My dad is the original Dion McInnis photographer, a student of the craft since he got his first camera at 9 years old. He shot the first years of Bonfire off campus back when I was a Grey Pot.
When I first picked up a camera to take pictures of my daughter not yet born some years after those fires, I asked Dad “How do I take pictures?”
“Read my book,” he said.
“Really,” I said.
“OK. Photography is seeing pictures, not taking them. Find something you can see with your eyes closed. Shoot what you already know how to see and you’ll learn how to take photos.”
And so I came to Bonfire. Now that little girl, the inspiration behind picking up a camera, is as old as her grandfather when he first picked up a camera. Already no stranger to a camera or an axe, it’s a thrill to see that this next generation can see Bonfire so clearly and in her own way.
What follows are a few scenes, each the same moment through the lens of a Dead Grey Pot and his Bonfire-motivated daughter.
Walton does “Work”
Cut Class
Little Motivator
Redass/Dumbass
MotivACe
Making Chips
Taking “Making Chips”
See what others you can spot in the complete Family Cut collection.