Burning Man 2007



So here are my Burning Man 2007 pictures. This was my second year at Burning Man and I camped with some great Santa Cruz burners I met through tribe.net. They say that your first burn is the always best, but I actually had a better time than the last year. I was better prepared this year, I was much less stressed out about logistical stuff, and I really liked the people I camped with. (You all rock!)

The only "catch" for me this year was that I needed to leave early. My cousin was getting married in Colorado on Saturday (the day the Man normally burns). My original plan was to stick around until late, late Friday night and see the Mutaytor perform before the big Crude Awakening burn - a 100-foot wooden oil derrick was to be torched with 2000 gallons of propane - the biggest burn ever on the playa. Seems like something worth sticking around for, eh? And then after that I'd drive back to Reno, sleep in the van for a couple hours, then catch my early morning flight to Denver. But as luck would have it, a wicked wind storm (and a bit of rain) hit the playa hard for most of Friday afternoon, and by Friday evening it was announced that the the Crude Awakening burn was to be delayed until Saturday night. So I decided to head back to Reno Friday evening. Next year, I don't care who's getting married, if you have the wedding on Labor Day weekend, I'm not coming! So if you're wondring why there aren't any photos of any of the big burns, that's why. I left before any of them happened. And the wedding was great, thanks for asking!

As it is, Burning Man is kind of a strange place to take pictures anyway. On one hand, there's no shortage of visual stimulus. But on the other hand, there's so much to do and see and experience there, it feels kind of dumb to be tinkering with a camera all the time. Still, there were a few things I wanted to try to capture. Last year I brought my little Sony digital which takes surprisingly good pictures by day, but not-so-great pictures at night. This year I brought a Canon DSLR, a few lenses, and a tripod so I was able to take some decent night shots. I also brough the Sony again, and kept it stashed in my backpack. I took a few day shots with it as well as some video. So without further ado...

The Photo Album

The video opens with some footage of a radio-controlled clam one of the guys at Black Rock Lemonade put together. The main body of the clam is an ice chest containing some icy-cold beers. It's only a matter of time before someone decides to grab one.

The video in .ASF format (12 MB)

The same video in MPEG-1 format (31 MB)

I'm on a slow-ass server, and the files are large, so please be patient.

Dave