12 years of Giant Black Rock City Panoramas

VR Tour

Each year at Burning Man I shoot a giant panorama of the whole city, from some high point on the Esplanade and near center camp. These images tend to be very long and narrow, from 15 to 24 times longer than they are tall, but sharp enough to print 24 feet long. They get displayed on the playa in coming years. Here is a gallery of the giant panos from 1998 to 2009.

While each city is different, you may also want to browse some other favourites of different styles on the Sampler page or visit selected panoramas of the world.

On the playa in 2009, I erected a wall featuring all these shots from 1998-2008 in two 41" high by 9' wide segments. These segments are available as prints.

burn98.jpg (21000 x 971 - 4010K) or VR/Zoom!	360° (Guess) Full size is 29963 x 1385 (41 Megapix) (13' 10" x 8" at 180PPI)
Detailed view of 1998 from Refinery

Not up to today's standards, but 1998 was the first, shot with an old 35mm point and shoot! Thanks Tower Camp.

burn99-narrow.jpg (21000 x 891 - 3677K) or VR/Zoom!	360° x 15° (Set) Full size is 23778 x 1009 (24 Megapix) (11' x 6" at 180PPI)
Detailed shot of BRC

1999 shot with an 85mm zoom lens on 35mm film from mini-BRC tower on center camp ring.

firstcamp.jpg (11369 x 1100 - 2016K) or VR/Zoom!	360° x 34° (Set) Full size is 29776 x 2881 (86 Megapix) (13' 4" x 16" at 185PPI)
First Camp

2000 was from the First Camp viewing platform -- there was no tower.

aln50.jpg (16025 x 1100 - 2614K) or VR/Zoom!	360° x 24° (Set) Full size is 29398 x 2018 (59 Megapix) (13' 7" x 11" at 180PPI)
BRC from Stoke'n Poke

2001: Thanks to Stoke 'n Pokes Game-a-lot for a tower.

fribm02.jpg (16490 x 1100 - 2363K) or VR/Zoom!	360° x 24° (Set) Full size is 44778 x 2987 (134 Megapix) (19' 4" x 16" at 192PPI)
Friday afternoon, storm approaches, from keyhole

2002 was my first year with digital, but a great tower in center camp and some great luck with interesting weather produced one that is still my favourite today.

bm03.jpg (14793 x 1100 - 1801K) or VR/Zoom!	360° x 26° (Set) Full size is 53107 x 3949 (210 Megapix) (17' 4" x 16" at 254PPI)
Embassy Camp high-res

This 2003 shot, from our own camp at 7, used the latest Canon 1ds, creating one of the most detailed shots I ever made at the time. It centers on the playa, rather than the city.

cherrylong.jpg (16142 x 1100 - 2043K) or VR/Zoom!	360° x 24° (Set) Full size is 43995 x 2998 (132 Megapix) (18' 11" x 16" at 193PPI)
Detail view of whole city from cherry picker

While 10am was a lousy time to shoot the 2004 shot -- poor light, few people out -- this boomlift perspective allowed me to sit exactly in the weighted center of the city to capture its shape in an understandable way.

ccamp50.jpg (16073 x 1100 - 2267K) or VR/Zoom!	360° x 24° (Set) Full size is 50922 x 3485 (177 Megapix) (18' 10" x 16" at 224PPI)
Sunset over Center Camp, detailed

2005 from a boomlift over center camp cafe.

carp50.jpg (17217 x 1100 - 1875K) or VR/Zoom!	360° x 23° (Set) Full size is 52998 x 3386 (179 Megapix) (20' 3" x 16" at 218PPI)
BRC, detailes from 5 and Esplanade, Friday afternoon

2006 from Camp Carp, 5 and Esplanade.

sec50_cropped_1.jpg (16444 x 1100 - 2054K) or VR/Zoom!	360° x 24° (Set) Full size is 50706 x 3392 (172 Megapix) (19' 4" x 16" at 218PPI)
Detailed shot, 6:45 and Esplanade, Wednesday sunset

2007 from Anti-Camp, 6:45 and Esplanade

virgins-50.jpg (16492 x 1100 - 1891K) or VR/Zoom!	360° x 24° (Set) Full size is 56913 x 3796 (216 Megapix) (19' 4" x 16" at 244PPI)
Black Rock City 6:45 and Esplanade, Wednesday sunset

2008 from Space Virgins, 6:30 and Esplanade

prom-50-fri.jpg (10354 x 1100 - 1370K) or VR/Zoom!	360° x 38° (Set) Full size is 51403 x 5461 (281 Megapix) (12' 2" x 16" at 352PPI)
BRC from 6:40 and Esplanade, Detailed

2009 from Prometheatrix, 7:15 and Esplanade

dota-maga-360.jpg (21000 x 1076 - 3668K) or VR/Zoom!	360° x 18° (.pano) Full size is 155093 x 7948 (1233 Megapix) (25' 2" x 16" at 512PPI)
1.2 gigapixel BRC from 6:30 and Esplanade, 5pm Wednesday

2010 Super-giant image from DOTA camp on Ring Road near 6:30 & Esplanade.

prom-360.jpg (21000 x 577 - 2086K) or VR/Zoom!	360° x 9° (Exif) Full size is 191092 x 5255 (1004 Megapix) (47' x 15" at 339PPI)
Gigapixel BRC from Prometheatrix

2011 Gigapixel image from Prometheatrix, Esplanade and 7

cat-burnday.jpg (9689 x 1100 - 773K) or VR/Zoom!	360° x 40° (Set) Full size is 96696 x 10978 (1061 Megapix) (11' 5" x 16" at 708PPI)
Gigapixel of playa on Burn Day

Gigapixel image of the playa on Saturday, Esplanade and 7:30

2016-2019

While I did not attend Burning Man in these years, I still made panoramas, working with the live Webcast camera. As such, they are not super high quality, but they do show the city from a high view.

Webcast Panorams of 201x Black Rock City

Why is the playa a different colour in many of these shots? From 2002 onwards the colour is accurate with a camera set for a sunlit scene. However, 2003, 2005, 2007 and 2008 were shot near sunset. 2001 and before were shot on film and film scanners tend to colour correct in ways that are harder to predict.