Fire Breathing...Raven?

We all know (well, I know) that artists have a habit of being, well, eccentric.  The same is true of theatre folks.  Those reputation are occasionally well earned, I personally have picked up some interesting talents from being around the cornucopia of people that inhabit these worlds.

In 2007 I worked fro the Pennsylvania Renaissance Fair as a costumer, I lived on the grounds from May until the fair ended in late October.  The fair is in a rural area, far enough from the local towns that not having a car was a very effective isolator.  One of the men who was to play a knight known as the "Dragon Of York" whose symbol was a blue dragon rampant.  His signature was breathing fire from horse back at the joust and around the grounds.

At one point during the season a few of us were rather bored and asked if he could teach fire breathing. Of course I jumped at the opportunity to add such a unusual talent to my skill list. So over a few weeks we practiced outside of the bunk houses.  By the end of the season I had a good grip on the process.  Then I came home and had the perfect opportunity to display this skill at a Halloween party, much to the joy of my friends back home.

Since then I pull the stunt out on special occasions, especially at bonfires because we already have the equipment out encase something goes sour (trying to head off Mr. Murphy).  I have never seen what I look like blowing fire, I just see the basketball-sized end of the flame in front of my face.  I have been told it looks really neat though.

On the Fourth of July this year I did a short show for my friends and was pleasantly surprised that someone had taken pictures of it.  Rob is an armature photographer with lots of talent and he has graciously allowed me to post copies of his work here in my blog.  He took far more pictures with a timer button, so that it works almost like a flip-book of what it looks like, which is really nice for me to see, hopefully it will help me improve.  These are the three photos he chose to post on Flicker.

You can see more of his work at:  www.flickr.com/photos/robthephotog

Here is the initial ball, when the fuel first hits the torch.

This is where the initial ball of fire spreads out and starts to move upwards.

And here is where I am almost out of breath, and the ball floats upwards from the torch.