About These Photos

 

2014 marked my eleventh consecutive year at Burning Man. It was a rollercoaster ride of extreme highs and lows. If you've ever had a kidney stone, you know how painful it can be. I passed one 15 years ago, so when that familiar pain hit me on the drive out to the event, I knew I was in for a tough week—and it was. I spent much of it back at camp just dealing with cramps and nausea. But I also had a few days when the pain seemed manageable, so I tried to make the most of them.

The week started off with a dramatic thunderstorm, one that actually shut down the event for almost 24 hours. The rains—a rare occurrence at that time of year—left many people stranded at the gate, or on the long road leading out to the Black Rock Desert. But it also offered up a perspective of Burning Man I had never seen before. Open desert, stormy skies, and a vast, deserted playground of large-scale art installations. Thankfully, the weather improved by midweek and was nearly perfect for the remainer of the event.

I photographed for Rolling Stone again this year. A mixup at the editorial desk meant that the assignment wasn't confirmed till I was already at the event. I was doped up on painkillers when I finally got the news, and I remember laughing at the prospect of doing any work of any kind in my state. Fortunately, I was able to get out and shoot and managed to file a set of images by week's end.

You can view the Rolling Stone photos online under the title, "Burning Man 2014's Trippiest Photos." I'm not sure how "trippy" they are. (Frankly, I think other photographers do "trippy" better than me.) But I did try to capture some of what the Rolling Stone editors called "the desert festival's coolest cars, happiest campers and most mind-blowing art installations."

I shot a total of about 2,800 frames over the course of 7 days — about half the number from last year. As in previous years, I shot all the images using Canon DSLRs. I brought out four this year, each with a dedicated lens. This is my preferred way of avoiding lens changes and subjecting cameras to corrosive alkali dust.

For more on my Burning Man photography — what first inspired me to get into it, how my approach has evolved over the years, and what equipment I use — check out a couple of new interviews. The first appears in the August 2014 issue of Photography Monthly magazine — you'll find it here. The second is a podcast about fine art photography, recently launched by John David Tupper, called Photographer in Focus. John and I spend a full hour talking shop, getting into many aspects of the photographer’s life, from keeping the creative spark alive to maintaining your equipment to becoming a curator of your own work.

If you want to be in touch, I'd love to hear from you. You can reach me at scott@scottlondon.com.