fire – Page 3 – TwistedSifter

Bottled Smoke Art by Jim Dingilian

Jim Dingilian creates incredible subtractive images from bottles filled with smoke. The artist begins by coating the bottles’ inner surfaces with smoke. He then uses brushes and small implements mounted on the ends of dowels to reach inside. With a steady hand, Jim slowly and selectively erases certain areas. The smoke which remains on the glass forms the amazing images seen below.

Dingilian was born in York, PA but spent seven years of his childhood in Waterloo, Belgium before returning to the United States, receiving his MFA in photography from the Rochester Institute of Technology in 1996. Represented by the McKenzie Fine Art Gallery in New York, Dingilian’s work centers around subtractive images on found objects. As Jim explains:

“The miniature scenes I depict are of locations on the edge of suburbia which seem mysterious or even slightly menacing despite their commonplace nature. The bottles add to the implied narratives of transgression. When found by the sides of roads or in the weeds near the edges of parking lots, empty liquor bottles are artifacts of consumption, delight, or dread. As art objects, they become hourglasses of sorts, their drained interiors now inhabited by dim memories.”

To see more amazing artwork by Jim check out McKenzie Fine Art and the Packer Schopf Gallery.

[via oPHILcial on reddit]

Jim begins by coating
the bottles’ inner surface with smoke

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Picture of the Day: Weddings and Wildfire

WEDDINGS AND WILDFIRE

Photograph by JOSH NEWTON
Website | Facebook | Twitter | Blog

Michael and April Wolber had picked the perfect place for their outdoor wedding, Rock Springs Ranch in Oregon. The couple had been planning for ages for their special day with friends and family. But before April could walk down the aisle a number of firetrucks pulled up with sirens blazing.

Not far away, the Two Bulls wildfire was growing and approaching. The firefighters alerted the wedding party that the ceremony had to be cancelled and all guests had to be moved to safety.

After some deliberation the firefighters changed their mind and let the ceremony continue provided they do it quickly and retreat back to their reception location Bend’s Drake Park. [source]

Deciding to make the best of an unexpected, unfortunate and dangerous situation, the couple took a series of portraits that they will never forget.

Wedding photographer Josh Newton captured the couple with the raging wildfire in the background. You can see the entire wedding series here.

Josh Newton Photography via BuzzFeed

Picture of the Day: This Lake is Pure Lava

THIS LAKE IS PURE LAVA

Photograph by Cai Tjeenk Willink

In this amazing photo we see the lava lake at Mount Nyiragongo, an active stratovolcano inside Virunga National Park, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The volcano has erupted at least 34 times since 1882, creating various-sized lava lakes that have formed, cratered, drained and reformed. The image above (taken in 2011) shows the most recent iteration of the mountain’s lava lake. It was formed from a 2002 eruption. [Source]

Lava lakes are large volumes of molten lava, usually basaltic, contained in a volcanic vent, crater, or broad depression. The term is used to describe both lava lakes that are wholly or partly molten and those that are solidified (sometimes referred to as frozen lava lakes). [Source]

Lava lakes can form in three ways:

1. From one or more vents in a crater that erupts enough lava to partially fill the crater
2. When lava pours into a crater or broad depression and partially fills the crater
3. Atop a new vent that erupts lava continuously for a period of several weeks or more and slowly builds a crater progressively higher than the surrounding ground

The lava lake at Mount Nyiragongo is one of only four persistent/near-persistent lava lakes in recent decades. [Source]

via Cai Tjeenk Willink on Wikimedia Commons

Picture of the Day: A Canyon of Fire on the Sun

A CANYON OF FIRE ON THE SUN

Photograph by NASA/SDO

NASA/SDO – A magnetic filament of solar material erupted on the sun in late September, breaking the quiet conditions in a spectacular fashion. The 200,000 mile long filament ripped through the sun’s atmosphere, the corona, leaving behind what looks like a canyon of fire. The glowing canyon traces the channel where magnetic fields held the filament aloft before the explosion. Visualizers at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. combined two days of satellite data to create a short movie of this gigantic event on the sun (seen here).

In reality, the sun is not made of fire, but of something called plasma: particles so hot that their electrons have boiled off, creating a charged gas that is interwoven with magnetic fields. These images were captured on Sept. 29-30, 2013, by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, or SDO, which constantly observes the sun in a variety of wavelengths.

Different wavelengths help capture different aspect of events in the corona. The red images shown in the movie help highlight plasma at temperatures of 90,000° F and are good for observing filaments as they form and erupt. The yellow images, showing temperatures at 1,000,000° F, are useful for observing material coursing along the sun’s magnetic field lines, seen in the movie as an arcade of loops across the area of the eruption. The browner images at the beginning of the movie show material at temperatures of 1,800,000° F, and it is here where the canyon of fire imagery is most obvious. By comparing this with the other colors, one sees that the two swirling ribbons moving farther away from each other are, in fact, the footprints of the giant magnetic field loops, which are growing and expanding as the filament pulls them upward. [Source]

via NASA Goddard Space Flight Center on Flickr

Picture of the Day: Sunset Fire Opal

SUNSET FIRE OPAL

Photograph by Jeff Schultz | gemstoneJEFF on Flickr

In this beautiful close up by gemstone hobbyist Jeff Schultz, we see a stunning Mexican fire opal. When illuminated just right, it looks like a sunset above the clouds.

According to Wikipedia, fire opals are transparent to translucent opals with warm body colors of yellow, orange, orange-yellow or red. The most popular source of fire opals is the state of Querétaro in Mexico; these opals are commonly called Mexican fire opals.

If you enjoyed this ‘sunset’ gem, you’ll definitely want to check out this Opal Butte opal which looks like an underwater scene from the ocean!

Jeff Schultz on Flickr via My Modern Met

Picture of the Day: House on Fire Ruin, Mule Canyon

HOUSE ON FIRE RUIN, MULE CANYON

Photograph by John Fowler | lumenetic.com

In this fantastic capture by John Fowler, we see the famous House on Fire Ruin in Mule Canyon, Utah.

Located in the ‘South Fork’ of Mule Canyon, House on Fire is about a 3 mile (4.8km) round trip to reach. At certain times of the day (apparently late morning is best), when the sun hits the ruins just right, it lights up the rock above, making it look like flames. While House on Fire is the first and most spectacular ruin, you can find more as you continue to hike into the canyon.

The ruins are the remains of buildings constructed by the Ancient Pueblo peoples, an ancient Native American culture centered on the present-day Four Corners area of the United States. The Four Corners area comprises southern Utah, northeastern Arizona, northern New Mexico, and southwestern Colorado. The Ancient Pueblo peoples lived in a range of structures, including pit houses, pueblos, and cliff dwellings. [Source]

According to Utah’s Canyon Country Blog, a hiking permit is required and costs roughly $2/person as of April 2012. The trailhead for House on Fire is located on Co. Rd 263 near mile marker 102.

via John Fowler on Flickr

Photos from Mexico’s National Pyrotechnic Festival

Photograph by Alejandro Linares Garcia

The National Pyrotechnic Festival is an annual event that takes place in Tultepec, Mexico. The festival promotes the country’s tradition of production and use of fireworks in honour of John of God, the patron saint of fireworks makers. Tultepec produces about half of all Mexico’s fireworks.

The main event, a parade of “toritos” or bull-shaped frames with fireworks on them, began in the mid 19th century. The modern national festival began in 1989 and includes various events including fireworks competitions, but the main event remains that of the toritos, with about 250 “running” along the streets of Tultepec in 2013. [Source]

Photograph by Feria Nacional de la Pirotecnia Tultepec on Facebook

Feria Nacional de la Pirotecnia Tultepec

The National Pyrotechnic Festival lasts for nine days and attracts more than 100,000 visitors to the municipality. Although the event started locally, it is now open to all fireworks makers in Mexico. There are three main events along with amusement rides, concerts, dance, release of sky lanterns and regional food.

Castillos: The first of the main events is a contest of “castillos” (lit. castles). Castillos are frames made of wood, reed and paper to which various fireworks are affixed. These fireworks are set off to make images and/or parts of the castillo structure move. The castillos created for this event measure between twenty five and thirty meters, requiring about fifteen days to build. When set off, they take between twenty and thirty minutes to go through all of their features

Pamplonada: The second, oldest and most important event is the “pamplonada.” Named after the Running of the Bulls in Pamplona, Spain, these “little bulls” or “toritos” are also fireworks frames. The larger toritos are made by groups of thirty to forty people and can have as many as 4,000 fireworks on them. In the 2013 event, over 250 of these toritos were registered to participate.

Contest: The last of the major event is also a contest. This contest involves performances that combine fireworks and music.

[Source]

Photograph by Thomas Prior

Photographer Thomas Prior attended the festival and took an incredible series of images (19 total) that you can find on his personal website. It shows fireworks being lit in very close proximity to attendees.

Photograph by Thomas Prior

See the Entire 19-Picture Gallery at thomasprior.com!

Sources

– Wikipedia: National Pyrotechnic Festival
– Thomas Prior Photography
– Feria Nacional de la Pirotecnia Tultepec Official Facebook Page
– Wired: Complete Idiocy Makes for Pretty Amazing Fireworks Photos

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Picture of the Day: In the Heat of the Moment

IN THE HEAT OF THE MOMENT

Photograph of KAWIKA SINGSON | Taken by Chris Hirata

In this crazy capture, we see photographer Kawika Singson getting up close and personal with lava as his shoes and tripod begin to catch fire. The photo went viral after being posted to the highly popular Facebook page, ‘I f*cking love science‘ (which boasts a jaw-dropping 6.1 million Likes).

Uploaded to Facebook as Singson’s cover photo, the photographer explains:

“Always trying to be creative, I thought it would be pretty cool (hot!) to take a lava pic with my shoes and tripod on fire while photographing lava so that’s what I did that’s real lava real flames and it was really hot! I could stand the heat only for a few seconds.”

The image was taken somewhere in Hawaii. In a recent interview with PetaPixel, Singson admits he doesn’t like to give out his exact locations.

And full credit goes to CHRIS HIRATA who actually took the photograph of Singson. You can see an album of the progression of the photo shoot here.

If you want to see more from Singson, be sure to like his page on Facebook. He’s trying to get to 10,000 fans, so help him out if you like what you see!

Kawika Singson Cover Photo on Facebook via I f*cking love science on Facebbok

Picture of the Day: Inside a Firelog

INSIDE A FIRELOG

Photograph by Cyko28 on Reddit

In this intriguing close up photograph taken by Redditor Cyko28, we see the red-hot inside of a firelog as it burns away the wood from the inside out.

A firelog is like a big wooden candle that burns from the middle of the log outwards. This is done by drilling a hole down the middle of the log and another hole into the side of the log and then coating the inside with wax. You can find a great how-to video here.

It’s a fun homemade project that creates a neat little portable fire that can be moved around as the outside of the log is cool enough to pick up.

via Cyko28 on Reddit

The Biggest Bonfire in the World

To see the world’s biggest bonfire you’ll have to visit Alesund, Norway, where wood pallets are stacked over 40 meters (131 ft) high on an artificial island. The occasion? Sankthans, or ‘Midsummer’, an annual festival in commemoration of John the Baptist’s birth. The day is celebrated on the 24th of June (around summer solstice) in Scandinavian countries and other parts of Europe.

In Alesund, the traditional bonfire, known as Slinningsbålet, is taken to the extreme. In 2010, a record was set for the tallest bonfire at 40.45 meters (132.71 ft). The previous record was 37.84 meters (124.14 ft) set in 1993. The base of the structure is approximately 20 meters wide (65.6 ft).

About 30-40 pepole partake in the build, and to light the structure someone must climb to the top to ignite it. If the fire doesn’t burn from top to bottom things could end badly. Be sure to check out the video at the bottom of this post for a recap of this crazy event.