© George McLeod

Inspired by East Asian Sumi ink drawings, George McLeod wanted to find a photographic way of producing intricately detailed images. As with Sumi ink drawing, fire is both controllable, and unpredictable. The painter controls the brush, however, the bristles add randomness. A fire can be set up, lit, and to an extent controlled, yet it’s fleeting nature, not to mention it’s speed, make for an unpredictable outcome.

© George McLeod

Fire is one of the elements of nature and one of the greatest phenomena in the world. It is an event more than it is an object. Familiar to every civilisation throughout history, and yet somehow elusive, fire has always danced between the practical and the magical. Inspiring fear and ritual, allowing food to be cooked, and houses to be burned, this duality of violence and beauty has been central to so much of human culture.

© George McLeod

Fire is about heat, warmth, light, passion and knowing, too strong and it burns, too weak and all is desolate. It is mesmerising and sometimes hypnotic, there is something magnetic and contemplative within.

Capturing these images at a speed of 1/8000th of a second, a side of fire is revealed that, previous to the invention of photography, was always just beyond reach, regardless of the countless hours humans have spent gazing into it.