For photographer Maciek Jasik, fireworks are more than a mainstay of Fourth of July. They’re a way to illuminate ordinary or abandoned spaces.

For three years, Jasik has been using color smoke and fireworks to create dreamlike images that are at once haunting and electric.

“I think my initial complete ignorance of these materials kind of allowed me to do things that I normally wouldn’t have done, just because I was really excited to play with these materials,” he says.

That doesn’t mean that he’s reckless. Jasik says he always carries a fire extinguisher with him and has never been singed or injured.

To capture these images, Jasik uses either a remote trigger or an intervalometer, which takes several photos a set time apart. That way, he can set off the fireworks, then run for cover while the camera captures the image.

“When I was in Albania last summer, I used the intervalometer a lot because I had to go very far away from the camera,” he says. At one point, he visited a “huge industrial building that was probably 100 feet long, 100 feet high, and I set off a very large firework inside to create this huge light sculpture.

“I didn’t actually see any of the fireworks—I was entirely just running for safety.”

Needless to say, don’t try this at home.

More info: maciekjasik.com

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