Burnning Man

[KM-25]

I shot over 50 rolls of Kodachrome in my Leica M6, M3, XPan, Nikon F100 and FM3A. I wont even see the film on the light table until next year when I get home, it went to the lab last week, should be at home waiting for me when I return in January.

But....you'll have to either buy the book ( Color it Rains ) or check out the traveling exhibit of Ilfochrome prints, I no longer post images of people from this project online.

A few of my rigs pictured from another thread:

http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=81318&d=1284510222

Outside of my long time bike and a carbon fiber Gitzo tripod getting stolen, it went really well. Not sure if I will return again due to the fact that the cops busted what might be two big inside bike theft rings and I did not get any of my stolen items back. The crowd broke a record though, over 52,000.

 

[ederek]

Dan - your rig decorations are sweet. Do you always have them taped like that to celebrate Kodachrome color, or just for BM?

It's nice there are people taking photos professionally and I can see those. Not sure what I'll do next year photographically, but I do plan to attend again. May take Mongo (mobile tripod) to a grand scale next year! Left the M4 and film at home as all bags were already 1/2 to 1 pound overweight.. Dang - wish I'd brought the leveling base for the ballhead though! Grr.

Very sorry to hear about the bike and tripod. I brought a travel gitzo but never used it, and the mobile tripod we built for the Stop Motion project got relatively little use. I heard rumors of some thefts from previous years that happened during the burn, when most all camps are empty (cameras were always locked up in a vehicle).

Hope you got to enjoy your time in Black Rock City apart from through the viewfinder. Safe travels to you this fall!!!

 

[RichL]

It's been a few years for me, really hadn't planned on going again (to big and to expensive) . Your pictures have me rethinking the decision... think it will be Playa del Fuego rather than Burning Man though.

 

[robert blu]

Wow, you really make me desiring to go there at least once in my life, but it is so far rom europe and probably need a good planning in advance...mmm...think or dream about ! Nice pictures, hope to see more coming...
robert

 

[dmr]

I've always been curiously interested in this, but in reality the idea of staying out in the middle of nowhere is not that enticing to me. I'm really not the outdoorsy type at all, kind of a spoiled city girl whose idea of roughing it is a hotel without cable TV. 🙂

However, it's intriguing, but not to the degree that I seriously want to do it! I guess that's what the photos are for, huh? 🙂 I'm glad that those who do it enjoy it. 🙂

 

[f16sunshine]

I was planning to go this year but life interrupted. Curious to hear how your gear came out of BRC. The playa gets in everything. That does not mean it's not worth it for the subject. Feedback ?

 

[ederek]

I've always been curiously interested in this, but in reality the idea of staying out in the middle of nowhere is not that enticing to me. I'm really not the outdoorsy type at all, kind of a spoiled city girl whose idea of roughing it is a hotel without cable TV. 🙂 <snip>

dmr - good that youre honest with yourself about the environment. The location was chosen to be harsh, temps can pass 100 degrees in the day, and get very cold at night. Then there are the dust storms requiring goggles and a mask... Thanks for taking a look!

I was planning to go this year but life interrupted. Curious to hear how your gear came out of BRC. The playa gets in everything. That does not mean it's not worth it for the subject. Feedback ?

Wish you the best with your future planning!

I knew there would be a lot of dust, and acquired a neoprene case and stored gear in a Think Tank Int'l traveler in the van. I didn't appreciate how fine the dust is, like a very fine talc that has lime in it and a slight smell of concrete cement to it. Fortunately, gear is fine - though it never really saw dust storms and was mostly protected. Sometimes I didn't even carry a camera, was much more into the experience than shooting.

Tried a crop on this image, chopping bottom to make it an 8x10. Still doesn't feel balanced but a bit better.

btw - the small figure between here legs on the horizon is a person (same height as mountains). Also, the coffee cup on the left isn't part of the local scene, but a 10 foot coffee cup maybe 1/2 mile out there! Interesting sense of scale on the Playa.

 

[ederek]

It's interesting that images such as this with my solar charger assisting a neighbors RV have the most meaning. I didn't go through enough batteries in the digital cameras to even need the charger, though nice to have for future journeys.

Here is one from camp on the first day as the sun fell and Jupiter showed herself.

And sunrise. This is just as the sun shows herself at the horizon line.

Not perfect technically, but at least there is enough detail in the files to crop to a panorama ratio and still have an interesting image.

Here is a 1:1 crop from above. The scale of various silhouettes out to the horizon with the flat Playa is unique. Wish there were more dynamic range - maybe it is time to start playing with HDR. 😱

 

[ederek]

In the post with the Portrait Wagon, I mentioned the Temple which burns on Sunday, the day following the burning of the man.

Temple, BM 2010

Start of the Temple burn

The videographer silhouetted here is feeling some serious heat.

The structure showing as the burn continues

The temple burn is a very somber time, with intense meaning for many burners. I only took a few images, and was very glad for the relatively quiet shutter.