The members of the Detroit Fire Guild are the stars of an exhibit shot by local photographer John Sobczak, on display next month.
The portraits of the pyromaniacs — many of which whom have since retired from the fire performing scene — are printed on aluminized metal, which gives them a certain illusion of illumination. The exhibit runs from May 4 to May 28, with an opening reception from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. May 14.
“I don’t mean this in a demeaning way, but I feel they have this innocence, this sort of childlike play that gets stamped out of most people as they grow up, and I think they’re fighting that,” Sobczak told us when we previously interviewed him about the series. “That they want to enjoy a lot of the things that they had the opportunity to do when they were young. … They love it. They live for it. They’ll spend months coming up with an outfit for it and making it, and doing the full makeup. And I think that’s phenomenal.”
Check out a slideshow of 12 of Sobczak’s photos here.
This article appears in Apr 15-21, 2015.
