The annual Burning Man festival held in the Nevada desert is a photographer’s dream: A surreal landscape populated by bizarre machines, monstrous, mind-boggling art projects, and the world’s most outrageously costumed characters all trying to outdo each other with sheer creativity. Each year approximately 50,000 people attend this weeklong event, and for many photographers it is the annual pilgrimage not to be missed.
You can see some of my own Burning Man pictures from nearly a decade at this event in my small gallery on this site, or in my larger site devoted entirely to Burning Man photography: Burnmonkey.com
Burning Man is also a challenge for photographers. The environment is unforgiving, with frequent dust storms that can destroy a camera in minutes. The relentless sun can be a threat not only to your body, but also to your photos, if you don’t learn how to use it to your advantage. And the challenge of getting artistic shots when surrounded by a less-than-attractive tent-city of 50,000 people is one that many amateur photographers never seem to overcome.
So I created a 5-part tutorial at my Burnmonkey site called “How to Take Better Photos at Burning Man (and Beyond!)” in order to share some of my experience from many years of shooting at this event.
Whether you’re an amateur with a point-and shoot camera, or an experienced photographer thinking of going to Burning Man for the first time, I hope you will find something in there that helps you come home from Burning Man with photos that make you proud.
You can access the tutorial here.
April 7, 2011Thanks for this post (along with the class!) I am just getting stetard since I had to save my pennies for LR. So far everything has pulled in perfectly and the one time I made the mistake of importing improperly this post showed me how to fix it.Even before I get to the next steps I can already see that I am going to LOVE LR. I used it this morning while buying some new digi products and it was so simple to make sure I didn’t buy anything I already owned.I’m going to hate it when my 30 day trial of PS5 is done. It’s amazing, but it will take much longer to save all THOSE pennies!two questions I noticed quite a few jpg’s and several psd’s had to be saved using the maximize psd function in Photoshop. Is it somewhat standard for designers to not use this when creating products? One designer has her psd’s locked. Is there a way to unlock them to maximize psd function or are they doomed for Bridge only?Hope you’re feeling better.