Camp Envy 2014

[OatmealMama]

...wait....

You have a dog?

[Captain Goddammit]

if you're running an Apple product, good luck with that...I'm sure a genius at the smart bar will be here to serve you shortly...

Plays fine on my MacBook Pro! No hassle whatsoever, just click on it and watch. No luck needed.

[delle]

THIS...just begins to capture the beauty of the billions of moments simultaneously occurring every second...


(photo by Ian Norman)

70,000 people interacting with each other help to create over 4.9 BILLION moments!!!...
that's 4,900,000,000!!!...
there are more moments created just at Burning Man than there are stars visible in our night sky...

take a moment to GAZE at just a few of those 4.9 billion moments
captured by Trey Ratcliff...
http://stuckincustoms.smugmug.com/Burning-Man-Page

Wow! That link is just chock full of stunning. Thanks for sharing this, Professor.

[Professor Pickle]

...and so, it begins...

We go LIVE at 10 am, Sunday...



http://www.ustream.tv/burningman

[RedHeaven]

I would love to partake in Camp Envy!

Home chillin'.....And I'm a MERE 4 hours away from BRC. FUUUUCK.

It sure is beautiful first world torture.

Thanks, Professor Pickle!

Our mission is to comfort the disturbed, and to disturb the comfortable. Word!!

THis is the first time I have taken off 2 years in a row since I started going. Ouchie Wa wa.

I'll probably be poking my head in here throughout the week. Love!

[moonrise]

Thanks for the ~Beautastic Gifties~ Professor Pickle and the Camp Envy crew!

W'll see you in the ether net....

peace, moon and friends and family

[Hoolie]

Went to my first burn in 2000, but have returned only four times since then, so naturally I have spent several burns with Camp Envy in recent years. You guys are the best. The stream seems to be hit & miss at the moment, but it looks great when it's up. (Playa surface is looking a bit rough this year!)

[Hoolie]

The Black Rock Observatory
concept: Tom Varden
dome design: Gregg Fleischman
lighting consultant: P_P
http://www.blackrockobservatory.com/

Arrgh, you're killing me. That is so cool, and located in my favorite place, the deep playa. Hoping they will return next year!

PS: Nice shout-out to Tyson & Sagan.

[Hoolie]

Pretty.

[RedHeaven]

HI, CAMP! How y'all doing? I think I feel better this week than I did last week. I had bad Fear of missing out last week, I seem to be getting used to it. Glad to make it to Camp Envy.

[moonrise]

Nice pic hoolie!

Hiya RedHeaven

Perhaps I'll see ya'll in CE...

Remember tinkermom's secret password (pineapple) haha!

[delle]

Surely you mean Tinkerapple's secret password Pinemom?

[moonrise]

Hiya Delle Since they're at TTITD and we're not, I'm sticking to "pineapple" but I got that member's only joke anywho...

I'm in and out of the CE chats etc. Especially today NOW because a local cop in my sleepy town just walked onto my property and squirted one of my Rottweilers with pepper spray. Fuck.
I asked if he hit her and he said he didn't know. I'm checking her all over and (after appeasing the cop..hmm...he was asking me to look out for some stolen mtn bikes) I will either be rushing her into the shower or the lake, just in case (I'm wiping her down because I'm not sure if shower or lake will spread the spray into her eyes!) She's not trained to be an attack dog, she's a pet! Btw, my town has a crime rate of about 0.01! I'm considering contacting the family lawyer(s) to sue. I have witnesses, so we'll see.

Back to the dog situation...and CE, too. Dog takes priority, she seems calm, for now, but holy moly!

peace, moon

[Canoe]

I love watching the playa webcam.
Much thanks.

Saw someone move the camera to follow a dust-devil making its way across the playa. They panned back to the Man just as the dust-devil started into the city, around 4:00 to 5:00.
It would be interesting to follow a dust-devil as it moved through the city, so we have footage to show people why they need to take securing their structures and loose property seriously.

[moonrise]

Nice screen shots canoe...keep 'em coming, please.

Seems letting the dog roll around in the dirt and on the ground is the best treatment for any possible pepper spray (I was told by many friends and neighbors that water can make it worse) that may have hit her.

So far, she seems okay, yay!

Now me and mine can go back to Camp Envy and online burning, with the dogs no less, haha!

[Captain Goddammit]

I'm simultaneously thankful for the webcam and bothered by it existing.

[Canoe]

I'm simultaneously thankful for the webcam and bothered by it existing.

What!!!
You told me we were having a competition to see who could watch the most live!

[Captain Goddammit]

Technology is inevitable, especially at Burning Man, but when the whole internet gets to actually watch what's going on in camps and shit, well, that's gonna suck. I don't doubt the cameras will get that good at some point.

[pizzamancer]

Camp Envy sucks this year

[moonrise]

Nah, it's much better than last year imho.

Thanks CE!

[Sandstorm]

Professor Pickle: Thank you so much for re-posting "The Burning Man Experience"; it so aptly describes what it's like to be on the playa for a week (or longer).

I love the video feed from the "playa cam". This year I ended up having to bail on my burn the night before I was meant to leave for Reno. The video feed of the burn and my fellow stranded burners are helping to make this week a lot more positive than I would have expected it to be.

Also, I'm not sure if anyone else caught it but yesterday the video feed included live footage being shot by one or more drones. I just happened to go to the link when that event took place. Here's the link to that video clip, which is just over 11 minutes long.

[Canoe]

It's also the recorded stream that fed BMIR on the audio track, while they had the interview with Lawyers for Burners.

viewtopic.php?f=372&t=71722
starts at around 3:38

[Professor Pickle]

OVERWHELMED <3!!!

People actually read my posts...your feedback is such a gift for my heart...it shows that I may have helped you find connections...

I apologize for my snarky comment about Apple products...I am biased based on what I can afford right now...1's and 0's don't care what kind of machines they run through...

I'm glad you are all (except the intentionally snarky) having a good time this year...the Aerial Webcam was a lovely addition to the way we connect to the art and our community...

http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/51951569

we even got to see a wedding of the man who designed and assembled the Man this year, by drone...despite your opinions of aerial drones, they provide a perspective that few get to view...drones and the way they have been responsibly operated are not nearly as invasive as a "tourist" on the ground sticking a camera at your boobs during critical tits...

at any rate, pull up a seat, share your stories and get to know each other...

you are all WELCOME!!!

~P_P

[Sandstorm]

Canoe: Thanks for pointing out that info.

Professor Pickle: In regards to your comments about drones and tourists filming boobs I thought that I'd share with you a link that I made last year, post-burn. I fully agree with you about the unique perspective provided to us by footage of the burn that's been recorded by UAVs. Separately, last year I had a run in at The Temple with a drone and it's dumbass operators. On the last page of the below thread there's a few posts of mine in which I fully explain the encounter that I had at The Temple with Team Dumbass and their drone. I'm curious to know how the dynamics between UAVs and the general population of BRC are playing out at this year's burn. Dusty hugs!

viewtopic.php?p=984140#p984140

[Professor Pickle]

Sandstorm, what a rotten experience...I'm very sorry...

not to make excuses for irresponsible behavior, but this comes from someone who was inexperienced, inconsiderate, and clearly feels entitled to play with their new toy at any cost...

one of the things I pointed out earlier about the webcam drone is that it is operated by a responsible pilot (@echeng)...this being said, they are aware of the scope of the space and fly in response to that...in these public lands, we create sacred spaces by our actions...these spaces are easily violated by those not aware or considerate of their surroundings...just as you would mindfully and respectfully redirect the energy of someone who is not aware of their disruptive or disrespectful behavior, so too should the effort be made to educate operators of technology that can take away from interpersonal and immediate connectivity...

by flying at a higher altitude, using larger props and lower fan speeds, using large helium balloons, and using better imaging technology, we can capture some of the beauty of the space and its art and share it with the world without disrupting the event or community...on the flip side, there are 70k other people in a small parcel of land and we are bound to step on each others toes from time to time (sound camps, explosions, bullhorns, etc,) as the playa is rife with a cacophony of disruptions...

now, on the surface, this may seem hypocritical for me to say these things, given the nature of a webcam, but we are making efforts to bridge that gap and one day, through telepresence or other means, we can one day bring people to places they cannot visit in person and interact as sacredly as if they were in the same room...

but we're learning as we go...this is a nascent step...one of many growing pains that we learn from for the future of the event to continue broadcasting effectively and responsibly for our community in the general public...

it's not a perfect model, but I feel it helps us to connect in a way that is more visceral, immediate, and sensual than simply looking at a photograph...

http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/52028724



agree? / disagree? / thoughts?

[Canoe]

Agree.

But with a fixed image, one spends more time processing the image and in contemplation, without further distraction from an ongoing input.

Similar, but rather different.

Not as big of a difference, but you get near the same difference for processing a fixed view video vs. a panned shot.
I find that the fast pans are a waste. Not enough time to process anything (or quite literally for the camera/feed to display it). The slow pans, particularly wider angle, I find rather interesting.

I found the mini aerial tour of the playa between center camp and the man very interesting, for that view we don't ever see in real life. I wouldn't want to watch an hour of it.
Same for the aerial of this the Burn of Embrace. Very interesting, but after having an aerial look, I wanted to go back to "what I'd see" if I were there on the playa.

Personally, I would think a regular 360 pan (or as near as practical), taking say 20 seconds to a minute, once an hour, would be rather interesting.
I find that their aiming at another area (center camp entrance, over the cafe, picking a spot part-way up Esplanade, etc.) quite interesting when it stays there long enough for one to develop a look & feel for that focus of the neighbourhood. Starts to really bring me back to the playa.

As a stills photographer, and although fairly good, I find myself at a loss when composing video. I'm just doing a variation of point & shoot.

I'd noticed with the aerial view that the colours in the crowd were off before the burn started. Quite the surprise to see the flames in blue.

[Professor Pickle]

needless to say, photography of any kind poses its unique challenges...even if you're a professional photographer who manipulates digitally, you still need a high quality original to work from...the playa is also known as the great destroyer of cameras (it took my beloved)

I have astronomers out there, trying to keep their mirrors clean to share a good shot of the cosmos at the Black Rock Observatory...YES, they know about the dust on playa..this isn't their first rodeo...they just want to share what is above in one of the most extreme environments...

if you're flying, you have many challenges to consider...in addition to traditional composition, one has to compensate for high wind gusts, dust, battery power, signal strength, etc...but, we do it mostly for the fun of it, and because we have pilots with the skill to pull it off...

I love your feedback, btw...

as to the color shift, i thought it was a nice departure from the expected...I like your panorama suggestion...

not to start any rumors, but this could also be the last year for a webcam feed...who knows?...there are never any guarantees...some of the more cynical would say that no one owes you anything at Burning Man...but, I'm glad they share this gift with us this year...

[Sandstorm]

Professor Pickle: You speak very eloquently about the upside of technology and how it can connect people to places and situations to which they don't have access. I'm no Luddite and on the whole I have no issues with UAVs being at BM. Regarding the unfortunate UAV experience that I had last year at BM, I wish that I had been in a head space in which I could have approached Team Dumbass that was operating that drone just inches away from the facade of The Temple. I was not in that kind of "go get em" mindset because it was my fist morning on the playa and my first visit to The Temple and thus I was in a rather serene and awed mindset. Had I been volunteering as a Temple Guardian at the time that I came across Team Dumbass' obnoxious behavior I would have gone up and talked to those idiots in kind but firm manner. I was actually surprised none of the TGs on duty dealt with the situation. Apparently, sometimes TGs can actually be too passive.

I truly hope that BMORG and folks such as yourself keep doing the hard work required to bring various aspects of the live video stream of the burn to the rest of the world. That video feed has greatly helped soothe the pain that I was recently feeling due to the fat that I was unable to go HOME this year.

[Professor Pickle]

Sandstorm, I think a lot of people would've reacted the same way as you...

I feel your pain, as many of us do, of not being THERE...but we are here, NOW...and that is a bit comforting, n'est ce pas?

[delle]

Is it possible that UAVs weren't regulated last year as they are now?

And with that regulation comes responsibility and the possibility of lost rights if your behaviour is being complained about... just like the MVs. So I'd hope that asshattery is a thing of the past.