Into the Woods....
It was time for another adventure. Off into the woods we go! After our failed attempt at making our own Holi powder, I stopped by the local fireworks store and picked up some smoke bombs. We figured this would be easier to play with than powder, and a lot less messy. Of course we had never used smoke bombs before so there was no way to know that we were totally wrong! This is about to become both a warning and a how-to on the use of smoke bombs!
Notice the sparks that come out as my lovely model Kendra pulls the pin? That's useful information as it turns out it sparks for about the first 20 seconds or so. Also note her hand placement. The top of the smoke bomb gets hot. The bottom gets hot too, but significantly less so. If you need to hold the bomb, do so by the bottom. We learned this with our tiny tester so we were smart and decided to put this one in a glass jar just so the heat didn't ignite any of the nearby foliage. Kendra was so excited to get going that she pulled the pin and immediately put the bomb into the glass jar. It's not entirely clear if the next photo is a result of a faulty smoke bomb, or placing it down too quickly before it stopped sparking, but suddenly it functioned more like a firework than a smoke bomb.
She's on Fire Tonight!
What you see here is the series of photos that emerged immediately following putting the smoke bomb down. If you look carefully enough you can see sparks in the tree line, and around the ground. The smoke bomb essentially burned with fury upward, grazing Kendra and the dress in the process. This was no more than a second (actually a fraction of a second according to my shutter speed) and then the smoke billowed out like crazy. Kendra stepped out from the cloud, announced "I think I'm on fire" and then checked herself. I, of course, stopped shooting and told her to get out of there but what does she do? She says "nope, not on fire! I'm good, keep going. We only have a minute, get the shot!". Then she turns around toward the camera and gives me this:
She's a Trooper!
Kendra refused to come out until the smoke bomb had dissipated and I had gotten some shots. When she emerged, we discovered the smoke bomb had burned the dress and put a few holes in it but, thankfully, Kendra was ok and received no physical damages. She may, however, need a haircut soon as the very ends of her hair were singed. If you see her, make sure you tell her she's still stunning with a few inches off ;)
Lessons Learned
So did we stop? Nope, but we did learn a few lessons. Let your smoke bomb go for a few seconds until it settles. Don't hold it by the top of the smoke bomb. Avoid getting it directly in your eyes or lungs if possible. Always stop if you are uncomfortable in any way (yes, that was directed at you Kendra!). Overall they are a fun little thing to play with and I definitely plan to pick up more. I'm open to suggestions on what you'd like to see me do with them! In the meantime, enjoy some of these other images from the shoot!
