About These Photos

2011 marked the 25th anniversary of Burning Man, and it really felt massive this time — from the huge crowds (nearly 54,000, according to reports) to the sheer size of Black Rock City, which was scaled up this year and was in fact so big that there were large parts of it I never got to see. There were many impressive installations, vehicles, camps and performances in 2011, but I found myself mostly drawn to the beautiful and creative people. This is reflected in the sizeable number of portraits in this year's set.

It was an almost perfect year in every respect. My one complaint is that the weather was a little too nice! Except for a few clouds and a colorful sunset on Wednesday, the skies were clear all week. And while the dust kicked up a bit on Tuesday and Wednesday, it died down almost completely by week's end. This means that finding good light, or even some dust, to shoot by was a real challenge.

It was my eighth consecutive year at Burning Man. As in previous years, I shot all the images digitally with a pair of trusty Canon DSLRs using a combination of lenses. The cameras took a beating, as always, but they performed flawlessly all week — all the more impressive given that my "classic" 5D has been out to the playa six years in a row.

As always, I'm grateful to the many wonderful people of Burning Man who freely consented to let me photograph them in the act of dancing, stilt-walking, hooping, making art, or simply being beautiful. I don't take that permission for granted. My art, such as it is, would not be possible without that open consent and participation. So thank you.

If you want to be in touch, I'd love to hear from you. Feel free to connect on Facebook as well, where I have a few additional photos and where you can leave comments and criticism.

Photo by Douglas Hooper