'Burning Man'

Caught while walking to dinner. Genuine street photograph. Details

withheld. Your ratings and critiques are invited and most welcome.

If you rate harshly or very critically, please submit a helpful and

constructive comment; please share your superior photographic

knowledge to help improve my photography. Thanks! Enjoy! John

I had a choice of submitting this under 'street photography', 'documentary', or 'journalism'.

 

I chose 'street photography'. Is that the correct choice?

 

John (Crosley)

This is the scene, exactly as I saw it, with no manipulation in any way; place: Town ploeshit (square) in Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine.

 

John (Crosley)

Hello! Either choice of category would be correct. I would probably pick the journalism category as I see there is a story behind the picture.(What happened, who is the man, why is he on the pavement?) You know the story... but you chose not to reveal it to the viewers... Anyway, it's news-worthy. -- DL

You presume it's newsworthy, and I don't want to say for now.

 

In about two weeks, I'll post an explanation of this shot, with who, what, why, where, and when, and it will all become clearer.

 

This is a 'for sure' 'real' shot, no matter what.

 

And it's an unexpected 'street' photo.

 

Thanks for weighing in. It all will be clearer with time.

 

John (Crosley)

It looks almost like he isfalling on the fire. It is a very well done shot. I am intrigued by the way the fire seems to be shooting out from him and the way his hands are curled up. The color of the photo has that golden tint to it.

 

It is a stunning picture and I like the crop as it has a focus on the fire and not on the man itself. The anguish on the face is very, well I can't think of a word and don't have my dictionary (husband handy).

 

I am out the door and will no doubt be back to look more later.

 

I am glad you posted it! I am sure others will be curious as to why you did and the story behind it as I am looking forward to your explination and story as well.

 

~ micki

And rolling in them, as shown here -- exactly as shown here.

 

Nothing about this photo is 'hoked up', meaning this is an exact capture from a sequence of photos I took of this man (and fire).

 

You should see the aftermath.

 

You'd surely be surprised.

 

Come on back in a week or two, and get your surprise.

 

(Almost guaranteed)

 

John (Crosley)

I have been checking your work for several years now, so 2 weeks is an easy wait. A very interesting capture, especially when you just happened on to the shot. As always, well captured, and thanks for sharing it. JH

This guy, a sort of drunk who wandered into the town square in Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine, a city of 1-2 million people, probably was penniless and in need of a beer, the Ukrainian national drink.

 

Just as vodka is seen as the Russian drink, pivo [peever] (beer) is everywhere in Ukraine, out in the open being carried about by people with green (and brown) bottles.

 

Even 16-year-olds, and anyone else old enough to hand the money over for one.

 

I even had a green bottle (of Stella Artois) in my hand two nights ago, when I found myself (for the first time without cameras) in this same town square, just to look inconspicuous or 'part of the scenery'. That's how common beer drinking is. And my assistant, who is Russian and not long ago a student, tells me that student and young people drinking in the open in her former city also was extremely common -- something I didn't see so much in Moscow when I lived there half-time, but then I didn't spend much of the summer there, where people were 'out and about' (with their beers).

 

In Russia, if you go into someone's house, you are offered a vodka, de rigeur, and if you refuse it (maybe you're a tee-totaling alcoholic who cannot touch the stuff without 'falling off the wagon'), they'll just think you're crazy.

 

In Russia, everyone accepts a proffered glass of vodka, and the protocol is that you down it in one gulp (the easier to make way for the second) then bang the glass on the table (just as people do with 'shooters' in certain American bars, thinking it's fashionable).

 

In Ukraine, people don't drink vodka all the time; beer in this grain-rich state is plentiful. My Stella Artois, an import, cost about 80 cents (very warm -- unrefrigerated) at about five vendors who line the town square late at night, with more during the day and early evening.

 

Well, this guy probably needed a beer very badly so he set himself on fire.

 

That's the short story.

 

Here's the long story.

 

This guy had a parlor sort of trick.

 

He knew that if you pass your finger through a candle flame, even what is seen as rather slowly, it does not burn your finger, as the lower gasses in the flame are combusting but not at the highest heat and the highest heat is at the top of the flame, not at the base.

 

I have done it and can vouch for that.

 

This guy found some old newspapers (a difficult task, as few can afford or do read newspapers). He rolled them up (see that at his head).

 

Then with a lighter or match, he set them afire after he'd taken off his shirt and gathered a crowd.

 

I happened to be passing.

 

So, when he had the newspaper fire going on the town square pavement (see above photo), he simply laid down and then proceeded to roll across the burning newspapers with his skin exposed.

 

He did expose himself to grave danger, but he didn't burn himself more than first degree burns, if that at all.

 

Probably he got scorched a little and felt great heat but was not burned.

 

I was passing by when he set the fire, and carrying a D2X and a D200, one with a 70~200 mm Nikkor zoom tele with V.R., and set the 'continuous sequence' whirring at the 5 fps rate (which it cannot achieve at night because of slow shutter speeds).

 

This is just one of the captures.

 

Others show him standing, stomping the newspapers while burning and a spray of sparks flying.

 

He had successfully navigated his 'wall of fire' then proceeded to panhandle the growing crowd, who showed their appreciation by giving him enough Hrivna (pronounced grivna), the Ukrainian national currency worth about 20 cents apiece -- for a beer or four.

 

And that is the story of the 'burning man'.

 

And how he earned his beer the hard way.

 

Surprised?

 

I was.

 

Without a camera, I might have purposely ignored such a spectacle, to show my derogation of the man for such a stupid stunt, but with a camera, I was ever so thankful (but I don't give drunks money for alcohol).

 

John (Crosley)

 

(Aren't you sorry you came back to this page to read this sorry tale?)

 

JC

If you read about 'Burning Man' above, and you re-read my comments, you'll notice they were made in the interrogative (as questions) or as comments but without ever stating that this was a journalistic event at all.

 

I said I had a choice of posting this as a journalism shot, or a documentary shot, but I didn't say it was 'worthy' of being a journalistic event, or, if a documentary shot, what the subject of the documentary would be (how about stupid human tricks for one, done by alcoholics who'll do anything for a beer)

 

Apologies to David Letterman and Worldwide Pants.

 

It is legitimate, I think, to ask questions (as the tabloid press does in its headlines, when one seeks to engender interest), so long as one does not suggest the truth can be found in the question.

 

I did not ask 'Is Tom Cruise Gay? - see inside.'

 

I asked if it was proper to post this in journalism or documentary categories (and by my posing the hypothetical question above, I mean to say nothing about Tom Cruise's sexuality or orientation as I know nothing about it at all -- but it does get one's attention to see an interrogative about something interesting, doesn't it?)

 

One can make the logical jump from a question to the conclusion that one is going to find a positive answer in the accompanying material/text, etc., but that is not always the case, especially in 'The Globe' or the 'National Enquirer' while raising a question in such publications (US weekly tabloids) effectively for many of their lower intelligence readers amounts to an indictment as though it were a fact, as they don't check out any possible proffers of proof - they 'saw it in the Enquirer' albeit it as a 'question' rather than a statement of fact (which should be ignored until it is answered with certitude and with adequate certainty, e.g. documentation, attribution, etc.

 

It pays to read everything carefully is the lesson here.

 

Even in my posts . . . ;-))

 

John (Crosley)

SOOOO for you guys that do the show JACKASS do not try this at home. HA!

 

It did turn out to be a GREAT picture. The fire looks really good and I had a hard time spilling the beans so to say because I knew he was ok. I do really like the anguished look he has on his face. I just think people were afraid to look at it. You might try posting it in the documentary category. It might do well there.

Maybe Micki, if you could see he was OK, others could too and dismissed it 'out-of-hand'?

 

This is a true 'Jackass' trick and it is definitely recommended that others not try it at home, specially if they're wearing clothes that have not been tested for flammability and 'flash point'. Some clothes, particularly those not marketed for the US market, and especially those for adults, can burst into flames at a low temperature (which I am sure is why he removed his shirt).

 

But suppose his pants caught on fire -- and the 'family jewels' and other things were damaged beyond belief -- all for a free beer for an overeager alcoholic.

 

I was again in this 'square' (ploeshit), where I am pretty well known, tonight (your night is just falling but it's early the next morning for me, and I'm downloading 2,300 photos taken yesterday -- yes 2,300 photos, including 1,200 of a model, age 14-1/2 who has the most amazing face. With NEF (raw) Nikon photos and JPEGs shot together, it's a lonesome and very long task. I have about 8 or 9 8 gig CF cards backed up including the 2,300 photos I took today.

 

(There are enough good ones in that bunch to keep me going for some time; as I've been pretty dormant for the past week, working on file management with my assistant.)

 

(We're preparing for an organized attempt at the 'big time' and that involves knowing where each and every photograph is, as well as having duplicate copies in not just one city, but several, not only for disaster recovery, but also for instant transmittal to buyers and printers in case one or another site goes down. (No web site--they're all stored on Terabyte servers. There are 5 of them at my feet right now, and several others scattered around, just as these will be scattered when we're done working on them.)

 

What a JOB!

 

And I was organized to begin with, with each and every download separately identified and organized and each photo from each download separately marked, yet still putting them all together and then backing up the 5 hard drives (with identical files) to disk (three sets of disks) is a Herculean task, which my assistant is pretty good at; her reward for doing this either is a trip to Thailand or Argentina (or both) -- photo trips of course, but she's hungry for travel, and really, tickets are cheap if one gets a flat at the other end, and doesn't stay at the Ritz or the Sheraton.

 

Apartment/Houses in Argentina can be had in Buenos Aires for about $1,000 a month for something pretty nice in a wonderful neighborhood; Thailand has numerous low-cost hotels and cheap eats on the streets and plentiful low-cost restaurants, so such trips may sound 'expensive' but really they're budget (they're about the two lowest-priced countries that one can comfortably visit, with Argentina being the great bargain, with restaurant meals at the finest restaurants (which are numerous) seldom costing over $10 and a bottle of fine wine (red or white and vintage -- Napa equivalent) costing $4 to $8 generally.

 

What a deal!

 

I can actually travel cheaper than I can maintain a home in California with declining market prices (figuring in rental in California in a tight rental market (those sellers have to have some place to go) as well as downward depreciation on expensive real estate. In fact, the New York Times said that last year it made net fiscal sense to be a renter. I did them one better; I sold and am traveling, and living on a shoestring, except for my cameras, which are first-rate.

 

I have missed you Micki - hope your health is under control and you are OK.

 

(This is my version of the famous 'Burning Man' derived the summer festival in Nevada's superdusty Black Rock Desert).

 

You all come on back now, y'hear?

 

John (Crosley)