Playing with fire

Last week I got asked if I wanted to photograph my friends from Handstand Consultancy. They are preparing for an event and wanted a few photographs that they can use for promotion. The concept was pretty cool. Mysterious, and glorious without the middle of attention. They're cool guys (and girls), but they wanted to play with fire.

Inspired from an old school Dutch hip-hop clip and a photograph from the World Press 2014, we armed ourselves with Bengal fire torches. I asked @lackofcolor to join me as my assistant, but she ended up taking a role in front of the camera.

The weather wasn't great to take photographs in, yet it was perfect weather to take them. It was pretty freezing and it just started to rain after we arrived. We needed just one photograph, with a choice between two and a few extra shots of detail.

Expectation

Playing with torches is cool ,right? Of course, it is! For forty seconds to be exact. We thought it would be easy to light and hold the torches. No difficulties, mhmm mm.

Reality

But in reality, it was a true pain in the ass to light them. Especially with freezing cold fingers. We learned that wind isn't the best method to light a torch with a lighter.

With three men strong, we managed to pull it off though. Laughing our asses off while we can't believe our attempts. It was fun they said... it would've been easy they said.

Preparing

Since the torches would burn for just 40 seconds, the weather was a pain, we had to make the necessary preparations to make sure we would get the shots before the torches would be extinguished.

Extra's

I think all my clients are aware that I always give them extra photographs. I think it's nice to be able to give them more than what they asked for. Maybe it is my way of valuing time in general. I appreciate my own time, but I also value other people's time. What has been shot already doesn't have to be prepared for again.

It might "cost" me something, whether it be time or missed royalties, but it will add so much more value to the relationship you're building up.

Result

As said, we were looking for one or two images that are going to be used. I suggested to produce another crop from the same image, but in a portrait cut, so the photograph would be more flexible to use.

Have you ever played with fire torches?

I know that there are way more trendy/hipster photographs out there with fire torches than these. But I had to keep it corporate with a little bit of flair to the mysterious side of the business. I hope you all enjoyed the photographs!

Cheers,
Ruben

Playing with fire | Ecency