Mistry first toted a rented box camera on a thousand-mile motorcycle tour he took in the 1980s. “Results were surprising,” he says from his home in Valsad, India. “In some photographs, legs were not there, and in others heads were missing.” So the nascent photographer went back to the basics, studying NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC photos to improve his own. The fiery results speak for themselves. While touring Shekhawati in northern Rajasthan, the retired office assistant froze this flamethrower on film—and succeeded on his fourth attempt at our photo contest.

Camera: Nikon N8008s; lens: 75-300mm zoom; film: Kodak Ektachrome E100FW

Trip courtesy of Rocky Mountaineer Railtours and American Airlines