PHOTO GALLERY
FEATURING THE PHOTOGRAPHS
OF SARA RAINTREE
Sara Raintree is a graphics illustrator, photographer, clinical hypnotherapist and certified firewalk instructor with more than 300 trips across the fire. On September 19, 1987, Sara participated in a team of 11 people who collectively established the world's record for "hottest firewalk" as listed in the Guiness Book of World Records. While the average temperature for the entire group, and the temperature listed in the Guiness book was 1546 degrees Fahrenheit, Sara's second trip across the coals yielded the hottest temperature of the evening at 1575 degrees.
Sara participated in a second world's record on October 10th of the same year. She was the first person to complete a 120 foot firewalk, twice as long as the old record. The Guiness people, however, declined to list it after dropping the category of "longest walk" from their book. They did so because they felt it was too dangerous for challengers trying to achieve new records.
PREPARATION
The first three photos in the gallery show preparations for the 120 foot firewalk.
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Wood and kindling is stacked in preparation for the 120 foot record-breaking firewalk. Full sized photo is 124 k. |
| It takes two hours for the roaring fire to create a suitable bed of coals. Full sized photo is 116 k. |  |
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Participants hold hands in front of the fire as they anticipate their record-breaking firewalk. Full sized photo is 76 k. |
TECHNIQUE
Sara and her husband Ed are shown in the second set of photographs below. Sara developed a special lighting system to record firewalks. The difficulty with regular night time flash photography is that it washes out the orange red color of the coals causing them to appear gray.
"My interest in photography and the technical challenges of the night time shots caused me to get a lot of experience firewalking, showing up time and time again to try new variables of film, camera setting and lighting," reports Sara.
WALKING THE WALK
"The wonderment of just being able to stand completely still for minutes at a time, on a bed of fire, has let me pursue answers to the question 'How is it possible?'" And although she still doesn't have the definitive answer, she is exploring the mind/body connection.
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Sara's record, 1575 degree walk. The glow in the center is caused by fans used to increase the temperature of the coals. Full sized photo is 164 k. |
| Ed Raintree takes a casual stroll over a record hot fire. Full sized photo is 156 k. |  |
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Sara stops in the fire, reaching down to handle the hot glowing coals Full sized photo is 100 k. |
Photographs on this page are the intellectual property of Sara Raintree and are displayed with permission. Duplication or transmission of these photographs in any form is prohibited without the written consent of Sara Raintree. All rights are reserved. Sara may be contacted at:
c/o Pyro Graphics
1204 Kirkland Ave.
Kirkland, WA 98033
E-mail: ed.raintree@mediaprose.com
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Last updated: December 28, 1995
Questions or comments may be directed to:
margrave@heartfire.com