Miłośnik fajerwerków - Redux
EN_01287370_0010
Ken Miller loves fireworks, and by his own estimation it is a complete miracle that he is still alive. He often describes himself as a delinquent and ruminates on the "bad lifestyle choices" he's made. One of these choices, accidentally led to an explosion at his fireworks laboratory. It burnt to the ground, killing his best friend and long time business partner who was trapped inside. He narrowly escaped, suffering third degree chemical burns on over forty percent of his body, and as a result, the physical and emotional scars continue to haunt him seventeen years later. These days at fifty five, Ken is one of the last people in the country making fireworks by hand from raw materials in an industry that went overseas year ago. More starving artist / mad scientist than businessman, he ekes out a living to support his family by manufacturing high quality niche smoke products for military, music, aviation, and other industries. While he claims he is more careful since the tragedy, pyromania continues to dominate his life. Nearly every horizontal surface of his house is littered with fireworks and his property is punctuated with burn marks and explosion craters. At his nearby laboratory, he stores thousands of decommissioned emergency flares, and marine safety products which he harvests to create multistage rockets and fuel volcano like explosions that can be seen for miles in the rural, agricultural valley in southern Minnesota where he lives. All day, every day, he set things on fire. When you visit, it's best to be alert - without notice you could be dodging sparks. Photographs taken in Brownsville, MN, in July and September 2017.
FEATURE SALES ONLY
MINIMUM PRICE $100
2017-10-20
Kevin Cooley/Redux/EAST NEWS
Redux Pictures
Kevin Cooley/Redux
h_15021440
1,3MB
25cm x 18cm by 300dpi
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