PIT FIRING CLAY POTTERY Paipai Kumeyaay Yuman Pictures

The Indigenous peoples of California have been pit firing clay pottery ollas in the Southern California and northern Mexico area for THOUSANDS of years using the pit-fire method pictured in these photographs.

The photos were taken in a rural Mexico mountain area that had no wired electricity, so the area was wilderness dark except for the moonlight, starlight and glowing burn pit fire embers.

The Indigenous pottery makers dig a shallow pit in the Earth, place the clay ollas pottery in the pit, and pile the dried yucca stocks on top and set fire to it. The pit firing process is usually burned during the night, after the wind dies down, to allow the pottery to heat and cool down more evenly.

If this photo was taken a little earlier in the pit firing process, the pottery would show more dramatic red and orange glowing hotspots. The unique burn patterns seen on finished California Indian clay pottery are the result of hot spots, uneven temperatures, during the firing process.

Kumeyaay Paipai superstition warns against anyone observing the pit firing process - because looking at or allowing anyone to see the burn fire is considered bad luck and will cause the pots to crack - so the potters took a chance letting the photographer take these pictures.

WHAT MAKES THESE PICTURES TECHNICALLY INTERESTING:

• The photograph was taken with a digital camera around midnight using ONLY the full moon as lighting.

• The camera shutter was left open for 120 seconds - two full minutes - for the sensor (film) to gather enough light to expose detail.

WHAT MAKES THESE PICTURES CREATIVELY INTERESTING:

• The pit fire surely would look the same if it was taken a thousand years ago....

Picture shows countryside above pitfire photo, both photos taken same time with similar camera exposures. Notice the horizontal movement in the stars?

NO ARTIFICIAL LIGHTING was used to produce these photographs, only the full moon light, star light was around to expose the photograph.