An abrupt jump forward to recent imagery

I was at a BBQ at some friends' house last weekend, and we were treated to a "fire show" that my wife had arranged as part of a charity auction last year. The show was held after dark, and consisted of artistic and acrobatic slinging of burning objects.

I took a bunch of exposures using slow shutter speeds (this one was 1/2 second) to smear out the movement. Some turned out pretty well, I think. In this image, the fire trail has been heavily burned in, but the color fringing was not added, although it is emphasized by the curve manipulation.

The performers were extremely nice, and insisted that they didn't mind me popping a flash during the performance, although, as it turned out, the images without flash are much more compelling. There were a number of kids at the BBQ who were suitably impressed with the fire-slinging.

Update: This image was entered in the Photo Friday Challenge under the theme "Darkness".