The Firedance Kid

I guess if you ask most people would not associate photography as being a dangerous hobby, probably quite the opposite actually.  Most people would probably say that a photographer is someone who stands in the background away from the action, a mere spectator.  That is true for some situations of course but there are many areas of photography that require you as the photographer to get as close to the action as possible. In some cases such as light painting, you can set the camera up on a tripod and become the action itself.

Last night I tried some more light painting only this time rather than using LEDs and torches I used fire.  I had read about a technique that involves spinning an egg whisk on the end of a piece of rope that is filled with smouldering steel wool to produce fire circles.  This method is similar to spinning a wick doused in lighter fluid commonly used in fire dancing, however the main difference with using the steel wool is that it throws off sparks.

Everything you need to set your garden on fire, I used a 9V battery to light the steel wool

Naturally I couldn't start making fire circles in my bedroom so I went outside to the back garden.  It had been raining all day and for obvious reasons I couldn't do this on dry grass so conditions were ideal.

I set up the camera on a tripod with a 30 second exposure, got into position and lit the steel wool by pressing the 9V battery into the wool at several places.  The steel wool was smouldering slowly however as soon as I started spinning the whisk the steel wool literally exploded into a ball of fire spitting out molten steel everywhere.

The shear heat and viciousness of the wool completely took me by surprise.  I was expecting the wool to just slowly burn and throw out a few tame sparks but this was like trying to control a firework on the end of a leash.

I wanted the fireball to stop but I didn't dare stop spinning the whisk as the spinning motion was the only thing keeping the flaming wool and the sparks it was spitting out away from my face.  Luckily the wool burnt itself out in about 15-20 seconds.

I am in the middle there somewhere.

I dread to think what my neighbours think of me.

Some molten steel that has embedded itself onto the kitchen window surface.

This technique produced some interesting results and I have seen some fantastic photos taken with this technique.  The back garden simply wasn't suitable and I needed to get something to protect my face.  There are some great locations in a nearby park (at night of course) that would make a perfect backdrop for these fire circles.  Although I am worried random people are going to think I am some sort of twisted deranged pyromaniac.  I did enjoy doing this so maybe I am a little, muhahaha!