John Kraus, PetaPixel:

My name is John Kraus, and I work as a photojournalist at Cape Canaveral, covering rocket launches with up-close cameras at the various launchpads here. For yesterday’s Atlas V rocket launch, I had two cameras at Space Launch Complex 41. These cameras were sound-activated; the sound alone would kill anyone standing at the launchpad during liftoff.

I would love the opportunity to get a camera so close to a rocket launch. There’s one closeup shot of the rocket’s engine/boosters after ignition, while the rocket is moving, but still in frame, a shot that I find thrilling.

There’s also shots of what that launch did to the lens of that same camera.