Matt Brandt is a professional photographer who often captures happy events. This past week, he documented a tragedy.
“This is one of those things, I felt like it needed to be captured in a photo, in a video; people need to see what’s happening here,” said Brandt.
The longtime Lincoln City resident was able to fly his drone over the neighborhoods in nearby Otis. The Echo Mountain Complex fire took dozens and dozens of homes there, burned to the ground. “It was a pretty emotional moment. I had already had those moments where I was crying with people and talking with them about those things and then to zoom out and to see the whole scale, it was too much," Brandt said.
Brandt had spent time on the ground in Otis, too, donating individual aerial pictures to people who wanted them. The images capture the loss residents had suffered earlier this month.
“For me it was really difficult because I know a lot of these people, I know a lot of these stories, and I’ve seen a lot of these homes and you can’t wrap your mind around it,” said Brandt.