Burning Man 1998

Some pictures taken at The Burning Man Project in 1998.

31 pairs of pictures; 24 bit JPEG; 1.05 gamma correction; 2,058,082 bytes total. The large versions are about 30k-120k 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.

Last year I carried a camera at all times and exposed 11 rolls of film. The main purpose of this was to induce my friends and relations to join together and create a cool and original theme camp. Unfortunately it failed and instead it just scared the hell out of them so once again I went alone to Burning Man 1998. This year I carried a disposable camera on my bicycle and left the real cameras in the car. At the end of the week I got them out and ran around taking pictures of everything like a damn tourist. With a few exceptions these were taken on Saturday night through Sunday night. The result was fewer good pictures and a very incomplete record but the more important result was that I was able to enjoy myself more by experiencing things directly and without having to drag around and care for a stupid camera. Maybe I won't be needing a camera at all next year.

The Man at night
Just another standard Man image.

The Man and the man
Two guys.

My Camp
Here is my camp. The two right tires of the car are parked right on the plastic; it's not blowing anywhere. After crawling into my nice new shade shelter I soon noticed something very strange; it felt hotter inside than outside! The thermometer soon told the tale: 95° in open shadow and 108° under the blue 'shade'. Spent the afternoons lying in the real shade on the north side of my car. Got to get me a white parachute for next year.
The bicycle's odometer showed 134 miles at the end of the week.

Underground generator
Putting these things in holes muffled the noise somewhat.
But when the playa dried out in 1999 it was found that some of the holes had not been filled in very well and they sank like potholes.

The Toe
On Friday I stubbed my toe on a rebar stake. Broke the nail in half and formed a cute little hinge of skin to swing it sideways on. Turned sort of white and dead looking. This occurred as I was drinking water from the very same bottle that I was going to use to cap the rebar with. Soaked it in H₂O₂ and went to the first-aid station for dressings and a tetanus booster. It got better.

Big wheel bike
Bike with great big wheels.

Land Yacht
She was doing so well until she smacked into the Temple of Rudra. One person was injured falling overboard. It is said that someone had poisoned the Captain with GHB. Afterwards she was cut up and hauled away.

Windsurfers
A standard windsurfer sail mounted on a skate board.

Lost Missile
Anyone missing a missile?
It landed here.

Chapel of the Burning Book
Stained plastic windows lighted from within. Also called the 'Taj Mahal', and 'Plastic Chapel'.

Fire Thistle
A big spiky metal plant with fire on top.

Black Rock Nuclear Reactor
Take the factory tour. Go inside and flip switches until the alarms sound. Teacher makes the children write touching thank you-notes for the company bulletin board.

Air Hug
"The Brainwasher is like a drive-through car-wash; but for people; and without a conveyor belt, and dry. It is a very large tickler."

The Dragon or The Bird or The Butterfly
A big colorful flag thing.
(Someone please tell me the true name of this thing.)

Junkmail Man
Bring your junk mail and dispose of it here.

Tensegrity
A tensile-integrity sculpture. The sticks do not touch each other; they are all hanging from the cords. Here is the view up the center.

Tesla Coil
Eighteen feet high. Built by Greg Leyh of LOD and operated by Dr. MegaVolt. Long sparks reach out and set fire to various amusing objects placed within it's grasp. I made no attempt to photograph it in operation; it is the sort of thing that can only be seen and heard live.

The One Tree
In the day it drips water and at night it spouts fire.
That is me in the foreground; only fair to show myself if I show other na ked people too. I went about nu de most of the week and am now quite used to the idea.

Free Mass Shower
Mud bath alternates with water shower. The worst thing about having a stupid toe wound to keep clean was that I couldn't join in.

Trebuchet
I brought my little trebuchet out to the playa. It throws one pound lead balls 145 feet with good accuracy. I thought this would be a semi-original idea but it turned out that there were three bigger ones out there too. It performed very well until someone burned it late Sunday night.

PVC Trebuchet
This one is by Grover. It is a human powered traction machine that throws beer cans.

Wood Trebuchet
This one is by Joe and Alec. Made all of wood and throws bowling balls and burning hay.

Trebuchet of pipe and wood
A trebuchet made of 1 1/2 inch pipe and plywood. This one is by Ted and friends. Throws large fruit, small appliances, etc.

Temple of the Big Ass SUV
The Big Ass Sport Utility Vehicle burns.

Temple of Rudra
The temple burns very early Sunday morning.

Arms Up
Ready to burn.

Orbicular Affect
One of the four balls burning before the Man. Also another view before burning. Six foot diameter; made of wood scraps.

The Man burns bright
The man goes up in a fierce roar. He is stuffed extra full with fireworks.

Man Burning
The Man burns some more.

Rush Hour
Hurry! Hurry! Break camp quick so we can beat the traffic!
Let's see ... clickclickclick ... 15,000 people ... 3 people per car ... 5 seconds per car ... single lane ... only ... 7 hours!
Better keep that engine running!
For my part I whiled away the last day by eating, sleeping, packing, and wandering about the open playa filling trash bags with tiny specks of other peoples litter. Sat out one last dust storm, took a bath in the last of my bulk water, gave spare food and bottled water to the cleanup crew and drove non stop out the gate towards home.

Burning Man 1997 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