What can be said or written about "Burning Man" that hasn't already been written and said before? If you were to tell your friends that you planned on taking a mountain bike out to the arid Nevada desert and were going to ride around in 44 degree Celsius heat in choking alkali dust for eight days and that you had to bring all of your food and liquids with you for that eight day period and that you planned on sleeping out in the dust in a tent, your friends would probably think you were nuts. If you then described that in fact you were going to be joined by 79,999 other people (creating the third largest city in the entire state of Nevada for that eight day period), and everything was sectioned into camps that created themes ranging from yoga to Reiki massage to bicycle fixing to giving really bad advice to crude sex games to taco stands to snow cone stands to ice cream stands to every type of theme under the sun you can think of, and added in music venues blasting out house music 22 hours a day, then added in "mutant art cars", many of which blasted propane fire or had laser beams, then added in over 400 pieces of incredible art placed out in the desert, (much of it to be burned), and then stirred in the ten "principals" of the event: (1) Radical inclusivity, (2) Communal effort, (3) Radical self expression, (4) Radical self reliance, (5) Decommodification, (6) Gifting, (7) Civic responsibility, (8) Leave no trace, (9) Participation, and (10) Immediacy, you wouldn't be thought of as crazy at all. You'd be experiencing the event known as "Burning Man." It is truly a unique event, and this year was my fourth time experiencing the people and the culture of it all. It was by far my "most fun" year at "the burn" and further solidified my firm decision to have this event on my yearly calendar. Once again I was torn between riding around on my bike searching for image opportunities and just putting my camera down and enjoying the event for what it is. I, once again, did a little of both. I hope that these images entice you to experience the event yourself.
© Steve Tambosso - "The Wandering Fireman"
