Tourists who travel to resorts in Mexico often become mesmerized by the artistry of these fire poi performers flinging flames in a variety of rhythmical and geometric patterns, set to music.
In our many trips to Mexico, we’ve made friends who are professional fire dancers. We’ve since photographed many private sessions in various parts of Mexico. In the adventure featured below, we experienced a visit from the police, who abruptly ended our shoot. Fortunately, no bribes were needed and nobody ended up in jail.
Check out our portfolios and other posts in our blog to see additional fire performance artistry. The subject is rather difficult to photograph well, but we’ve learned the art of it. There’s a lot of nuance in choosing the appropriate off-camera lighting as well as how to direct and compose each shot.
We’ve created a series called “Dancing with Fire” which explored and discusses deeper philosophical aspects of the art. Stay tuned for more on this (subscribe to our newsletter).