About These Photos

It's no exaggeration to say Burning Man is one of the world's coolest and most mind-blowing gatherings. It's not quite an art festival, not quite a desert rave, and not quite a social experiment, but something of all three. The event is a week-long celebration of free-form creativity and radical self-expression held each year in Nevada's Black Rock Desert.

Burning Man takes place in a temporary "city" some five miles wide that rises out of a dry lakebed toward summer's end, only to vanish again after the event is over. For a few brief days, the ephemeral metropolis known as Black Rock City ranks among the largest communities in the state of Nevada.

It's a place of breathtaking diversity—a coming together of freethinking artists, dancers, performers, DJs, musicians, designers, and exhibitionists of every stripe. It's also a place of whimsical art installations, startlingly decorated art cars, pulsating soundscapes and wacky theme camps, all set against an uncommonly beautiful natural backdrop.

Burning Man 2015 will be remembered for the wind, the dust, and the unseasonably cold temperatures. But it was also a year of first-rate art installations, stunning fire performances, startling art cars, burning pianos flying through the air, and much else besides.

Shooting on Assignment

It was my 4th year shooting on assignment for Rolling Stone and if you head over to their site you'll find about 20 fully-captioned images of mine gathered under the heading, "See Trippy, Surreal Photos From Burning Man 2015." As I mentioned last year, I don't see my Burning Man photos as especially "trippy." I think there are other photographers who do that better than me. But "surreal"? Yes, when I'm lucky.

I find that Burning Man is often absurd, occasionally hilarious, frequently insane, and always wildly entertaining. And there is a surfeit of artistry, creativity, silliness, and sheer absurdity. The foreign and the familiar often come together in startling ways. That certainly makes for an element of surrealism.

If you're interested in my reflections on why I love making pictures at Burning Man, check out this 3-minute video clip recently produced by Discovery's This Happened Here. I also say more about my Burning Man photography in an in-depth interview with Pocko Times.

The Documentation Team

In addition to covering the event for Rolling Stone, I was part of the Burning Man Documentation Team for the seventh straight year. The Doc Team is a small group of photographers invited to capture the event for the organization. Every year we do our best to document the full range of art installations, theme camps, mutant vehicles, and scheduled performances at the event.

After twelve years at Burning Man, it's safe to say that my photography has changed and evolved. But the basic impulse remains unchanged — to try in some small way to capture the beauty, the creativity, the whimsy, the madness and the sheer outrageous good fun of it all. I'm always gratified when non-burners appreciate the photos, but my primary goal is to share them with those who were at the event and, to whatever extent I can, contribute a little creativity of my own to the overall experience.

A Note on Equipment

I shot a total of about 4,500 frames over the course of 7 days. (Due to negligence on my part, not all of them survived.) As in previous years, I shot all the images using Canon DSLRs. I brought out three this year, each with a dedicated lens. This is my preferred way of avoiding lens changes and not subjecting cameras to corrosive alkali dust. I also brought a film camera this year, but as things turned out it never left the bag.

I get a lot of questions about my gear, and people wonder how I protect it in such a harsh environment. The answer is I don't. For an interesting discussion about this, have a look at the thread on Flickr titled How do you keep your camera from getting dusty at Burning Man? See also playa photographer Curious Josh's Short Camera Tips for Burning Man.

Gratitude and Acknowledgments

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. It takes a special patience to put up with tiresome photographers sticking their equipment in your face—pointing lenses at your tattoos, your necklaces, your derriere. 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. You can reach me at scott@scottlondon.com.