Burning Man 2006Burning Man 2006
Each Burning Man is different. This year had lots of great art and
our mini-village was active with two funded art projects and many
others. We did a power collective with three other camps, running
on recycled biodiesel.
For more information on
Burning Man in general, check out my essays of prior years
such as 2005 and my
Panorama
Intro Page and my 2006 Panorama page
which features the first panoramas of the man burning..
In addition to improving various projects such as the Panorama Wall and
the Phone Booth (which worked almost too well, generating long lines
where people overheated,) I also improved the ATM. Vandals destroyed
the first one so I fortunately brought two.
I did another good aerial survey, but that is not yet up on the site.
Google did a great series in Google Maps, but my survey is much higher
resolution. The problem is I have perhaps 400 shots and no time to
process and label them.
The most exciting new photographic project involved going up on a boomlift
for the burn itself. There's more on that in the section on the burn.
You can read a recent essay on thoughts on the nature of Burning Man.
Are you in here?
If you're in one of these shots naked and don't want to be, let me know
and I'll see if I can find an alternate or blur you. I wasn't always
able to get permission on group shots.
Photography & The Wall
Photos again were taken mostly with the new Canon 20D and Canon G5.
Most panos shot with my 50mm and 20mm prime lenses. Some were with my
new 10-22m super-wide-angle lens designed for the 20D.
The Panorama Wall has gotten so big it had to go double sided. That
also meant it could not have a deep curve. We tried to make it straight,
but that's actually unstable, so it was given a slight curve. People
could still see the photos. Fancier lighting was needed.
Power
Some of you read my essay on
desert power.
This year our camp shared a central generator with Ojai Bureau of
Pleasure, DOTA and Monkey Puzzle. We had to hunt far to find
a supplier who would allow biodiesel. We ended up joining a pool
of 5 such generators (3 for Burning Man itself) that had to be hauled
at huge expense from Las Vegas. But at least we had a carbon-neutral
generator which smelled like French Fries.
Of course, no battle plan survives contact with the playa. We had
a ton of oldtimers rejoin the camp at the last minute and had to
arrange an annex on the other side of the street, and trench
generator wires. Our shipping container got plunked down in
the wrong place in camp, disrupting the camp plan, and structures
got put too close to the esplanade, forcing the photo wall to have to
be on a strange angle and very close to Ed's Oasis dome and the
Mondo Spider garage. It's always something...
I've come to expect chaos, but to my surprise as a 9-time veteran
I managed to get dehydrated on the last day, while tearing down
installations. Due to that I missed the burns of the temple and
Euchronia ("the waffle") which I heard was pretty fast and
spectacular. Another lesson learned.
This year I finally managed to get our quadcycle working.
While not perfect, quadcycles are great for burning man.
Social bicycling, and you can go as slow as you like because
you are stable. I plan to improve it this year and make it
easier to get on and off. I also decked it out with CCFL tubes
to make it glow very brightly on battery power at night.
Your body does something really stupid when you dehydrate.
It throws up. It won't take down water. Without medical
attention, you will die. Seems crazy from an evolutionary
standpoint. I lost my stomach 3 times and took many bags
of fluid before being up for the trip out. So no matter how
experienced you think you are -- drink, drink, drink.
