Award at the 3rd Biennial of Arts of the Rio Doce Valley

The Instant of Fire: "Fire Mushroom" and the Raku Technique

The award-winning image, "Fire Mushroom," is not merely a capture of light and heat; it is a record of an ancient alchemical process and the relentless pursuit of the decisive moment. The photograph was taken during a Raku ceramic firing, an ancient Japanese method where the pieces are removed incandescent from the kiln.

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The visual climax, this impressive explosion of fire, occurred in a crucial millisecond. During the reduction process, the incandescent pieces were placed in a drum with sawdust, and the lid was sealed. Upon reopening it, with the sudden introduction of oxygen, the fire erupted with violence and beauty.

It was in this fraction of a second, in this ephemeral "wonder of nature," that my technique and intuition met. With a rigorous mastery of night photography, I managed to freeze the movement of the flames and sparks, transforming a technical and rustic process of enamel reduction into a composition of pure visual art. "Fire Mushroom" is, therefore, the fusion between the photographer's technical rigor and the poetic unpredictability of fire.

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