Fire Spinning Shoot!

Fire dancing in Hawaii is as traditional as palm tress & coconuts. I took some great fire spinning pics the other day with my new friend Conner Clark who is very well trained at it. He has gone far beyond just spinning fire, he has learned the traditional Chinese martial style that fire spinning is traditionally based on. If you have ever seen Jackie Chan kick butt in his movies he almost always at one point uses a rope as a weapon, this is that style. Pretty cool to watch & learn. I didn't know that was a real martial arts fighting style, i assumed it was Hollywood made up.

He was so good he drew a crowd of people from the beach to watch.

Funny side story. A European tourist came up asking about the fire spinning. She asked if the fire was safe, quote "Is it like normal fire?".......thats right she did ask me if it was "normal fire."

Not to be an ass but "Duh?!" HAHA. However if you have never experienced fire spinning then an honest question should not be made fun of. I just wish a science teacher had be beside me to hear & react to that question haha.

Anyway here are the pics from the shoot! Thanks for checking them out!

Gear:

Canon 5D Mark IV

Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L USM III (Worth every penny!)

ISO 1600 Aperture f/5.6

Varied shutter speeds from 1/100th to 1.0 sec

*TIP* Look out for spraying fluid from the spinners! I got a face full the first time we shot him spinning the dragon staff haha! Thankfully the gear is weather sealed.

Rope meteor dart with lotus petal heads

If memory serves this spinner is called Rope meteor dart, seeing the fire shape it makes I think that it is an appropriate name.

I shot almost 450 pics to get these ones. Special effect photos can take a long time & many, many tries until you get a nice clean shot. Always worth it though, its the difference between a portfolio shot & just a cool looking spectacle pic.

For special effect I shamelessly spray & pray, I dont stop clicking. I recommended the same for your shoots.

Thanks & good luck shooting!

#Hawaii #FireSpinning #FireSpinner #FireDancing #Fire #IslandLife #BigIsland #DragonSpear #Canon5DMarkIV #SpecialEffects #FirePhotography #FirePerforming #FirePerformer