Burning Man 1997

Some pictures taken at The Burning Man Project in 1997.

29 pairs of pictures; 24 bit JPEG; no gamma correction; 2,799,836 bytes total. The large versions are 50k-170k each.

You click the little picture to get the BIG PICTURE.

Maybe you recognize yourself here. Maybe you want your face obscured so no one else recognizes you. Maybe you want your name added to the caption so everyone recognizes you. Maybe you have a wittier caption. Maybe you should e-mail me and let me know.

  The Man at Night. Steady purple. Intermittent green. People gaze upon him like a Christmas tree.

  Snakes. Snakes emerge from the playa. That's Skip the artist in front. I spent several hours helping to coat this with mud. It burned with the Man.

  Tower. The stage for the opera 'Daughters of Ishtar'. Mud over metal lath. The tower's steel skeleton grew orange hot in the fire but it never did fall.

  The Sphere of Influence. They strap someone in the chair and a couple dozen bystanders roll it about slowly. Loud music and strobe lights add to the effect. Very cool.

  Laughing Scorpion Puppet Theater. Just sitting in the middle of nowhere.

  Spirit of Black Rock. Take a ride.

  The Man. There he is.

  The Man. The Man from below.

  The Secret Chamber. Inside the secret room below the Man. (enhanced image)
The banner is by Carrie Lesperance.
It burned with the Man; although that was not the plan.

  Big Tent. Blowing in the wind.

  The Man. The Man down to have his green lights installed. Note the cables and pulleys that raise his arms.

  The Man. The Man down for a little midday nap.

  Me. I figured that if I was going to show other na ked people that it was only fair to show myself too. I went about nu de from Thursday through Sunday. I was used to it by Friday. Once you have seen your first 200 na ked people the novelty is gone.
Several people have asked me if it was 'uncomfortable' to ride a bicycle nu de. Strangely enough that is the only question I was asked. The answer is 'No'. I wore some light shoes that protected my feet from the sharp lumps on the peddles and the hot desert floor. My bottom did get a bit sore from sitting on the plastic saddle for four days. Apart from that and the hot sun I was not in the least bit uncomfortable at all and no I never pinched my testicles.

  White wash. Just adding a new skin color.

  Bubble Machine. Solar powered, computerized, makes bubbles.

  Tesla coil. Makes sparks.

  Painted lady. She also shaves heads.

  The Cult of Callipygos. First they paint your butt then you sit on a sheet to make your butt print then you sign your butt print then they photograph your butt then they wash your butt with sponge and water spray then you spin for a prize and if you win you get it by feeling around inside a big butt.

  Temple of Atonement. This is what happens to people who sell their souls. They also get a free pen.

  Painted People.

  Hamster Wheel. Out for a spin.

  Water Slide You get a good running start and dive.

  Water Truck! Bath time! Bless you mister water truck driver!

  Temporal Decomposition. A big sundial made of solid ice frozen in a big refrigerated mold built right there in the desert. The flame thrower has had it's way with it.

  Fly Hot Springs. That's me in the foreground. I took a disposable camera to the springs and unfortunately this is the only picture that came out fairly well. I don't think it is good to leave cameras in the wet grass under the hot sun. You just had to have been there.

I posed for Spencer Tun ick's mass nu de photograph. Everyone in the picture got an 8x10 print. (I assume it is copyrighted so I won't post the full version here; but it is (or was) posted at Spencer Tun ick's Web site). I am in the 8th row from the far end; tried to get a better spot but I was not going to elbow my way through 150 na ked people to get there!
Afterward someone yelled 'Jumping Jacks!'. So we did.

  The Man burns. First go the feet and hands.

  The Man burns bright. He is stuffed with fireworks.

  The Man Burns. See the man. See the man burn. Burn man burn!

  The Man Falls. The crowd closes in ...

Burning Man 1998 Pictures
Burning Man 1999 Pictures
Burning Man 2000 Pictures
Burning Man 2001 Pictures
Burning Man 2002 Pictures
Burning Man 2003 Pictures
Burning Man official Web site