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Turkey On Fire

First off, I just want everybody to know that I'm actually a pretty good cook all things considered... and secondly, no turkeys were harmed.

But yes... I caught one on fire yesterday.

More accurately, I caught one on fire for a photo illustration for the newspaper and a story about turkey cooking safety.

Even more accurately, it wasn't a real turkey. It was a whole chicken.... which looks close enough to a turkey for my sake.

If you missed the front page Wednesday, here is the important part.

There's my turkey/chicken. On fire. Big flames... like about a full foot from the chicken. Remeber when they used to say "don't try this at home".... well, I know why.

So why did I do it?

Honestly, it just sounded like good fun. The story was about people who get injured with flaming turkeys from their frying pots. The oil catches on fire, and next thing you know, you have 3rd degree burns.

Well, none of the fire departments were going to have a demonstration, or we missed them already, I'm not sure which. So Judy asked me if I had any ideas. Immediately, the light bulb went off in my head (more like a bug lamp).

"I could do a photo illustration of a turkey on fire."

After I said it... I thought, "Did I just say that....IS that a good idea?"

Sure, why the heck not. I've seen this trick done before with sporting equipment. Think about a baseball pitcher with a fastball portrait... it's been done.

But I've never seen a turkey on fire. So I still had my doubts.

I knew HOW to do it.... just needed to get something that looked like a turkey and some rubber cement.

Rubber Cement is highly...highly flammable, but relatively stable. Once you apply it to whatever, it doesn't run. It stays put and puts off a nice yellow flame. Perfect for photo work.

I decided on the cooked chickens from United as the main prop. They look like a turkey on a smaller scale... plus, I knew that the flames would be large enough to make an impression.

After I tested a few areas of rubber cement for the right exposure in the camera... and played around with an extra flash just to get a bit more light on the other side... I was ready to roll.

Mind you... you still shouldn't try this at home.

But, I had the camera on the tripod... plate on the table... fans blowing for ventilation and the patio door open for fresh air. Everything was out of flames reach. It was as controlled an environment could be for lighting a chicken on fire. My only regret was I wish somebody was there to watch me.... it would have been hilarious.

This was the best shot from the adventure...

The plan all along was to provide a black background so the copy desk could put text around the flaming bird for the story... I was hoping for more of a square shape to it... but this is how it appeared in the paper...

It wasn't quite what I wanted... but I don't layout the pages either. If I did... you'd see nothing but photos anyways.

On a side note... because people have asked me.... No, I did not eat the rest of the chicken after burning part of it. I wanted no part of accidentally eating rubber cement.

I mean seriously.... that would be crazy.

Posted by Jason Palmer at 7:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)