Welded

My skills as a welder are rivaled only by my skills as a diplomat and hostage negotiator, so today seemed like a good opportunity to practice one of the three.
It proved quite difficult to get a good shot of what was going on and while I'm not sure that I'm happy with the end result I do quite like the smoke...and it's sort of in keeping with my recently discovered fire fetish...

[☠northy]

this is very cool - and your write-up is hysterical!!!

[Graeme Stevens]

Thank you, on both counts :)

[Laurie]

Bahahaha!! LOVE this! So glad you didn't get to practice hostage negotiator today!! :) This shot is AWESOME!! Love the sparks! I see a face in the smoke!!! Fav!

[Graeme Stevens]

@luvmynynix Thanks so much - I see a face too. As far as I'm aware I was by myself...queue Twilight Zone music

[~~JT]

Another that should be tagged for the badass challenge! :) This is fun.

[Graeme Stevens]

@voiceprintz Thank you again!

[Richard Sayer]

@luvmynynix @graemestevens I thought at first this was you in hostage negotiator mode - "Give them back now or we'll nuke the s**t out of you"! Either way, it's a stunning image... could even be something faraway in the night sky.

[Marnie]

@graemestevens Great shot Graeme, most impressive and quite stunning. Love it.

[Graeme Stevens]

@vignouse Haha, that would probably be my approach to hostage negotiation, or something very close to it! Many thanks.

[Graeme Stevens]

@golftragic Thank you very much

[Marc]

Very cool! FAV

[James]

Just remember Graeme when it sounds like your frying an egg that's when the settings on the welder are right... Great shot and great story

[Wendy Bowden]

Brilliant capture

[Kirsty Harris]

cool

[John Dupre Jr]

Very nice.

[Graeme Stevens]

@daneau thanks very much
@longexposure thanks, but it sounded more like I was trying to scramble them to start with!
@wenbow thank you
@kaharris thanks Kirsty
@duprejr thank you, always appreciated

[Avantika]

Very cool! Fav!!

[Graeme Stevens]

@avantika thank you, and for the fav too :)

[Margaret Obey]

This is wonderful Graeme

[Marnie]

My pleasure, but I'm still trying to work out how you did it!! Fav for me

[Graeme Stevens]

@ceilidh thank you
@golftragic tripod, timer with continuous shooting, fiddle with settings, push button, start welding, really really hope for the best, fail and start over... I'm afraid this one is just a happy accident!!!

[Spanner]

This is marvellous, happy accident or not. Nice work.

[Sally Lees]

Its not a happy accident if you do all that to get the photo. Its just brilliant!

[Tracey]

Fabulous image

[Graeme Stevens]

@spanner @essafel @tracelee thanks all, much appreciated

[Graeme Stevens]

@essafel lets just say I wasn't expecting it to actually work. I'm surprised I could get the welder going!

[Lindsay]

Marvellous effect Graeme, well done!

[Graeme Stevens]

@lindsaydaisyboo thanks very much

[Lyn Berriman]

You ARE having fun with your fire! This is lovely!

[Amy]

Gorgeous!

[Graeme Stevens]

@lynnilou I am, I am! And thank you :)
@amyamoeba Thank you very much

[Jessica]

So cool! I always wanted to try welding. Do you do it for fun or a job?

[Graeme Stevens]

@jess1204 Thanks - I work for BOC, which supplies welding equipment and industrial, scientific and medical gas as well as safety equipment...I managed to get my hands on a small welder 10 months ago with the intention of a bit of sculpture work out of scrap metal...as yet, nothing has happened with the exception of some practice runs!!!

[Sem]

really cool graeme,

[Graeme Stevens]

@semjaja Thanks

[Marnie]

@graemestevens You're too modest, you developed the idea and the method and persisted until you got a result. It's a great shot.

[Graeme Stevens]

@golftragic Thanks again :) I really wish I could tell you exactly how it worked...

[Marnie]

@graemestevens Fingers crossed.

[karen]

what a wonderful shot, great capture, very hard to capture i would imagine.

[Graeme Stevens]

@oxley63 thank you, it had its moments of frustration!