Burning Man / Photography Links

From Burning Man 2008: A Photo Essay by Matt Freedman, which is Now Available on the iTunes App Store.

This set of links is by no means meant to be yet another exhaustive compilation of all things Burning Man. Rather it is my own personal set of Burning Man related bookmarks – a small set of sites that I find to be extremely useful for preparing for Burning Man. I have also included a handful of my very favorite general photography links, which though not Burning Man specific, will help anybody planning on doing serious photography at the event.

If you have suggestions for additions to this list, by all means contact me.

Selected Burning Man Links

• The main Burning Man site is obviously the place you want to start, especially the Survival Guide. The e-playa bulletin boards are also a great resource there. Anybody who wants to use their Burning Man photos for anything beyond personal use, needs to read the press rights and responsibilities page. The official Burning Man Blog is well worth following.
• You definitely should be on the Jack Rabbit Speaks official Burning Man announcement email list.
• The WikiTravel Black Rock City Guide is a pretty decent concise overview of the logistics of travelling to Burning Man.
• In addition to my packing list, check out these lists at Burning Beach.
• If you are from anywhere near Seattle, check out the Seattle Burning Man Community site, and Wally's driving directions.
• For weather forecasts, your best bet is the National Weather Service Northern Washoe County Zone Forecast, and/or the Gerlach Point Forecast. But if you really want to know what is going on with the weather, you need to read the forecast discussion.
• A great source for information on designing your camp and creating shade is the shade geeks tribe on tribe.net.
• The Burnwiki has not seen much activity lately, but there is some good stuff there.
• The Seattle Burning Man Wiki has a handy page on Burning Green.
• Girl's Guide to Burning Man is an interesting new blog with great great tips for playa preparations.
• BURNcast.TV is an interesting video blog, all about Burning Man.

Shopping Links

• The best tent I have found for Burning Man is the Eureka Equinox 6, though I have always wanted to try out a Springbar Tent (see my packing list for details).
• A great alternative to re-bar stakes are Playa Staples, from the The Blacksmith Shop.
• Good desert goggles can be hard to find in local stores. Here are some links I have seen passed around for places to order them: Pyramex V2, DX Desert Goggles, and Extreme Eyewear Motorcycle Goggles.
• An interesting article about camp chairs.
• Note that there is also a good collection of shopping resources at burningman.com.

Photography Links

• Carrying Your Equipment If you are bringing a digital SLR to Burning Man, one of your most important decisions is how you are going to carry it. In my Photography at Burning Man guide in Burning Man 2008: A Photo Essay I recommend a holster bag worn on the chest. There are many options for this, a few include: the M-Rock Sierra, the ThinkTank Digital Holster series, and the Lowepro Toploading series. A great resource that shaped my thinking about this is Bags 101 by Thom Hogan (I would also recommend you take a look at his other articles as well, and if you shoot Nikon, buying his e-book for your camera is one of the best investments you can make. And while you are there, check out Thom's Recommended Books list as well).
• Misc. Items Here are links to a few miscellaneous that I mention in the Guide to Photography at Burning Man which is part of Burning Man 2008: A Photo Essay by Matt Freedman. Lens Pens are my favorite way to keep my lenses clean. Deoxit can be extremely useful under certain circumstances for cleaning the contacts between lens and camera, or between battery and camera. The Upstrap really revolutionizes the way you carry your camera. Last I heard, the Hyperdrive Colorspace UDMA was the best option around for a portable hard drive for offloading your cards in the field, though this technology can change rapidly, so make sure to do some research before purchasing.
• Composition There is a near infinite number of resources out there for improving your compositional skills. One free online guide to composition that I like is Petteri's Pontifications. There are also many great essays at Luminous Landscape. My favorite book on composition is Learning to See Creatively by Bryan Peterson.
• Post-Processing The single most important thing you can do to improve your own photographs from Burning Man is to shoot in raw format. Here is a good essay that explains why. To learn post-processing, I find that books work best. Probably my favorite for getting started is Scott Kelby's 7-Point System for Adobe Photoshop CS3, though all the Kelby books are great. His video training site is also highly recommended.