Photographers: Photographing BM question

[winebuff]

Dont you love it because we all see things in different ways when it comes to photography. One person can shoot one thing then someone else can come along and do the exact opposite LOVE it!

[CapSmashy]

If you do, please find a way to make it wheelchair accessible. I know I said I didn't want people to try and boost me into the one that came by the Booby Bar, but secretly I'm tired of having to cut short my experiences in that way.

All I am planning would be a simple frame that attaches to the rear of the trike frame that I can hang a solid, black backdrop from. Just something simple to give me a fixed point for using a tripod and maybe a few battery powered lights.

Not an actual fixed booth on a vehicle.

[theCryptofishist]

Thank You

[winebuff]

Smashy, that is a great idea. Sorry if I missed this in a previous post, what camp will you be in? Need to give you a hug


On the previous note, I am curious how many camps do make thing wheelchair accesible? I think that is a great idea to make it that way whenever possible. Great suggestion

[theCryptofishist]

I could go on about that, but I'm not ready to do some thread hijacking.

[winebuff]

Crypto,

you are not hijacking. Very worthy.

[marcmerlin]

Smashy, are you on any of the digital forums?

I do find I focus on things very differently when I am shooting.
I try to shoot things that are mostly missed by the masses of pictures.
Theme camps are oddly under covered.
Marc Merlin has been good in this area.

Thanks for the kind words. I'm a bit crazy so I would bike through every single street and in front of every single camp every year, although that became harder as outer rings were added.
On the upside, it's a lot of exercise and I got to meet a lot of cool camps and folks. On the downside, it takes 2.5 days for doing just that and there are of course lots of camps with not that much to shoot. Not that there wouldn't be cool people to chat with, but when it became more than 30,000 folks, that was more than you can do in the alloted time :)
(oh, yeah, in the later years I used my garmin GPS with a street map of BM, and could tell where I had been and not been with digital breadcrumps, something like this: http://marc.merlins.org/perso/bm/2006/Pix/playa.jpg )

As for cameras, I kept it simple: point and shoot digital, best way to get many shots on the move, and I still managed to get some decent night shots.

My best of pictures:
http://marc.merlins.org/perso/bm/2002/
http://marc.merlins.org/perso/bm/2003/
http://marc.merlins.org/perso/bm/2004/
http://marc.merlins.org/perso/bm/2005/
http://marc.merlins.org/perso/bm/2006/
http://marc.merlins.org/perso/bm/2007/

Not all pictures are perfect, but more than good enough for a $400-ish camera :)

[winebuff]

Wow, how did you do that with your garmin? Very cool. I have one and would love to do the same. Thx!

[winebuff]

FANTASTIC SHOTS also btw

[gyre]

Thanks for the kind words. I'm a bit crazy so I would bike through every single street and in front of every single camp every year, although that became harder as outer rings were added.
On the upside, it's a lot of exercise and I got to meet a lot of cool camps and folks. On the downside, it takes 2.5 days for doing just that and there are of course lots of camps with not that much to shoot. Not that there wouldn't be cool people to chat with, but when it became more than 30,000 folks, that was more than you can do in the alloted time
(oh, yeah, in the later years I used my garmin GPS with a street map of BM, and could tell where I had been and not been with digital breadcrumps, something like this: http://marc.merlins.org/perso/bm/2006/Pix/playa.jpg )

As for cameras, I kept it simple: point and shoot digital, best way to get many shots on the move, and I still managed to get some decent night shots.

My best of pictures:
http://marc.merlins.org/perso/bm/2002/
http://marc.merlins.org/perso/bm/2003/
http://marc.merlins.org/perso/bm/2004/
http://marc.merlins.org/perso/bm/2005/
http://marc.merlins.org/perso/bm/2006/
http://marc.merlins.org/perso/bm/2007/

Not all pictures are perfect, but more than good enough for a $400-ish camera

Marc, your photos are always the first I recommend for anyone wanting to know what the city is really like.

The fact that some camps look so "refugee camp", but provide such a fantastic experience is part of the whole thing.
I often find that without a wide angle lens, many camps lose that sense of context that makes them look so good when we are there.

You've been doing really great work.
I hope you meet enough interesting people to keep it up.
You'll find more people are looking at your pictures than you probably realize.
You've done the most thorough job of any photographer I've seen so far.
I have no doubt you're responsible for many new people deciding to go.

[marcmerlin]

Wow, how did you do that with your garmin? Very cool. I have one and would love to do the same. Thx!

Some kind soul published gps tracks before the event that I could load as a track on my GPS.
See:
http://marc.merlins.org/perso/bm/2006/#geek-gps

Marc

[marcmerlin]

I hope you meet enough interesting people to keep it up.
You'll find more people are looking at your pictures than you probably realize.
You've done the most thorough job of any photographer I've seen so far.
I have no doubt you're responsible for many new people deciding to go.

Thanks again.

Marc
(I've been taking a break from BM BTW hence the lack of recent pictures, but I might come again in the future depending on things).

[itsnotyou]

I want to go to Burning man one more time

[Ratty]

Itsnotyou, Hello and welcome to ePlaya. Jump on over to the 'Greeters' page and introduce yourself. We would love to hear about your past/future playa plans.

[marcmerlin]

oh boy, thread from 2009

Ok, welcome back then:
http://marc.merlins.org/perso/bm/2014/
http://marc.merlins.org/perso/bm/2015/
http://marc.merlins.org/perso/bm/2016/
http://marc.merlins.org/perso/bm/2018/

Cheers,
Marc

[noappendix]

Some of my favorite art and photos from Burning Man 2018

Looking forward to 2019!!!

[marcmerlin]

Some of my favorite art and photos from Burning Man 2018

Looking forward to 2019!!!

I guess I never posted 2019, here they are:
http://marc.merlins.org/perso/bm/2019/

[Sham]

Some of my favorite art and photos from Burning Man 2018

Looking forward to 2019!!!

I guess I never posted 2019, here they are:
http://marc.merlins.org/perso/bm/2019/

GREAT PICTURES! I needed a dose of the playa today.

[Canoe]

I guess I never posted 2019, here they are:
http://marc.merlins.org/perso/bm/2019/

GREAT PICTURES! I needed a dose of the playa today.

Wow
One of the best collections I've ever seen that give a slice of the art and look & feel of BM...
The first is fairly easy to do, but that second can be so elusive to catch and catch well.
Well done!

[marcmerlin]

I guess I never posted 2019, here they are:
http://marc.merlins.org/perso/bm/2019/

GREAT PICTURES! I needed a dose of the playa today.

Wow
One of the best collections I've ever seen that give a slice of the art and look & feel of BM...
The first is fairly easy to do, but that second can be so elusive to catch and catch well.
Well done!

Thanks
Taking pictures is only 1/4th of the work, throwing away the bad ones, categorizing the rest (that actually took days), and then agonizing over the best ones, is the hardest part

But I've done this a few times now, 11 to be exact ( http://marc.merlins.org/perso/bm/ )

'till next year!
Marc

[oxygen]

For years, I used a Nikon FE2 then Nikon N90, both with slide films that got dust scratched,
opening the camera to change film had to be planned in advance to minimize dust intake. Shooting film was cumbersome but overall the image quality was there
Digital came with Fujifilm S3 that did not have any sensor cleaning device on-camera, so a thorough sensor cleaning was done before the event, during it was "crossed fingers - touch wood - rabbit's foot" keeping the camera in a shoulder bag, drawn only to shoot and trying to be mostly back to the wind.
Nevertheless the sensor got dust studded, having to spend days just to clean up the images.
Always in the Nikon family came the D7000 and the D7200 both weatherproofed and of course with internal sensor cleaning.
Just to keep the body somehow clean and save on post-event cleaning, I tape it with gaffer tape, mainly around the lens - body connection. I still kept the habit of having the camera in my girlfriend shoulder bag for the look and camera safety
Post event, the amount of images with dust specks is very low and easily ( rhetorical) manageable.
Always be aware of the wind direction and keeping the camera as long as possible in a bag works well for me.
Some images are visible here http://thisisblackrockcity.blogspot.com