Countdown to the Burn

The Flaming Lotus Girls' Mutopia is so beautiful it almost hurts your eyes.
The Flaming Lotus Girls' Mutopia is so beautiful it almost hurts your eyes.

They’ll start tearing down the structures at the base of Man tonight, and tomorrow morning, they’ll attach accelerants and fireworks.

Getting ready to blow.

What Center Camp looks like these days. Three weeks ago, there was nothing there. Three weeks from now, there will be nothing again.
What Center Camp looks like these days. Three weeks ago, there was nothing there. Three weeks from now, there will be nothing again.

Danger Ass played a big part in making the Camp what it is now.
Danger Ass played a big part in making the Camp what it is now.
The Lamplighters head out to the light the way.
The Lamplighters head out to the light the way.
The big Mutaytor vs. Gooferman show at the Cirq Bizerk tent
The big Mutaytor vs. Gooferman show at the Cirq Bizerk tent
Black Rock citizens gathered at BMIR to listen to Barak Obama's speech at the Democratic convention.
Black Rock citizens gathered at BMIR to listen to Barak Obama's speech at the Democratic convention.

About the author: John Curley

John Curley (that's me) has been Burning since the relatively late date of 2004, and in 2008 I spent the better part of a month on the playa, documenting the building and burning of Black Rock City in words and pictures. I loved it, and I've been doing it ever since. I was a newspaper person in a previous life, and I spent many years at the San Francisco Chronicle. At the time I left, in 2007, I was the deputy managing editor in charge of Page One and the news sections of the paper. Since then, I've turned a passion for photography into a second career. I shoot for editorial, commercial and private clients. I've also taught a little bit, including two years at UC Berkeley's Graduate School of Journalism and a year at San Francisco State University. I live on the San Mateo coast, just south of San Francisco in California.

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