My first shot at a steel wool photo... After anticipation this for awhile and buying the supplies and getting it all setup, the 10 seconds or so of fabulous sparks were a little anticlimactic (and not at all scary). I'd like to try this again in another locale - there was a ton of ambient light in our backyard. I spotted our back alley neighbours peeking out the window afterward - I'm sure they were curious as to what I was up to!
Great result - the purple white balance looks brilliant. My tips on this: it does get very dangerous if there are surfaces the sparks can bounce off, and it's really wise to wear a hat, gloves, safety goggles. Also, it looks awesome in a tunnel but will totally set your head on fire so do the safety thing and also walk backwards as you do it - creates the great vortex look and also saves the sparks landing on your head :)
@pizzaboy ~ Thanks for the tips - I was all safety, with a black bunny hug (hoodie) covering my hair, and big sunglasses, and gloves. I definitely want to try the reverse vortex that you mentioned and would love to find a tunnel, might have to do some exploring...