On Saturday 1st August, I dragged myself out of bed at stupid o’clock and headed up to the Folly, hoping to photograph a spectacular sunrise. I arrived on the ridge around half an hour before daybreak. The air felt surprisingly fresh, and the cool breeze was a welcome relief after the relentless heat of the recent heatwaves. In the darkness before dawn, I launched the drone to get a sense of how the landscape looked from above. To the north, smoke from the mountain fires around Blaenavon was pouring over the hills and spilling into the valley below, stretching towards Goytre and Mamhilad. To the south, another huge plume of smoke was rising from an industrial fire in Ponthir. The eastern sky was already glowing orange, signalling the arrival of a new day. Behind me, in the west, the sky had turned pink, touched by the subtle colours of the Belt of Venus. I stood alone on the ridge, with only the Folly Tower for company. The smell of burning hung heavily in the air, strong in my nostril...