About

An idea for a series of photographs came to me on a Saturday night in April 2007 at an all-night party thrown by PEX (The Philadelphia Experiment). I was in the mash of people who were watching fire performers and thought capturing these performances would make really great images. I also needed an idea for the ASMP Focus Philadelphia project since the 2008 theme was personal projects. A few days and several emails later I was hooked up with the gang from Philadelphia Fire Arts.

We set up a couple of shoots in 2007 and the final images fit nicely into the the ASMP project, several of which made it into the annual juried exhibit. Though I was finished photographing the performers, I was not finished with fire. I thought of how to expand the project and the theme changed from fire performers to a broader idea of people who create with fire.

The journalistic part of me then took over. I wanted to tell the performer’s stories and thought assembling visuals and audio and posting them online would compliment the still images nicely.

This project has no deadline and there is no date to call it quits. I hope for it to evolve as I continue to do so as a story teller. If you know anyone who creates with fire or perhaps you are a creator, feel free to contact me if you want to become part of the project.

Best,

John