Cobden's Andrew Stubbings had never been through a bushfire emergency before he was evacuated from his house to the town hall in March 2018.
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Now, the amateur landscape photographer and owner of Heytesbury House, has the cover shot for Corangamite Shire's St Patrick's Day Fires recovery photo book plus 10 images inside.
"I took a couple (of photos) on the night with my phone," Mr Stubbings said.
"But it was really 10 days later that I started going out and taking photos."
The cover shot looking through a blue gum plantation is Mr Stubbings' favourite image of those used in the photo book.
"When I picked up the book, I went wow," he said.
"I didn't have a favourite until they were published.
"You can see the trail of the fires and follow it through.
"Mainly it's the perspective, but there is a little glimmer of light at the end. It's a hopeful image.
"If you go out there now they are gone, they have cut all of the trees down to try and save what they can.
The dramatic change in the landscape is the main thing Mr Stubbings remembers from his first trip around the district to capture images after the fires.
"There is a shot where I came across a paddock with a bundle of wire and you could see the grass starting to grow again, the regeneration was already starting," he said.
"I had driven down these roads a lot in the time we had been living down this way, and taken a lot of images of the landscape.
"It was strange seeing it in a different perspective after a fire and then going back out a few months later and seeing the trees removed.
"It shows that things are starting to happen and people are starting to move on and rebuild. I have taken photos at various times, you can see the regeneration now."
He said the images that the Shire had selected for the book showed the change in the district over the 12 months since the fires had devastated the area.
Mr Stubbings said he was honoured to contribute to the fire recovery book.
"I have never had a photo published before," he said.
Personally, Mr Stubbings focused on the effects of the fire on the landscape.
"I made a policy of not photographing people's property," he said
"They have been through enough."
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