Living in the Bay Area it’s hard to avoid Burning Man. If you don’t know what Burning Man is read about it here.
Unfortunately for me I first heard about Burning Man circa 1997 while living in Minneapolis. I was at the peak of my art-snobbery stage and was really turned off by the initial description (hippies making art in the desert…on drugs). It was really not my idea of an experience I wanted to seek out. I’ve been to a few Phish concerts, afterall. Sadly, whoever that person was really ruined the idea of Burning Man for me until I met my husband nearly ten years later. Frankly, I was kind of confused why a super fun, geeky, non-hippie, and uber-smart dude like my husband would be into Burning Man. Then I moved to the Bay Area and it all made sense.
Flash-forward to today: Burning Man is in full-swing right now in the Nevada desert. There are plenty of hippies but also software developers, venture capitalist, normal folks, CEOs of companies like Google, and amazingly, kids and lots of them. Did you know there is a Kids Camp at Burning Man?
This last fact has really peaked my interest over the past few years and makes me actually want to brave the wind-storms, absurd desert heat, port-a-potties, and the hippies. If they can swing it, I should be able to, right? That said, maybe you’ll see Modern Kids there next year. Actually, I mean just me-myself-and-I there (no logos or advertising allowed). I’d love to document the kids of Burning Man. I briefly checked out flickr to see if anyone has already done this (I’m sure there are tons) and I found this lovely photo by Iñaki Vinaixa. Thanks for letting me share your image, Inaki!
For the photogs out there, here’s a question: what gear would you bring? Joe (the husband) says I’d be an idiot if I brought my fancy cameras. Apparently the playa dust ruins EVERYTHING. What would you bring, an old film-based camera, polaroid, holga, or a 4×5? Iñaki, is this shot on film? It’s so lovely.
p.s. I have nothing against hippies! I come from a family of hippies. Just thought I’d poke a little fun.
by Sarah
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