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MONUMENT, COLO -- A camera, a text from a friend, and a passion for photography inspired a 20-year-old student to document the Waldo Canyon Fire swooping down on Colorado Springs.

5 days worth of photos provide some of the most compelling video of the most devestating wildfire in Colorado history by Steve Moraco. Thanks to sources such as Good Morning America and CNN, the video gave the U.S. a chance to understand and react to the wildfire.

It also propelled Moraco's name and his talent to the national stage. His captivating shots show the fire filling the foothills with smoke and flames, and viewers tell Moraco it was their best method of explaining what happened here to family and friends far away.

"It's hard to explain to someone who lives outside the state how much a wildfire affects you personally ... but watching it come over the ridge and attack houses ... it's quite literal and you can understand it better when you see it," he said.

With his Canon 7D, Moraco took a photo every 4 to 30 seconds, depending upon conditions, for five straight days. That left him with more than 32,000 images to compress and compile his video. He knew the final product would be moving, and frightening.

"It was good to see the effect that I wanted it to have, watching it through the first time," he said.

What he didn't expect was how quickly it would reach so many.

"I posted it at 9:00 in the morning, went to bed, and by the time I woke up it had a couple hundred thousand views already," he explained.

That was Friday morning. By Friday afternoon the national networks grabbed it too. The media frenzy that followed ... wasn't Moraco's intent. It didn't come without it's fair share of critics, though. YouTube comments accused him of using the disaster to gain views for his own benefit. He responded to those comments, and even had lengthy discussions with a few people until they were reassured his goal was just to provide context to the crisis that took his home town.

Moraco said it can be a conflict of interest at times, profiting in your career off something so sad for so many.

"It has to be done," he added, "You know, I think the world is better for it being documented."

Now, the video only gets around one thousand hits each day. Moraco's focus is turning back to his future in photography, which is now more hopeful thanks to the timelapse of this tragedy.