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While out on a photography shoot, during which anything is fair game, it's advisable to keep your eyes--and ears--open to other possibilities. About 10 days ago I was out in the small hours, in fog, frost, and 9 degrees of temperature, shooting scenes of a bridge across the Missouri River in south-central North Dakota. As I walked out on the bridge I heard snapping and crackling, telling myself to go back and investigate once I'd gotten the bridge shot I wanted. On both ends--and sides--of this bridge are large, steel power poles that support cables that carry the power from bank to bank. On the Bismarck end of this bridge there are five large coils on the south pole and the source of the crackling. As frost would build up on the blades of this coil, an arc of electricity would burn off the frost, snapping loudly and creating a distinctive visual of actual fire (zoom into the fire here and you'll see what appears as flames). A wide shot that captured all five coils made for spots of fire too small to show up well so I concentrated on a single pair. Unfortunately, it's like trying to pick the shortest line at the grocery store... the one you're in invariably moves the slowest. So I had to simply start shooting this pair, at about f10 and 7-second exposures, immediately one after another. In order to get this one good image of the fire in the most gaps as possible, I had to shoot 194 exposures, finally quitting when the chemical heating packets I'd forgotten to bring that night caused my fingertips to start burning themselves... with near-frostbite. Yes, it's possible my mind is going but I think the result was worth it. I love shooting sparks and the sort of images with high contrast, and this scene was completely unexpected. 1.31-9