“Take more pictures of the people than the art.”
—Advice given to me by a long-time Burner
At first, I didn’t get it.
The art was one of the main attractions.
Artists from all over the world would go to incredible lengths to create, transport, and feature their art in the middle of the desert—and the pull to capture images of them felt much stronger to me than the pull to capture images of the people.
It wasn’t until I left Burning Man, got cell-phone service, and saw an article featured on my Google search page: The Art of Burning Man 2022—that I finally understood what I think that experienced Burner meant.
When you take a picture of art—it’s an image of a completed, unchanging piece.
A picture of a person, however, becomes a piece of art in and of itself.
It captures an image of an ever changing being in one exact moment in time that nobody else will ever be able to capture.
This is not to say that taking photographs of art isn’t an art form in and of itself. Nor is it to say that taking photographs of people is somehow “superior.”
It’s merely an observation that struck me as I was immersed in an other-worldly society that was exploding with creativity at every turn of the eye.
And as I reflect back on this advice more and look back on the pictures I’ve taken over the years—it rings true…
Of all the art I’ve photographed, people are the art that always seem to be the most interesting to look back on.
P.s. Here’s a LIVE re-cap of my Burning Man experience.