Spotlight

Burning Man

Burning Man is a festival held in the Nevada high desert during the week leading up to Labor Day. It's on Black Rock Desert, an ancient dry lakebed (playa) of enormous proportions. It's so huge and flat that the current land speed record of 763 mph was set there in 1997 by the jet engine powered Thrust SSC, becoming the first car to go supersonic. During the rowdy early years of Burning Man, people would set their own speed records. This was stopped after some tragedies.

Besides being an amazing art festival, one thing that makes Burning Man unique is that it's completely non-commercial. You can't even barter -- it's a gift economy. If someone approaches you, it's most likely to offer you something: some fruit; performance art; a random invitation to a tasty feast. And gift givers don't expect anything in return, except a smile. This changes the dynamic between people in an extraordinary way.

There is some "official" sponsored art--which can be spectacular--but Burning Man is primarily the collective creation of ~~10,000~~ ~~20,000~~ ~~30,000~~ ~~40,000~~ 50,000+ inventive folks, independent of each other. Who might not be 100% sure if what they're bringing will work. But it usually does; and if not, that's Burning Man too.

Here are photos from Burning Man, organized by year from 2001-2011. You can also see a selection of my all-time favorite Burning Man photos in my Burning Man Gallery.

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