A dozen! We made it to a freakin' dozen burns. And in staying consistent with not staying consistent...it was another one for the books. After the (mostly) way too pleasant weather of 2024, 2025 was back with a vengeance. The best part is that we had absolutely crushed our build this year and were ready to rock just as the strongest wind storm I've been in on playa blew through on Saturday afternoon. Like most we spent the next week building and rebuilding and storm protecting (from the daily rain sun-weds). And in true burner fashion...we partied through it all. When in doubt (except during that saturday wind storm), pack your bag and head on out to adventure!
After Mud Man of 2023 we had our rain swag down - garbage bags around the shoes, taped up around the ankles) and the uniqueness of the year was on! With not being really able to bike until Wednesday pm it made for a much different experience, and a really pleasant one (within the weather chaos). The pace of the city was different, the cadance of exploring was different. With everyone forced to do walking tours you interact and play in a way that is just different than 'zooming' around on bikes. For those that have been a few times this was a noticeable and fun change.
What I've also been able to document, literally, is the change in my photography, and relationship to it, over these last 12+ years. This requires a longer introspective post or blog on its own but more recently my documentation has been more circumstantial. Where I used to set an alarm to wake up for sunrise (if I wasnt already awake), I throw the camera and maybe one lens in my bugout bag and grab what I can. This year I made the conscious decision to make sure I used my long lens more and of course get out when it was a bit stormy.
Can't say I will ever get over capturing the truly wonderful experience that is Black Rock City and at this point it's acting as a time capsule, for not only the event, but myself as well. Can't wait to do it again...
In Dust We Trust,
aF
