Hula Flames

My brain’s a little high on Fat Freddy’s Drop, so the best title I can cough up for this photo series is Fire Walkers, Meet My TZ5.

They’re fire dancers, actually — painting on the opaque of night at Sierra Nevada World Music Festival. This post is a plug for fire arts . . . for Boonville and the Mendocino County line . . . for visible constellations . . . and for our dear friends who put on this spectacular festival every year.

I was camera-free for a change — viewing this wide-angle, fish-eye world without the lens. But the drum circle trance, a dose of Mesmer’s cosmic magnetism, and then flames that trailed past my periphery, had me reaching in Hugh’s bag for the trusty Panasonic.

It’s a point-and-shoot on autopilot — meaning I had no tripod and no manual settings. But I can tweak the scene modes and then spot meter, even as my hand wavers without a steady prop. Let’s just go for interpretive dance, as seen through the eye of the TZ5.