Brian Sebastian Sr. the man who once felt like his “throat was on fire” with pain, and riddled with throat cancer, has turned a photography hobby into a unique weekend side hustle out of his home. A couple years ago Brian start breathing fire quite literally for fun, often entertaining trick or treaters on Halloween. He has since created a niche for taking cool, one-of-a-kind FYRE photos for families in the Northeastern Ohio area. Of course he doesn’t have his participants breathe fire like him, but he captures photos that portray creative results incorporating their favorite sports or hobbies set to FYRE!
Disclaimer: Each FYRE photo session is completely safe and all items are kept in their original condition the entire time, including after the session is over. No items or individuals are actually set on fire.
Brian’s photo sessions are safe and his wife Tina helps him with lighting the fire and capturing the pictures in a timely fashion. He could not capture the photos without her help. His son Brian Jr. played a big part early on with modeling for photos so that Tina and Brian Sr. could work out the kinks.
“We were all ecstatic when we saw the results of our hockey player’s FYRE session. Brett was one of the first to try out the experience”, said Dan Rapp.
“The photoshoot was a unique, safe, and enjoyable experience. The session resulted in cool photos that Collin was excited to have and share with friends and family”, Jen Schleman remarked.
Shannon Nanne shared, “Sabrina and Dominic had a one of a kind photo shoot with Brian Sebastian (FYRE photos). Take your kid’s sports photos to a new level, it will create memories to last a lifetime!” Shannon tells Nordonia Hills.News that it’s her favorite picture since it combines both sports; Varsity Fall Soccer and Varsity Winter Hockey.
Dom said, “It was fun with the fire, definitely would do it again”, and his sister Sabrina added, “It was my first photo shoot experience and it was a fun and cool way to get such creative results.”
Brian Sebastian Sr. started photographing youth hockey eleven years ago when his son Brian Jr. played pee-wee level (ages 11-12) at Kent University’s youth hockey program. A coach had asked if any parents would volunteer to be team photographer for the season. Brian knew he wasn’t a professional photographer, but embodied his role as “hockey dad” often taking pictures of his son playing a sport that he loved so he figured he would give it a chance for the whole team! It also ensured he always had the best seat in the house, which was on the team bench during the games!
A hobby evolved as Brian thoroughly enjoyed snagging pictures of the hockey players in action; in the midst of skating up and down the ice, swinging their arms back in mid-slapshot, or a defensive move checking an opponent. Brian seemed to capture it all during the two years of Pee-Wee level and two years at Bantam level (ages 13-14), just prior to high school. After four years as team photographer at the high school level and having a son who graduated, Brian had decided it was time to hang up the hobby. He realized very quickly how much he missed the hobby and stepped back into the role soon thereafter.
Brian recalls playing youth CYO sports such as football and baseball with St. Mary Parish in Bedford. There were photographers who came to capture individual and team photos, but none of us in action. Brian enjoyed stepping up to volunteer to take pictures that would last a lifetime for his son as well as for others, photos that he wasn’t able to look back on for himself- except for what his father was able to take with his 8mm videos.
Brian got the “FYRE photos by Sebastian “idea from a current hockey dad. Sam Schleman had posted a video on social media of a photo studio taking sports photos using fire. “Knowing there was nothing like this in Northeastern Ohio, he tagged me in the post with a question mark by my name, basically asking if I could do that. I was intrigued. After researching it quite a bit I embarked on the challenge. I already had a fascination with playing with fire. For me, playing with fire was the easy part, learning how to photograph it properly was a little trickier. The object is to capture the flame in an instant and record all of the different color variations and striations within the flame. If not done correctly you will just end up with a white orange blurry glow”, says Brian Sebastian.
Brian Sebastian and FYRE Photos by Sebastian states:
What we do with these photos is incredibly safe. We are extremely safety conscious. I thoroughly walk each athlete and their parents through the entire process beforehand and explain everything thoroughly. All safety measures are in place. No photos are taken unless the athlete and their parents are 100% comfortable.
The athlete and all equipment/gear leaves in the same exact condition as when they arrived. During the approximately 1-hour photo session we photograph the athlete in multiple poses and then take several Fyre photos of each pose, ensuring a wide variety of wickedly cool shots! Those photos are then edited and digitally sent to the parents and player.
“I genuinely want every kid possible to have photos like this. I have tried to keep this as affordable as possible for that very reason. These are really cool! You can’t walk into any ordinary photo studio and have this done. Photos like this did not exist when I was a kid playing sports, I wish they did. It’s also an awesome experience!”, says Sebastian. You can find them on Facebook at Fyre Photos by Sebastian and on Instagram @fyrephotosbysebastian. Direct message Brian for more details and to set up an appointment.
Brian has been volunteering his time and energy for the Nordonia High School Varsity Hockey team as well as other hockey teams for over eleven years. NHS is lucky to have him at all of the hockey games, riding the bus as part of the team, and capturing all of the photos! Brian has a positive outlook on life and wants to share an inspiring favorite quote of his by John Waire, “In photography and in life, always look for the light, if you don’t see it, bring it.”
Well Brian- that is just what you do for the Nordonia Varsity Hockey team, and now you are sharing it with more people through “FYRE Photos by Sebastian”. The Nordonia Varsity Hockey Team Sincerely Thanks You.
