Saturday, September 6, 2014

101 Photos from Burning Man 2014, Caravansary




The view from inside the Lost Nomad's of Vulcania
I wasn't going to go this year…really.  But then at the last minute somebody I had never met generously gifted me a ticket and vehicle pass.  Apparently I was supposed to go, so I packed my funky old Toyota pickup in 3 hours and headed for the Black Rock Desert in Nevada, a 10 hour drive from Portland for the 11th time.  I arrived at midnight and pulled over to rest before hitting the line of thousands of vehicles heaped with everything known to man.  It can take several hours of queuing to get in to the temporary city, which numbered 66,000 inhabitants this year, the third largest in Nevada State, if only for a week.  Lightning started to flash all around and then it rained.  The playa, a vast pancake flat dry lake bed made of gypsum turns in to a layer of glue when its wet and it becomes impossible to drive.  So perhaps 10,000 people became stranded in line all day Monday while many thousands more were turned back at the road.  A muddy party developed around the hundreds of RV's, trucks, and cars as DJ's set up sound systems and people started socializing and dancing and barbecuing.  The playa dried enough by sundown to reopen the gates and we flowed in.  I arrived at Dustfish, where I camp on the Esplanade at midnight, taking 24 hours from when I arrived to get all the way in, a record wait.  Let the fun begin!

Girl Scout Group 666
I am a documentarian at heart, probably a symptom of OCD, and I take a lot of pictures.  Thankfully I took photography classes in college and over the years have learned to take good pictures.  I crop them and edit them ruthlessly.  This year I have whittled them down to 101 images that show a glimpse of the fantastical wonderland that is Burning Man.  Enjoy.
Entertainment on top at an RV waiting in line to enter Burning Man

Handstand on the Playa


Tutu Tuesday

Eidolon Panspermia Ostentatia Duodenum (epod) by Michael Christian and Dallas Swindle of Berkeley, California

Eternal Return, Zoatrope by Peter Hudson https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/eternal-return-2014--2

Lost Nomads of Vulcania, by John Mross and Archive Designs of Eugene, Oregon

Solar Palms

Come closer...

LOVE

Burning Man Timeline, a history of the event since its beginnings

Wheels of Zoroaster, by Anton Viditz-Ward of Telluride, Colorado

Hayam Sun Temple, by Josh Haywood of London, England

Party on a giant art car

Parasolvent, by Dan Benedict of Anaheim, California

Art cars at night

A DJ at Ego Trip

My friends Aradia and Tiare at the White Procession at the Temple of Grace on Thursday morning

Butoh performance on Thursday morning at the Temple of Grace 

A couple from Santa Barbara, California at the White Procession at the Temple of Grace  

A flock of crows descends on an abandoned art car that had a flat tire

Morning coffee in a dandelion helmet 

A little bowler at Black Rock Toilet Bowl


(In)Visible by Kirsten Berg of Berkeley, California

Sunset and Minaret, by Bryan Tedrick of Glen Ellen, California

A woman writing a message on the base of Embrace, by the Pier Group

Embrace, a 7 story wood sculpture of a couple embracing.  It was burned on Friday morning but I was asleep 
The Man and Wind Horse House, a gateway by Joe Bob Merritt of Gunnison, Colorado
Rainbow Chimes
Desert Island art car
The Monaco art car and Fledgling, a mechanical bird by Christian Ristow of El Prado, New Mexico
Incredible mechanical flowers that open and close
Tessalate steel shapes illuminated from within
Sex Bombe Kabaret at Dustfish
Sex Bombe Cabaret at Dustfish
Socializing in front of Center Camp


Bike Bridge, by Michael Christian of  Berkeley, California, fabricated by 12 young women from Oakland

Base of the Bike Bridge, by Michael Christian
Nap Time in Center Camp

Contact Improv in Center Camp
Infinity Mirror in Center Camp

Sock Savior
Stargazer Lilies

The Temple of Grace, by David Best of Petaluma, California
Inside the Temple of Grace at night, by David Best
Dancetronics all night party before the Embrace burn
Root Society


Macrame Hammocks
A fabulously painted Citroen

Sperm Wind Socks






Giant cock in the Gay Quarter

Playa Fashion
A memorial procession from Dustfish for Lord Huckleberry

Butoh in memory of Lord Huckleberry


The sound booth at Dustfish 

An Israeli man on a bicycle rode up with a bowl of gummy worms.   When I contemplating taking one, he said "Choose wisely".  This is what I got.
Ghost Ship in a dust storm





Zap! by Bruce Miles
(epod) by Michael Christian and Dallas Swindle of Berkeley, California
Deer skull (I don't know the name of this piece)

Add caption

The Temple of Grace, by David Best of Petaluma, California

Black Rock Observatory by Tom Varden

Last Outpost, by Shing Yin Khor

Swinging in the Last Outpost

Sunrise Saloon, at sunset by Thomas Haan and Brian Jones

The Road to Nowhere

Bike Portal by Johnnie Olivan

Cell-Abrate by Shannon Reagan

Detail of Cell-Abrate

Fire procession to burn the Man 

Art car

Pulpo Mechanico art car

Fire cannons

Chatting before the Burn 

The beginning of the burning of the Man
The battery ran out in my camera during the burn

Fiery Tricycle

Coffee and Day glo pastries on an art car

Pulse and Bloom, by Shilo Shiv Suleman, Saba Ghole, and Rohan Dixit of Cambridge, Massachusetts 

Fire in Balance by Patrick Sheam

Inverted flames on the ceiling of Fire in Balance

Mayan Warrior art car 

Crashed out at LumenEssence

Sunrise over the playa

Sunrise and the Minaret by Brian Tedrick

Ecstatic Sunrise

The Lost Tea Party by Alex Wright, aka Wreckage International

Morning on a wood scrap ship art car 
Good morning at the Twerkulator
Gathering on Sunday morning in the Temple of Grace, by David Best

Sleeping in the Temple of Grace 

Offerings in the Temple of Grace 
Sunday morning in the Temple of Grace 

Inside the Temple of Grace 
3 dust devils emerging from the Temple Burn


These images are just of fraction of the experience I had at Burning Man this year.  I cannot begin to express how amazing and wonderful a week it was.  I slipped out as the temple burned and was able to reach the road in less than 2 hours.  It feels like a magnificent dream that soaks in to your pores, made real by the dust coating everything I brought with me.  


Thanks for reading, and viewing, Jeffrey