How Do You Photograph Fire Performers With Boredom?

Q – How can you improve your photography of fire performers?

A – Believe it or not, get bored. It helps.

In Part One of this series on Fire Performer Photography, we looked at how the discipline of photojournalism brings the focus back to the human being behind the fire prop. In Part Two we covered Consent Always and Safety Third. Performers are people, first. Not props. Treat them with respect. In Part Three, we looked at how learning to shoot a camera is essentially the same as Basic Rifle Marksmanship.  In Part Four, we took the rifle concept a step further and looked at how the combat-shooting techniques of Shoot, Move, and Communicate can improve your photography. 

Photographing fire performers and flow artists has become a specialty of mine over the years. Obviously not every prop is fire based and not every prop is represented but nearly every event that I have been to since 2010 has had its share of some combination of fire eaters, fire breathers, poi spinners, hoopers, dragon-staff spinners, fan dancers, pixel whips, levitation wands, palm torches, glovers, and so on, and they are inevitably surrounded by the folks and photographers who love them. More often than not I end up seeing the same people, regularly, with the same props at all the semi regular events, weeklies, monthlies, and outdoor festivals I’ve been to whether or not they are jam band based events, Christmas themed raves, or psytrance oriented festivals.

Are you bored, yet? I hope so. That’s exactly the point of this post. I’ll let you a big secret. Often, as an event photographer, I find it all to be very boring.

You know what, though? Boredom is perfectly okay. In fact, boredom is an incredible creative asset.

WARNING – DO NOT ATTEMPT

I shouldn’t have to say this, but here we are.

I am an experienced fire performer photographer. Photos taken with fire involved professional fire performers with proper fire safety training, equipment, and procedures in place.

The use of fire comes with inherent risks to life, limb, or property. Any action you take based on any information on this website is strictly at your own risk and I will not be held liable for any loss or damages you caused to yourself or others because you chose to use fire in any way.

TL; DR: Don’t be a bogan wook. Leave the siiiiiiiiick fire trails and fire plumes to the professionals and support them by cheering their performances in person!

My Very First Photos of Fire Performers

“I did not say I, personally, find festivals, flow artists, nightlife events, or the people who attend them to be boring. Quite the contrary. I’ve made wonderful friends, met incredibly talented and creative artists, passionate crews, and interesting personalities in all the various ‘scenes’ I’ve been blessed to be a part of. ”

–Totally Necessary Disclaimer

Art and artistic expression is necessary and healthy and very human. It’s easy to fall into a routine, a creative rut, without even realizing it. It’s normal and it will happen. Same with boredom. It, too, is normal, will happen, and is perfectly okay. As an artist, photographer, musician, fire performer, flow artist, author, welder, banker, real estate agent, partner, spouse, parent — as a human being — recognizing when boredom strikes, understanding why you feel stagnant, and using it as motivation to change, is absolutely necessary in order to grow.

Can you imagine how a photographer who specializes in, say, weddings feels at having to take the same types of shots from a set list of must-haves, with the same general flow of activity, day in and day out, week after week, month after month, year after year?

Let’s take this even farther. Can you imagine growing bored with photographing fine art nudes? Maybe you just cannot stand people at all and prefer landscapes? 

Maybe, though, photography is your life’s blood and you really enjoy the energy and warmth and genuine compassion from flow artists? Have you considered that you could put the camera down and mingle? Get out from behind the lens and really put yourself out there. You could always pick up a set of poi and try your hand at spinning. One photographer I know is currently trying his hand at DJing. During last year’s Fractalfest I made the choice to let others concentrate on the glory shots of the stage, the different DJs, producers, and the various bigger-perspective moments that always get the attention. I wanted to experience Fractalfest differently from the past incarnations that I attended so I chose to primarily stalk the dance floors, photograph The Firefly Caravan, the art projects, and interact more with the attendees, strange creatures, masked characters, and live blog about the experience whenever possible. When photographing fire spinners at Petrified Forest III in Maine, I set up a spot to do portraits of people with a wall of fire behind them. 

During my second festival, ever, at Tir Na Nog in Saratoga Springs, NY, I ran into my friend Kaitlyn after putting my camera away, and nearly quitting photography all together, who asked to do some portraits. Under the conditions that we were under, giving explanations while photographing was particularly difficult, so I asked her to just do whatever came to mind and I would try to take some shots. After about fifteen minutes, I was distracted by someone who decided to nearly set himself on fire next to me while pouring Kaitlyn’s fuel onto a dying fire pit (no, seriously, dude was that fucked up), so after making sure no one was injured or killed, I shouted back over, “KAITLYNNNNN, I don’t care what you do, just keep moving, PLEASE?..”

For me, I hit that boredom point long ago. At some point, every photographer ends up dazzled by the pretty lights and challenged into recording mesmerizing textures and patterns to the detriment of a good shot of the performer behind the lights. I don’t really focus on that anymore. Rather than photographing light trails, I aim for faces and the try to photograph performer. Light trails are just a secondary element in the shot, they’re just another prop. 

If you’ve been following this series on improving fire performer photography at all, none of this should be a total surprise, or shocking advice, and is applicable to any kind of people-centered photography.

To take it one step further as a photographer, try any or all of the following:

1. Get away from Auto settings.
2. Try change modes on the P/A/S/M dial. (P/Av/Tv/M if you use Canon)
3. Change lenses.
4. Change cameras.
5. Change apertures.
6. Change shutter speeds.
7. Vary the size of the heads in your photos.
8. If you think you are close, get closer.
9. Get even closer. (If you’re careful, there is no such thing as too close)
10. Remember Consent Always and Safety Third.
11. Be okay with happy mistakes. I made friends with fire faeries entirely by accident.
12. Make eye contact, and try silent communication. Direct with your hands.

Stop trying to photograph the fire and start photographing the performer. It will absolutely change your entire photography technique, I promise. 

So, are you ready to learn how to photograph specific types of fire performers? I hope so because in the next post we will take a high level look at camera settings for fire performers and how those settings interact with each other.

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