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Hello,

My name is Paula Antoniou and I am an Events Fundraiser for The Honeypot Charity.

Honeypot provides respite holidays and on-going outreach support to young carers and children at risk.
We give them a break from demanding and stressful conditions at home and provide a safe and nurturing environment in which to develop their full potential.
Our vision is for every child to make the most of their one chance at childhood.

We are virtually funded through private donations and support, receiving only 5% government funding per annum. To make up the £1.1M we must raise each year we run a number of events that help to contribute to our target income.

One of these events is a Firewalk being held on 3rd November at the Docklands Watersports and Sailing Centre. We are hoping to attract 60 Firewalkers to the event and to raise a fantastic £10,000.

I was wondering if I could post a message to all users to see if any of your fire acts / entertainers would be willing to donate half an hour of their time on the evening to perform some fire tricks for the firewalkers. We want to create a real Guy Fawkes atmosphere and as such would love to be able to provide the crowd with some entertainment. As a charity our budget is extremely limited but we would be able to reimburse travel expenses and provide entertainers with food and refreshment on the evening.

Any help you could offer would be greatly appreciated,

I look forward to hearing from you soon, For more information visit: http://www.honeypot.co.uk/events.htm

Contact Paula Antoniou: paula@honeypot.co.uk

Many Thanks,

Paula Antoniou

Hello,

My name is Paula Antoniou and I am an Events Fundraiser for The Honeypot Charity.

Honeypot provides respite holidays and on-going outreach support to young carers and children at risk.
We give them a break from demanding and stressful conditions at home and provide a safe and nurturing environment in which to develop their full potential.
Our vision is for every child to make the most of their one chance at childhood.

We are virtually funded through private donations and support, receiving only 5% government funding per annum. To make up the £1.1M we must raise each year we run a number of events that help to contribute to our target income.

One of these events is a Firewalk being held on 3rd November at the Docklands Watersports and Sailing Centre. We are hoping to attract 60 Firewalkers to the event and to raise a fantastic £10,000.

I was wondering if I could post a message to all users to see if any of your fire acts / entertainers would be willing to donate half an hour of their time on the evening to perform some fire tricks for the firewalkers. We want to create a real Guy Fawkes atmosphere and as such would love to be able to provide the crowd with some entertainment. As a charity our budget is extremely limited but we would be able to reimburse travel expenses and provide entertainers with food and refreshment on the evening.

Any help you could offer would be greatly appreciated,

I look forward to hearing from you soon,

Many Thanks,

Paula Antoniou

I was recently out at a nightclub dancing, and met a young man with a camera. After having viewed his website photo gallery, I found myself quite impressed with his style. I am not sure if it was a camera technique or a Photoshop styling but his portraits seemed "darkened" around the edge with the light focused on the subject, with a vivid clarity to the subject in focus. You could still make out the enviroment the subject had been shot in, but the angle and lighting focused in the center of the picture made it quite striking, if not a little edgey.

I had told him how much I have been wanting a "real" picture of myself while fire dancing with my poi, as all I have is the usual digital shot with two fire tails and a blurry person in the middle, I know it is me, but no one else would be able to tell. I wanted to see a moment captured, with the two fire tails (preferably with a clear fire image as opposed to the usual "glowing" fire tails, a clear image caught of the dancer's movement, and ultimately clicking on a facial expression, to make that picture all about me, the fire dancer.

A deal was struck and an appointment made to get together, light up the poi and create some images. But what kind of movement did I want to capture? The first thing that crossed my mind is that simply running through a routine would get me some nice pictures, but there might be a lot of hit and miss happening with the camera, the poi, my hands, my gaze, etc, all having to be in the right place at the right time. What would afford me the optimal portrait? Looking thru a butterfly? Great for a facial focus, but zero on interesting body movement. How about a buzzsaw while arching my back, the camera focusing from front right so you get the flame light on my face, the back arching as I lean back, and the loop of the "saw" lighting the forefront. Or perhaps a windmill, the flame from one poi backlighting behind me, as the front poi lights my face, not so much on the body movement, but at least the arms are above my shoulders, and not in the hands together in front of me "ready" position.

Location, location, location, where to film this. Fire poi isn't exactly welcome around here, the interesting locations aren't always available or allowed. Perhaps a Guerilla burn was in order, go in, do the burns and get out. But I want to make sure I get "the shot". What to wear? I am not a professional performer, so my fire dancing clothing is usually dark/black to hide any soot smudges from "near misses", making it harder to capture physical movement thru the lense. Perhaps it's time to dress with a little theatrics in mind. Develop a fire dancer persona, so to speak.

I've got a couple days to figure out what I want to do with all this, I'm making a list of my favourite movements and transitions, and I've got an hour of burning to fill the camera's memory card. I'll let you know how the whole experience turns out.

Ben T Forkx

Hello all... I'm Jimmy

For the last year i have put together and ran Fire fun in brighton, A free event for all fire spinners and jugglers. I Juggle balls, clubs, and rings, Spin staff and poi, Diabolo, Fire breathe, Fire eat and much more so it was a good chance to learn new skills and meet other like minded people. Since i started the group i have learnt many new skills from so many people, The group now has about 200 members and monthly meets are still held in Brighton UK ( check event page for the next one )

I love fire and I love juggling... sometimes i do both