light my fire

Hand Shoot Fire
Originally uploaded by Thomas Hawk.

First b1-66er posted some amazing low-res shots this morning that were all mystery and fire and light. (You might need to scroll a bit once you hit his home page.)

[update: b1-66er has posted a write up of the event -- definitely worth the read »]

Then I got this email from a friend:

Went to the Crucible's Fire Arts festival. It is an art school in Oakland that teaches art that is related to fire. Blacksmithing, goldsmithing, glassblowing, neon art, etc. Once a year they have a festival with fire arts performers. It was spectacular to say the least.

A lot of Survival research labortories type robotic sculptures, devices that spewed fire, sometimes colored fire, sometimes inches, sometimes many feet into the air. They had a dance video machine set up where you competed with someone else, but they put you in a fireproof suit and they blasted you in the face with a flamethrower if you made a mistake.

A couple guys had some fans set up. They were wearing fireproof suits and were armed with flamethrowers. They were making a fire tornado that at times would get to be 30 to 40 feet in the air. Very impressive.

Then I hit Flickr, figuring if anyone else was there it would be Thomas Hawk. Well: almost. He got his last year, in 2005. Check out his chronicle of (last year's) event »

Being there would have been better, but baby, sometimes the story's all you've got.

[Photo credit: Thomas Hawk]