When Nashville-based photographer Jake Harsh was tasked with coming up with an original photoshoot where he could flex his artistic freedoms, things turned slightly dangerous. His brave subjects for this shoot, the electro-pop band Hand of Hearts, would stand in a room with 18 pounds of fireworks being ignited and what transpired after that would be unpredictable. Here’s a behind-the-scenes video of what happened and the resulting images.
Sure, a little bit of Photoshop work would likely have yielded similar results, but you have to appreciate the execution of doing the real thing in the face of danger. According to Harsh, the band was able to walk away with only a few burn marks and some smoking hair. Luckily, the fire extinguisher nearby in case of disaster did not need to be utilized.
With shooting such a dynamically-lit scene, Harsh said he just tried to figure things out as it went along by trial and error. There was no way he would be able to make a technically perfect image, and he went in knowing this. In Harsh’s blog post, he writes, “I love shoots like this one, where I can focus on way more than just the technical stuff — because let's be honest — when you've got something so unpredictable involved, sometimes it’s about getting lucky and being okay with imperfection.”
You can see more of Jake Harsh's work on his website, Facebook page, and Instagram.
All images used with permission.
Famous last words usually heard in the South: "Hey! Watch this!" or :"Here, hold my beer" Tennessee is in the South, so this qualifies.
Very cool photos!
Cool and very original idea, some of the images are really nice.
Photo was lit with strobes not with fireworks. Although it is "cool" stunt, it would be more efficient to shot fireworks separately and set it on a layer with screen blending mode.