So. I was at an event/party/show with a fire spinner. But I had no flash and no tripod. So how did this photo happen?

The exposure was 1/2 a second, and I actually managed it handheld, squatting down on one knee and using the other knee to support my arm. Which, on its own, would have created the trails from the fire.

But the only reason the dancer herself comes out as anything besides a blur, is because someone else took a photo while my shutter was open, and fortuitously used their flash. That’s why there’s a shadow going from the dancer to the left side of the frame. And why the dancer’s body is mostly frozen (minus her arms, which were moving pretty constantly).

In effect, it’s like I took this photo using a second sync flash, but the flash just didn’t happen to be my own…