and portion of Pasadena, but each these months aft nan fire, there’s caller maturation connected nan tree.

Photographer Kevin Cooley sets up a camera.

Little tufts of greenish leaves person emerged from nan earthy cuts wherever nan burned branches erstwhile were, proving nan character to beryllium much resilient than its different comparatively stark exterior mightiness suggest.

A good creation and news photographer for decades, Cooley, 51, is utilizing pictures for illustration nan 1 he snapped of nan character arsenic portion of his caller project, “In nan Gardens of Eaton.” A postulation of 6,000 photos and counting that Cooley has taken astir Altadena connected chaotic tons wherever homes erstwhile stood, “In nan Gardens of Eaton” intends to seizure bits of earthy beauty that person endured contempt nan ravages of nan occurrence and its aftermath.

Cooley has lived successful Altadena since 2000 and he knew his neighbors well. He started moving connected nan photograph task respective months aft losing his location successful nan fire. He’d enlisted a group called Samaritan’s Purse to travel up to his lot, wherever he’d recovered a metallic level record he’d utilized to shop his photographic prints. Cooley was hopeful immoderate had survived, but erstwhile nan group popped it open, he says it quickly became clear that nan burning metallic had acted somewhat for illustration an oven, burning almost everything wrong to a charred crisp.

A ponytail thenar connected Athens Street astatine dusk.

One portion Cooley could identify, though, was a 2020 transcript of Wired mag for which he’d changeable nan cover. It featured a swirling plume of smoke, accompanying nan communicative “The West’s Infernos Are Melting Our Sense of How Fire Works,” and nan irony wasn’t mislaid connected him.

“You could still benignant of make retired nan connection Wired crossed nan apical of nan masthead and thing astir that conscionable blew maine away,” Cooley says. “It’s arsenic if nan full point had travel afloat circle. I instantly wanted to photograph it successful nan aforesaid measurement I had primitively photographed nan smoke, which was successful a workplace pinch lighting, and I conjecture that made thing click for me. I started emotion for illustration location was a measurement to make thing affirmative aft nan fire, and that’s erstwhile I started spending much clip backmost successful Altadena.”

Driving astir town, looking astatine nan tons and nan wreckage, Cooley says he started to announcement nan bits of quality that were trying to persevere. He spotted a begonia poking done a burned obstruction connected his neighbor’s spot and snapped a photo, and soon he was accumulating much and much akin images. Cooley says if you’d told him earlier nan occurrence he’d beryllium taking truthful galore pictures of flowers, he’d person scoffed, but now images for illustration 1 he captured precocious of a group of blooming roses successful beforehand of a cluster of dormant vines punctual him that perseverance is imaginable nary matter nan odds.

Photographer Kevin Cooley poses for a image successful a gallery.

“It’s inspiring what quality is doing up there,” Cooley says. “We unrecorded successful this situation wherever occurrence is very overmuch portion of nan ecology, but people’s gardens are besides pushing through. Nonnative type and autochthonal type are some there. And group are planting much wildflowers, and it feels cathartic. It’s making maine excited to rebuild too, because I really can’t hold to get back.”

Letizia Ragusa, an Altadena resident who mislaid her home, says Cooley changeable her flower-filled batch without her moreover knowing it. Before nan fire, her gait was a wonderland of 16 consequence trees, a koi pond and some a rootlike and an herb garden. All of that was mislaid successful nan blaze. As a method of coping and of shoring up nan land, Ragusa enlisted a Sierra Madre institution called Hardy Californians to works a remediation seed operation crossed her lot.

El Molino geraniums captured for Cooley's “In nan Gardens of Eaton.”

Seeing nan autochthonal plants and flowers statesman to popular up connected her batch was important, Ragusa says. She’s been surviving successful a rental pinch her family since nan fire, and there’s nary gait aliases room for a garden.

“It’s conscionable really comforting to maine to person immoderate consciousness of power erstwhile everything other feels truthful retired of power correct now,” Ragusa says. “At slightest I person this small portion of onshore that I tin works things connected and I cognize it’s what’s going to happen. It’s very predictable, and I besides deliberation it makes different group happy. I spot group driving and stepping by that extremity to look astatine it. And our neighbors person each commented connected it too, truthful that’s nice.”

The pictures Cooley took connected Ragusa’s spot were of rows of pinkish and purple autochthonal flowers and sunflowers group amid metropolis lights and a dreamy sunset. Ragusa says they’re surreal and beautiful.

“It’s outdoor photography, but pinch a workplace element,” she says, noting that she’s particularly unfastened to Cooley’s process because she’s an creator herself, antecedently producing ceramics and sculpture from a location workplace that she besides lost.

Cooley useful sets up lights for a caller photograph shoot.

While nan first photos Cooley took of her gait were from nan thoroughfare and her driveway, she’s since fixed him support to spell deeper into her lot. It’s thing Cooley says is important to him because he knows firsthand that a batch of people’s tons are what he calls “hallowed ground.”

Most of nan pictures Cooley has taken truthful acold person been from a distance, though he has group up his instrumentality adjacent nan extremity of people’s driveways to get a bully photo. As connection of Cooley’s task has gotten astir Altadena — pinch 1 resident posting a photograph of him connected their batch captured via way cam to a section Facebook group, looking for much accusation — much and much group person expressed an openness to having him travel sprout their gardens.

Honeysuckle connected Via Maderas captured for “In nan Gardens of Eaton.”

Cooley has created a Google Form for willing residents to usage and he keeps a spreadsheet of nan responses successful a clipboard connected his car’s dashboard. When he’s astatine a nonaccomplishment for what to sprout next, he’ll glimpse astatine it, mentally mapping retired addresses successful his mind and looking astatine resident-submitted descriptions of their lots, which see phrases for illustration “We don’t person overmuch left, but we saved our banana plant” and “[Our house] made maine into nan gardener I americium and I adorned her successful plants.”

Cooley says he intends to sprout photos for each nan owners who person responded to his Google Form, hoping to gift them prints erstwhile nan task is complete. Starting successful July, he’s headed to Portugal for a six-month creation fellowship, but says he plans to proceed nan photograph task later. Cooley would besides for illustration to nutrient an creation book of his favourite photos from nan project.

He’s besides alert that, successful immoderate respects, he’s up against a clip limit successful position of what he tin shoot. He says he spent nan opening portion of nan task “rushing against nan Army Corps” arsenic they were clearing lots, and now he’s trying to photograph rough-and-tumble tons afloat of quality earlier their owners level them and commencement to rebuild.

Sometimes, Cooley says, he had to sprout connected tons wherever he hadn’t known nan owner. When he started nan project, he made an effort to way down who lived connected nan spot earlier he group up his camera, but nan process was amazingly arduous and he’d often suffer his intended changeable arsenic flowers aliases plants died aliases changed shape.

“It wasn’t practical,” Cooley says. “It’s not that I didn’t want to, but I conscionable couldn’t fig it out. I will eventually, though, and past I’ll beryllium capable to coming group pinch a photograph erstwhile they’re backmost successful their caller homes.

“I conscionable deliberation Altadena is simply a typical place,” he says connected a outpouring day. “Six months ago, it was truthful depressing to travel up here, but now it’s not. It’s still emotional, of course, but seeing each nan rebuilding, it’s clear that group spot worth successful being here, moreover now. When each this is done, if Altadena is moreover 50% aliases 75% arsenic typical arsenic it was before, it’ll still beryllium great.”

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