Tag Archives: gallery

archive: tornado 2007

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In late August 2007 a small F1 tornado swept through my neighborhood outside of Chicago. As far as I know there were no injuries. There was a small amount of property damage and people in the area went without power for 5 days. Here are a couple photographs showing tree damage in the immediate area around my home.

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lamplighters 2011 as they worked part 2

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Here we go. Back at it again with some more lamplighter images. This time a slightly different view on them than the previous set. I really am always amazed at how powerful the performance of the lighting of the lamps is when captured as a photograph. Really cool stuff.

portraits of burners in lamplighter village

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Pictures of people. One of the things that is great about photos of people is that we are free to look at a person as much as we want without feeling like we are staring. And in that, maybe, it’s a reason why a portrait is such a worrisome subject for some people. Either way, I’ve made a bunch of portraits of people within Lamplighter Village this year at Burning Man. I asked people if I could photograph them and they said yes. If you’ve seen some of my other photographs, like in the galleries, you’ve seen street photography where no permission was required. These photographs are different, yet the same. I try to avoid putting the camera between myself and the subject in both situations. Here, I am talking to them,.. and also making a photograph. The main thing is that moment of discussion, the interaction is what makes the photograph more alive. I love photographs of people. Here are some portraits.

feeding a village in the wilderness

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The kitchen at Lamplighters Village. This was my 2nd year running the kitchen for the hard working villagers that camp here. This year we served over 220 people dinner each night for 8 days. The kitchen took about 2 days to setup and we passed our Nevada State Health Department inspection without any troubles. The meals were planned out pretty well and things on the playa went mostly OK in my opinion. I have had tons of fun running this kitchen. It is amazing they let me do it! I’ve worked in the various incarnations of this kitchen for 4 years in a row and this was my most enjoyable year. Here are some photographs of what it looked like inside.

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lamplighters 2011 as they worked part 1

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The Lamplighters kick ass. This year they continued the 18 year long tradition of lighting the streets of Black Rock City with kerosene burning lanterns for over 8 days. I believe the count is over 700 lanterns covering over 4 miles of Spire lined streets. This was my 4th year with the Lamplighters. I enjoy living and working with them. It is amazing how the daily task of the lamps being picked up, cleaned and sent out sets a nice pace to the day. As the sun nears the mountains in the west you always know what The Lamplighters are up to. Here are photographs that I made showing the Lamplighters kicking ass.

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the greeters say welcome home

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The tradition seems to be that before you get in to Black Rock City, the home of the Burning Man event, you have someone greet you and welcome you home and if you want one you get a hug. It is amazing how much fun it is to go back ‘home’. Home where some great friends are and where the environment is so familiar yet still strange. Seeing familiar faces and new ones, seeing familiar sights and new ones. It never really stops being cool. Here are some images that I feel give an idea of what its like to be back ‘home’ a bit past Gerlach Nevada in the Black Rock Desert.

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bless this mess: lamplighters kitchen

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The Lamplighters have a village of committed workers. One part of the village infrastructure is the lamplighters kitchen. The kitchen is for the villagers and has been a tradition the lamplighters have had for a long time. Many people have managed the kitchen over the years and in 2010, and 2011 the task has been mine. These are images from 2009 and 2010.

the lamplighters in 2009

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The Lamplighters are part of the Community Services Department at Burning Man. But, the Lamplighters are also more than that. They are a beloved group with a long history and tradition at this event. Around since 1993 they now have the role of lighting the cities nearly 1000 kerosene lanterns over nearly 3 miles of roads, acting as the street lights for the main streets in black rock city.
I have been with the lamplighters for 2 years and I have to say that it is a great group. Our mission to light the city ends up being the largest art project at the event in terms of scale and people involved. It is truly a huge effort with nearly 1000 people involved over the week, with 200 people devoting every day to the task. More on the lamplighters in the future.. but for now here are some images.

lamplighter village in 2009

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My 2nd year with the Lamplighters was quite enjoyable. More about the lamplighters at some other time. But, it really started to feel like home this year. Familiar faces, familiar structures and a familiar schedule. I love our location in the city. And I love being responsible in some way for making the city look so cool. Here are some various images of some aspects of village life this year.

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