BURNING MAN

From a beach gathering to Black Rock City

Burn­ing Man began with Lar­ry Har­vey and Jer­ry James burn­ing a wood­en fig­ure on San Francisco’s Bak­er Beach in 1986. The event moved to the Black Rock Desert in 1990. What devel­oped there was more than a larg­er ver­sion of the orig­i­nal gath­er­ing: a tem­po­rary set­tle­ment whose inhab­i­tants increas­ing­ly cre­at­ed the art, prac­ti­cal sys­tems and social life around them.

Today, Black Rock City is the Neva­da gath­er­ing asso­ci­at­ed with a wider Burn­ing Man cul­ture and region­al net­work. The dis­tinc­tion mat­ters. A trip to the playa is one expres­sion of the move­ment, not its entire exis­tence. The city appears for a short event peri­od, but the prepa­ra­tion, rela­tion­ships and projects that sup­port it con­tin­ue through the year.

A city made by its inhabitants

Arriv­ing in Black Rock City means becom­ing part of a tem­po­rary com­mu­ni­ty. Par­tic­i­pants bring shel­ter, sup­plies, skills and ideas; camps and crews turn those resources into shared expe­ri­ences. There is no nor­mal com­mer­cial main-stage mod­el in which an audi­ence buys a pro­gramme and waits to be enter­tained. Music is present, some­times on a large scale, but it is one ele­ment in a much broad­er city.

The dif­fer­ence is eas­i­est to under­stand through every­day choic­es. Help with camp set­up before set­ting off to see art. Offer a skill, join a shift or respond to an invi­ta­tion. A small con­tri­bu­tion can change the way you relate to a place. You are not required to arrive with a mon­u­men­tal sculp­ture to have some­thing use­ful to give.

The Ten Principles

Lar­ry Har­vey set out the Ten Prin­ci­ples in 2004 to describe the community’s devel­op­ing ethos. Their names are Rad­i­cal Inclu­sion, Gift­ing, Decom­mod­i­fi­ca­tion, Rad­i­cal Self-reliance, Rad­i­cal Self-expres­sion, Com­mu­nal Effort, Civic Respon­si­bil­i­ty, Leav­ing No Trace, Par­tic­i­pa­tion and Imme­di­a­cy. They are cul­tur­al guide­posts, not a replace­ment for law, entry con­di­tions or safe­ty rules.

In prac­tice, wel­come oth­ers, give with­out demand­ing a return, con­tribute active­ly and take respon­si­bil­i­ty for your impact. Self-expres­sion must respect oth­er people’s rights and bound­aries. Imme­di­a­cy invites atten­tion to the expe­ri­ence in front of you, while com­mu­nal effort recog­nis­es that a city depends on coop­er­a­tion. Read the full offi­cial descrip­tions before attend­ing rather than rely­ing on a slo­gan.

Gifting without a shopping list

A gift is not a barter token or a promise that you will receive some­thing equiv­a­lent. It might be help, a work­shop, a per­for­mance, a shared meal or a moment of care. Do not assume anoth­er camp’s gen­eros­i­ty will sup­ply the food, water or shel­ter you failed to arrange. Self-reliance and mutu­al sup­port work togeth­er when each per­son pre­pares respon­si­bly.

Decom­mod­i­fi­ca­tion also shapes the set­ting: this is not a place to turn every encounter into a sale, adver­tise­ment or social-media pro­mo­tion. Leave room for expe­ri­ences that do not become con­tent or trans­ac­tions. Before shar­ing food, organ­is­ing a pub­lic activ­i­ty or bring­ing a project, check the rel­e­vant per­mis­sions and prac­ti­cal require­ments.

Theme camps and smaller encounters

Theme camps bring peo­ple togeth­er around a shared offer­ing. Some host work­shops, per­for­mances, play or con­ver­sa­tion; oth­ers pro­vide a ser­vice or a dis­tinc­tive place to spend time. Camp mem­ber­ship is an agree­ment between peo­ple, with work and shared respon­si­bil­i­ties as well as social pos­si­bil­i­ties. Join­ing a camp does not mean buy­ing an all-inclu­sive hol­i­day.

Explore small­er streets as well as the most vis­i­ble loca­tions. Ask what is hap­pen­ing and whether there is a way to help, but respect a closed kitchen, pri­vate sleep­ing area or host’s request. A camp can be wel­com­ing with­out every part of it being pub­lic. Its mem­bers also need rest and time to main­tain the space they have built.

Art across the playa

Large-scale instal­la­tions change the rela­tion­ship between human fig­ures, open ground and dis­tant moun­tains. Some works invite inter­ac­tion; oth­ers are best observed from a dis­tance. Look for instruc­tions and ask a project vol­un­teer when uncer­tain. Art that appears stur­dy is not auto­mat­i­cal­ly approved for climb­ing, and a spec­tac­u­lar flame effect is not an invi­ta­tion to approach its machin­ery.

An instal­la­tion may feel dif­fer­ent at sun­rise, in flat mid­day light or after its lights come on. Give your­self time to revis­it one rather than treat­ing every piece as an item to tick off. Notice the labour behind it: con­struc­tion, trans­port, pow­er, repair and removal. The fact that art stands briefly in the desert does not mean it arrived there with­out sus­tained effort.

Bicycles, mutant vehicles and sound

Bicy­cles are a prac­ti­cal way to move around the city and playa. Light your bike and your body at night, secure the bicy­cle when parked and keep routes clear. The open space can dis­guise dis­tances, so car­ry what you need for the return rather than assum­ing camp is just around the next instal­la­tion.

Mutant vehi­cles are mobile art­works sub­ject to reg­is­tra­tion and oper­at­ing rules. A ride is offered by the crew, not guar­an­teed by the appear­ance of an emp­ty space. Ask before board­ing, wait until the vehi­cle has ful­ly stopped and fol­low the operator’s instruc­tions. Sound camps and oth­er music spaces add to the night, along­side qui­eter projects, per­for­mances and spon­ta­neous activ­i­ty.

The Man, the Temple and different moods

The Man is a cen­tral sym­bol whose design and sur­round­ing struc­ture vary between years. Its burn is a major shared moment, but it should not become the only rea­son for your vis­it. Art, rela­tion­ships and the dai­ly life of the city have already been hap­pen­ing around it for days.

The Tem­ple offers a dif­fer­ent atmos­phere, often con­nect­ed with remem­brance, grief, cel­e­bra­tion and reflec­tion. Give peo­ple room and fol­low the Tem­ple Guardians’ guid­ance. Per­son­al offer­ings and vul­ner­a­ble moments deserve pri­va­cy. Put the cam­era away unless you have the explic­it per­mis­sions required; a mov­ing expe­ri­ence does not need to become a pub­lic pho­to­graph.

Infrastructure, responsibility and departure

For all its impro­vi­sa­tion, a tem­po­rary city requires infra­struc­ture. Vol­un­teers and staff help with entry, streets, infor­ma­tion, emer­gency response, san­i­ta­tion and restora­tion. Black Rock Rangers assist with com­mu­ni­ty con­cerns and can con­nect peo­ple with oth­er ser­vices; they are dis­tinct from law enforce­ment. Know­ing how to find help is part of prepa­ra­tion, not a rea­son to aban­don respon­si­bil­i­ty for your own sup­plies.

Leav­ing No Trace con­tin­ues through tear­down and the jour­ney home. Pack out rub­bish, equip­ment and bicy­cles, man­age waste­water cor­rect­ly and inspect the ground before leav­ing. MOOP means Mat­ter Out of Place, includ­ing small scraps that wind can hide in dust. The city’s final act is not a burn or a par­ty: it is the patient work of tak­ing every­thing away.

When Burning Man Happens

Black Rock City 2027 is announced for 29 August–6 Sep­tem­ber 2027, with the theme Spell­bound. It usu­al­ly spans late August into the U.S. Labor Day peri­od. Con­firmed event dates do not by them­selves estab­lish the Gate hour, indi­vid­ual burn times or your per­mit­ted arrival win­dow.

At review on 5 Novem­ber 2026, the 2027 page direct­ed par­tic­i­pants to the 2026 Sur­vival Guide for prepa­ra­tion. This guide uses that lat­est pub­lished oper­a­tional guid­ance as a base­line and iden­ti­fies future arrange­ments that still need check­ing. Read the 2027 updates when released.

Black Rock City

Black Rock City is built on the remote Black Rock Desert playa in north­ern Neva­da, beyond Reno and the com­mu­ni­ties along the approach. Reno is a use­ful sup­ply and trans­port base, not an on-site accom­mo­da­tion dis­trict for an ordi­nary dai­ly com­mute. Com­plete your food, water, fuel and equip­ment plan­ning before head­ing for the event.

The city uses radi­al clock posi­tions and curved streets; an address com­bines a clock posi­tion with a street. Esplanade forms a key inner edge fac­ing the open playa. Learn your camp’s address, save it offline and use the year’s actu­al city plan, since street names and place­ments can change.

The Playa

The playa is a broad dry lakebed, with art and open space extend­ing beyond the streets into deep playa. It is not a paved park. Dust, heat, dark­ness and dis­tance affect how long a jour­ney takes, and white­outs can remove famil­iar land­marks. Keep water, lights, gog­gles and dust pro­tec­tion with you rather than leav­ing them at camp.

Rain can change access and move­ment sub­stan­tial­ly. Fol­low cur­rent offi­cial instruc­tions and do not dri­ve onto wet playa or con­tin­ue through a white­out. An appar­ent­ly emp­ty route is not per­mis­sion for unre­strict­ed dri­ving.

The Man & Temple

The Man Burn nor­mal­ly takes place on the final Sat­ur­day and the Tem­ple Burn on the fol­low­ing Sun­day, sub­ject to the annu­al pro­gramme and con­di­tions. Exact 2027 burn hours were not ver­i­fied as announced at review. Do not copy a 2026 clock time into a 2027 itin­er­ary.

Allow time to reach autho­rised view­ing areas and fol­low the burn perime­ter. The Tem­ple has clo­sure and access rules before its burn; check that year’s notice. Wind or oth­er con­di­tions can alter plans, so leave flex­i­bil­i­ty around any major event.

Theme Camps & Art

Camps, work­shops and art projects are dis­persed across the city and open playa. Use the offi­cial year’s camp direc­to­ry, print­ed infor­ma­tion and What­WhereWhen list­ings where avail­able, then expect changes. Ask hosts about access, par­tic­i­pa­tion and pho­tog­ra­phy rather than assum­ing every space is open at every hour.

Locate med­ical sta­tions, Ranger resources and infor­ma­tion points on the cur­rent city map soon after arrival. The pub­lished 2026 guide marks med­ical help with illu­mi­nat­ed red cross­es; con­firm the 2027 loca­tions rather than nav­i­gat­ing to an old street address.

Arrival

Plan to arrive only after the Gate opens for your cre­den­tials. The cur­rent gen­er­al Gate page describes pub­lic open­ing at 12:01 am on the event’s open­ing Sun­day, but con­firm the 2027 hour and instruc­tions before set­ting out. Ear­ly build access requires the appro­pri­ate per­mis­sion for each per­son; an event tick­et alone does not grant it.

Gate Road is a con­trolled approach with queues and checks. Keep tick­ets, any vehi­cle pass and Will Call iden­ti­fi­ca­tion acces­si­ble, and bring sup­plies for a delay. Do not wait on high­way shoul­ders or in neigh­bour­ing towns for open­ing, and do not fol­low a nav­i­ga­tion-app short­cut onto an unsuit­able road.

Exodus

Leav­ing can take many hours. The 2026 offi­cial guide records past Gate Road peaks of six to nine hours before reach­ing the pave­ment and rec­om­mends allow­ing up to 12 hours to reach Reno air­port dur­ing peak egress. These are plan­ning warn­ings, not a guar­an­teed upper lim­it for 2027.

Check cur­rent trav­el updates, rest before dri­ving and leave fuel, water and food acces­si­ble. Avoid a tight same-day flight after your planned depar­ture. Pack secure­ly and take all waste to legit­i­mate dis­pos­al facil­i­ties; neigh­bour­ing com­mu­ni­ties are not a dump­ing ground.

Best Time to Arrive

Choose an autho­rised win­dow that leaves enough time and ener­gy for camp set­up. An ear­ly-morn­ing arrival after pub­lic open­ing may avoid the worst mid­day heat, but traf­fic, weath­er and your camp’s readi­ness mat­ter more than a guessed qui­et hour. Lat­er arrivals can miss some open­ing con­ges­tion; check the live guid­ance before mak­ing the deci­sion.

A typical event sequence — adapt it to your camp and the official programme

1. Arrival, ori­en­ta­tion and secure camp set­up.
2. City explo­ration and meet­ing neigh­bours.
3. Day­time art, work­shops, shared work and rest in shade.
4. Evening instal­la­tions, mutant vehi­cles and par­tic­i­pant-cre­at­ed activ­i­ty.
5. Lat­er-week projects and gath­er­ings, with time left for the unex­pect­ed.
6. Man Burn at the announced time and safe perime­ter.
7. Tem­ple Burn, with respect for its dif­fer­ent atmos­phere.
8. Tear­down, final MOOP sweep and a care­ful­ly planned exo­dus.

Tickets, vehicle passes and resale

The offi­cial tick­et­ing page says 2027 sale dates have not yet been announced. Do not rely on the old page’s prices, tick­et totals or fixed sale timetable. Use Burn­ing Man’s offi­cial tick­et infor­ma­tion and con­firm the cur­rent year’s buy­ing lim­its, ful­fil­ment, trans­fer and resale con­di­tions.

The cur­rent Gate guid­ance requires every entrant to hold a valid tick­et and vehi­cles enter­ing through Gate to have a vehi­cle pass, except motor­cy­cles. Recon­firm annu­al excep­tions and require­ments before pur­chase. STEP, the Secure Tick­et Exchange Pro­gram, is the offi­cial resale route to mon­i­tor when avail­able; its 2027 dates and terms must be checked. A screen­shot or a seller’s social-media pro­file does not authen­ti­cate a tick­et.

Camping, water and food

Arrange a com­plete camp­ing plan: shel­ter, shade, food stor­age, cook­ing, drink­ing water and tear­down. Clar­i­fy what a camp sup­plies and what you must bring, includ­ing shared shifts and costs. Do not treat an infor­mal promise of a place in camp as a com­plete sur­vival plan.

The offi­cial water guid­ance is 1.5 U.S. gal­lons per per­son per day — about 5.7 litres — for drink­ing, wash­ing and clean­ing. Plan for your full stay and delays, using suit­able potable-water con­tain­ers. This is the organiser’s total dai­ly plan­ning fig­ure, not an instruc­tion to drink that entire amount. Car­ry a filled water bot­tle when­ev­er you leave camp.

Bring the food you need and plan how to keep it safe. There is lit­tle con­ven­tion­al com­merce, and gifts from oth­er camps are not a depend­able sup­ply sys­tem. Do not assume a super­mar­ket, restau­rant strip or hotel ser­vice will solve a miss­ing essen­tial.

Shelter, heat, cold and wind

Secure your tent and shade struc­ture using equip­ment and meth­ods suit­able for the playa, and cov­er or mark exposed anchors so they can­not injure some­one. Fol­low the offi­cial struc­tur­al and fire guid­ance for your set­up. A shade cloth that looks fine in still air may become a haz­ard in high wind.

Plan rest in shade dur­ing the hottest part of the day and bring warm lay­ers and bed­ding for cold nights. Use sun pro­tec­tion and keep track of your own con­di­tion and your camp­mates. If some­one is unwell, seek appro­pri­ate help prompt­ly rather than assum­ing they sim­ply need to push through.

Dust, whiteouts and rain

Have close-fit­ting gog­gles and an appro­pri­ate par­ti­cle mask or res­pi­ra­tor avail­able before dust arrives; sun­glass­es alone do not seal out a dust storm. Read and fol­low the equipment’s fit and use instruc­tions. Car­ry pro­tec­tion on every out­ing, because con­di­tions can change away from camp.

In a white­out, stop trav­el­ling, seek safe shel­ter and wait for vis­i­bil­i­ty to improve. Dri­vers must stop rather than guess­ing a path through peo­ple and art. Rain can turn the playa into sticky mud: fol­low offi­cial move­ment restric­tions, pro­tect sup­plies and stay put when instruct­ed. Do not impro­vise a cross-playa escape route.

Bikes, night lighting and power

A reli­able bicy­cle, lock, repair sup­plies and vis­i­ble lights are use­ful. Light your body as well as the bike, park clear of emer­gency access and nev­er aban­don it at depar­ture. The cur­rent vehi­cle guid­ance sets a 5 mph lim­it in BRC, includ­ing e‑bikes, and requires com­pli­ance with the allowed-vehi­cle spec­i­fi­ca­tions.

Ordi­nary vehi­cles remain parked once camp is reached except for autho­rised move­ment under cur­rent rules. Board or leave a mutant vehi­cle only when ful­ly stopped and with the crew’s agree­ment. Bring pow­er and spare bat­ter­ies suit­ed to your needs; keep charg­ing and gen­er­a­tors with­in safe, per­mit­ted arrange­ments.

Toilets, greywater and MOOP

Use the pro­vid­ed toi­lets as direct­ed and bring hand sani­tis­er and per­son­al hygiene sup­plies. Nev­er put rub­bish or waste­water into a portable toi­let. Arrange prop­er col­lec­tion and dis­pos­al of kitchen and wash­ing grey­wa­ter; do not pour it onto the playa, even after fil­ter­ing.

MOOP means Mat­ter Out of Place: food scraps, loose dec­o­ra­tion, pack­ag­ing and small hard­ware all count. Reduce pack­ag­ing before trav­el, secure every­thing against wind and do reg­u­lar camp sweeps. Count ground anchors back out, pack all rub­bish and recy­cling, and take equip­ment and bicy­cles home or to an explic­it­ly arranged legit­i­mate recip­i­ent.

Connectivity, medical needs and access

Do not rely on mobile data, a phone call or an online map. Save tick­ets, camp con­tacts and essen­tial instruc­tions offline. Bring a bat­tery-pow­ered radio and use cur­rent offi­cial weath­er and traf­fic broad­casts. Agree a phys­i­cal meet­ing point and a plan if your group sep­a­rates.

Bring your med­ica­tion in its orig­i­nal pack­ag­ing, appro­pri­ate stor­age and the sup­plies you need for the full trip. Dis­cuss com­plex med­ical or acces­si­bil­i­ty require­ments with your clin­i­cians, camp and the rel­e­vant event resources before com­mit­ting. Med­ical sta­tions pro­vide help, but they do not replace a plan for rou­tine care or equip­ment.

Con­tact Mobil­i­ty Camp and review Burn­ing Man’s acces­si­bil­i­ty-vehi­cle guid­ance if rel­e­vant. Ask about actu­al sup­port, trans­port, charg­ing and ter­rain lim­i­ta­tions for your year; do not assume a par­tic­u­lar ser­vice, loca­tion or acces­si­ble art tour is guar­an­teed.

Consent, boundaries and prohibited items

Ask before touch, a hug, par­tic­i­pa­tion in an activ­i­ty or a pho­to­graph. Cloth­ing, nudi­ty and self-expres­sion nev­er imply con­sent. Respect a refusal imme­di­ate­ly, and do not pho­to­graph nude or par­tial­ly nude peo­ple with­out explic­it per­mis­sion. Camp access and a person’s pri­vate space remain sep­a­rate from a wel­come to join an activ­i­ty.

Read the cur­rent pro­hib­it­ed-items, fire, cam­era and drone rules before pack­ing. Do not bring per­son­al fire­works, weapons, hand­held lasers or unap­proved vehi­cles and drones. Fire effects and art burns require the rel­e­vant approval; remain out­side active burn perime­ters and fol­low safe­ty crews.

Common Mistakes

• Arriv­ing with­out enough water, food or a com­plete shel­ter plan.
• Expect­ing an ordi­nary hotel-based fes­ti­val or nor­mal on-site shop­ping.
• Leav­ing dust pro­tec­tion, lights or warm lay­ers at camp.
• Rely­ing on mobile data or an uncharged phone.
• Fail­ing to secure tents and shade struc­tures.
• Leav­ing rub­bish, grey­wa­ter, bicy­cles or equip­ment behind.
• Pho­tograph­ing peo­ple with­out con­sent or treat­ing self-expres­sion as per­mis­sion.
• Dri­ving out­side per­mit­ted rules or mov­ing through unsafe vis­i­bil­i­ty and playa con­di­tions.
• Under­es­ti­mat­ing exo­dus and book­ing a tight onward flight.

Essential Burning Man Experience — a first visit

Start months before arrival with the offi­cial prepa­ra­tion resources and a real­is­tic bud­get for trans­port, shel­ter, sup­plies and removal. Join a camp whose expec­ta­tions fit your skills and time, or devel­op an inde­pen­dent camp plan that cov­ers the same essen­tials. Know your respon­si­bil­i­ties rather than assum­ing a fee means some­one else han­dles every­thing.

Once set­tled, learn your neigh­bour­hood and how to find help. Explore by bike or on foot at a man­age­able pace, car­ry essen­tials and leave time to adjust to the envi­ron­ment. Vis­it a work­shop, share a task, meet a small­er camp and spend time with an art­work. Par­tic­i­pa­tion can begin with use­ful, ordi­nary actions.

Full Black Rock City Experience — most or all of the event

Bal­ance art and activ­i­ty with sleep, camp work, meals and down­time. Revis­it an instal­la­tion at a dif­fer­ent hour, see the Man and Tem­ple before their clo­sure peri­ods, and enjoy sun­rise only when you are rest­ed enough to do so safe­ly. Keep a few plans, then leave room for an unex­pect­ed invi­ta­tion or con­ver­sa­tion.

Sound cul­ture and nightlife are part of the city, along­side per­for­mances, mak­ing, learn­ing and qui­et encoun­ters. Ask a mutant vehi­cle crew about board­ing and accept its route and access lim­its. Fol­low the announced burn pro­gramme and perime­ters rather than try­ing to find a clos­er unof­fi­cial view.

Tear­down belongs in the expe­ri­ence, not in the left­over hours before a flight. Share the work, inspect the site and check on camp­mates’ trav­el plans. A rest stop out­side the event may be more sen­si­ble than dri­ving straight into anoth­er long jour­ney.

Best Participatory Experience — bring something to the city

Burn­ing Man works best when vis­i­tors active­ly par­tic­i­pate rather than treat­ing Black Rock City as a spec­ta­cle to con­sume. Offer some­thing you can deliv­er reli­ably: a camp shift, repair skill, work­shop, art­work, per­for­mance or vol­un­teer com­mit­ment. Check reg­is­tra­tion, train­ing and safe­ty require­ments for any for­mal role.

Gift­ing does not need to mean buy­ing objects to hand out. Lis­ten­ing, help­ing some­one pack safe­ly or con­tribut­ing to a shared project may be more use­ful than anoth­er item that can become MOOP. Offer with­out requir­ing a pho­to, a sale or an equiv­a­lent gift in return.

Con­sent and bound­aries are part of good par­tic­i­pa­tion. Ask before involv­ing some­one, accept that they may want qui­et or pri­va­cy, and keep com­mit­ments to your camp. A gen­er­ous act is stronger when it leaves the oth­er per­son free to choose.

Leave room for the unexpected

The tem­po­rary city changes through­out the week. An event may move, a dust storm may pause an out­ing, or a small camp may become the place you spend an after­noon. A flex­i­ble plan helps you respond with­out over­look­ing basic needs. Keep water, shel­ter, rest and your group’s well­be­ing ahead of a sched­ule.

At the Tem­ple, con­sid­er putting every device away. In an art space, take time to read instruc­tions before inter­act­ing. On the way home, pre­serve the same care for neigh­bour­ing com­mu­ni­ties that you prac­tised in camp. Con­tri­bu­tion con­tin­ues beyond the perime­ter.

Best Subjects

The Man, Tem­ple exte­ri­ors, large instal­la­tions, mutant vehi­cles, bicy­cles and the city’s scale offer a var­ied visu­al sto­ry. Include open desert and the rela­tion between art and land­scape rather than mak­ing every frame a par­ty or a flame. Iden­ti­fy an art­work and year accu­rate­ly; old pho­tographs do not estab­lish which instal­la­tions will return.

Best Light

Sun­rise and sun­set can bring long shad­ows, colour and sil­hou­ettes. Mid­day light can suit the scale of the playa but is also a time to pro­tect your­self from heat. Plan pho­tog­ra­phy around your water, shade and rest needs. Do not remain out in unsafe weath­er because the dust makes an attrac­tive pho­to­graph.

Best Positions

Use pub­lic par­tic­i­pant areas and obey camp, art­work and burn-perime­ter instruc­tions. A wide-angle lens can show scale; a tele­pho­to can iso­late an instal­la­tion from your safe posi­tion. A long lens must nev­er become a tool for covert por­traits. Do not climb art unless it is explic­it­ly designed and cur­rent­ly autho­rised for that use.

Playa & Art Photography

Walk around a piece where access allows and look for the rela­tion­ship between its shape, hori­zon and shad­ows. Keep bikes and bags out of routes. Ask before includ­ing iden­ti­fi­able peo­ple, even when they appear to improve a com­po­si­tion. Do not move someone’s belong­ings or inter­rupt an inter­ac­tive work to cre­ate a clean­er frame.

The Tem­ple requires par­tic­u­lar care: pho­tog­ra­phy of peo­ple and per­son­al offer­ings is strong­ly dis­cour­aged and sub­ject to explic­it per­mis­sions. Avoid record­ing vul­ner­a­ble moments and memo­r­i­al mes­sages. A per­mit­ted exte­ri­or image does not grant per­mis­sion to pho­to­graph every­thing inside.

Night Photography

Light­ed instal­la­tions can be pho­tographed hand­held with a wide aper­ture and high­er ISO, or with longer expo­sure when the sub­ject is still and the posi­tion is safe. A tri­pod belongs only where it will not obstruct move­ment. Keep your own lights vis­i­ble so oth­ers can see you and your equip­ment.

For mov­ing art or peo­ple, a faster shut­ter may mat­ter more than low noise. Check high­lights on bright LEDs and flames and adjust expo­sure to avoid clip­ping. Stay out­side active-burn perime­ters and do not inter­fere with crews or mov­ing vehi­cles for an image.

Dust & Weather Photography

Use pro­tec­tive bags or a dust cov­er, avoid chang­ing lens­es in blow­ing dust and store equip­ment secure­ly when not shoot­ing. Fine dust can enter mov­ing parts, and rain can cre­ate a dif­fer­ent set of prob­lems. Car­ry a dry cloth and fol­low the manufacturer’s clean­ing guid­ance rather than rub­bing grit across glass.

In a white­out, stop the shoot and seek safe­ty. Do not walk or dri­ve toward an art­work you can no longer see. Pro­tect your­self first, keep clear of vehi­cles and wait for con­di­tions to improve. There will be oth­er pic­tures.

Portrait Photography

Ask and receive per­mis­sion before pho­tograph­ing or record­ing a per­son. Explain what you want to do with the image; con­sent to a por­trait is not auto­mat­ic con­sent to pub­li­ca­tion, adver­tis­ing or reuse. Accept a refusal and stop if some­one changes their mind. Nudi­ty, a cos­tume or atten­dance at the event is nev­er per­mis­sion.

Burn­ing Man’s cur­rent media pol­i­cy requires pri­or reg­is­tra­tion and per­mis­sion for edi­to­r­i­al, com­mer­cial, pro­mo­tion­al or oth­er non-per­son­al use. Check the rules before plan­ning a pub­li­ca­tion or pro­fes­sion­al project; per­mis­sion from an indi­vid­ual sub­ject does not replace organ­is­er require­ments. Respect no-cam­era requests in camps and sen­si­tive spaces.

Phone Photography

Keep the phone in a dust-resis­tant pro­tec­tive bag when unused. Use a gen­uine opti­cal set­ting rather than heavy dig­i­tal zoom, tap to focus and reduce expo­sure if lights are clip­ping. Night mode suits still scenes; it may blur mov­ing peo­ple and vehi­cles.

Save bat­tery for camp con­tacts, offline infor­ma­tion and your return route. Pho­tograph­ing less can also make room for par­tic­i­pat­ing. Put the phone away for an inter­ac­tion instead of assum­ing every gift needs to be doc­u­ment­ed.

What Not to Do

• Do not take covert or intru­sive por­traits.
• Do not record nude or par­tial­ly nude peo­ple with­out explic­it per­mis­sion.
• Do not pho­to­graph pri­vate moments, camps or Tem­ple offer­ings with­out the required con­sent.
• Do not enter a burn perime­ter, climb unau­tho­rised art or obstruct a vehi­cle.
• Do not oper­ate a drone with­out explic­it advance per­mis­sion and reg­is­tra­tion.
• Do not pub­lish or com­mer­cial­ly reuse imagery con­trary to par­tic­i­pant con­sent or event media rules.