Introducing the Flaming Photo Frame

Photographs

Almost a year ago now, I was looking at some pictures that I had taken at night using the light from my propane fire sculptures. I always liked the way the light flattered the face and skin of the subjects.

Christiana Oulette transfixed by the dancing fire on a section of the Flaming Photo Frame. 2018.

The large light source really softens the light and flatters the skin, and the warm color of the light is downright beautiful.

So I got the idea…why not build another piece of fire art, but this time, design it specifically for taking photographs?

So with the help of some friends on the drill press, we threw this together over a couple weekends in the workshop at Töad Meädow.

I designed it with 8 separate propane injection sites to allow me to control lighting ratios. That feature is not working how I want it to yet; the fire comes out pretty evenly all around the frame, but I am constantly upgrading it and hopefully will one day have that feature figured out.

It is also modular. This means I can add or remove sections to make it wide enough for group pictures and shorter if I am photographing shorter models.

It looks scary, but once you see the pictures that come out of it, all your fears will be forgotten.

Is she having second thoughts about the Flaming Photo Frame idea? 2018.

 

Social media

Most of my posting is on Instagram @damonhudacphoto. I’m also on Facebook, Steem and Flickr. My social media links are at the very bottom of every page of this website.

 

Lighting Studies

Self-development

Until recently, almost all photos that I took only used available light. Then I found David Hobby’s excellent Strobist blog, as well as his 8-hour video course on lighting. Hobby’s work made it apparent that by only shooting in ambient light, I was missing out on a whole other aspect of photography. After some fits and starts with that material, I went to a 1-day studio lighting workshop at CEPA Gallery in Buffalo. After the CEPA class I’ve done some more sessions in my studio.

Here are some of my early efforts with artificial lighting.