I rung the bell, laid in the alkaline dust, and shed my “virgin” status last year – I attended Burning Man for the first time. I made the trip on a whim with friend and filmmaker, Zac Polhamus. In the interest of photography, we wondered the playa exclusively on foot. Black Rock City is so vast, we made a decision to gravitate towards the monolithic art pieces. The frequent and camera-killing dust storms prevented us from conversing much. However, the people we met along these routes were generally on a pilgrimage of some sort of enlightenment. What was particularly striking is that almost everyone we met came from a vastly different walk of life. We briefly ventured into the ancillary campsites. There, we found a much more frivolous crowd. We didn’t have time to explore the occultist world of tents. Which is probably best; considering there would have been a conflict of interest. There is a certain type of consideration when taking photographs – on one hand, this is our form of art. On the other hand, photography is often invasive – in a culture where many people enjoy the aninimity. The nights are hard to imagine. There is no gridded electricity, yet luminous LEDs light the landscape – literally as far as the eye can see. Sillouttes and sporadic traffic channels give some sort of scale. Yet, being lost in a sea of 70,000 people feels really freeing. This is our journey. If you dig, please share!
My photography from the trip is available at http://ift.tt/28YQqYb
Cast: Derek McCoy and Zac Polhamus
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