The Los Angeles-based creative photographer Alex Medina used his drone to bring forth a new perspective of the Burning Man 2018.
Photography: Alex Medina
Where is Burning Man 2018?
The Burning Man 2018 Festival is an annual event held in the temporary Black Rock City—in the desert of northwest Nevada. The city is erected for a whole week, to host the event, where participants can walk around, enjoy art, and interact with each other.
See also:
Burning Man 2015 | Black Rock Desert, Nevada
Burning man 2014 | Pier Group
Alex Medina managed to capture beautiful images of the event, the Black Rock City, and the installations from above. He has attended the Burning Man festival twice, and he describes it as a “photographer’s playground”. The things that happen, the people, the art, and the light are what make the event special to Medina who has managed to capture all of that and more.
Photography: Alex Medina
After taking some amazing photos the first time, Medina decided this time to use his equipment to capture The Burning Man 2018 aerially. One of the advantages of taking aerial photographs is that they show the scale. The massive size of the Burning man becomes evident when seen from up above. The perspective of the humongous installation and the crowd that throngs it is beautifully documented from the air.
The installation is captured at a different angle from the one we see on the ground, revealing the interesting patterns created by the components of the structure.
Photography: Alex Medina
To mark the event’s close, sits the namesake ‘man’ at the center of the radial plan, to be burnt to the ground. The radial urban plan helps with the organization of the massive event. It is covered by a giant anthropomorphic installation which was photographed by Medina’s drones, along with the surrounding natural context.
Medina also managed to explore the Playa—the vast expanse of sand in the middle of the campsites which host the yearly artworks and installations.
The Theme of The Burning Man Festival:
The Burning Man community is given a theme each year, according to which they design their art. The theme for 2018’s Burning Man was “I, Robot”. It encouraged participants to respond to the rise of technology and its effects on our daily lives. Among the exhibited installations was the Mirrored Orb by Bjarke Ingle’s BIG and Jakob Lange. This installation was crowdfunded and inflated on-site by the architects.
Medina’s drone-captured images of the sphere; however, the dust and the clear sky masked the reflectivity of the orb. The sphere was anchored to the ground, using a 32-meter steel mast which reflected the sand and the people around it.
Photography: Alex Medina
Other installations in the Playa included a wooden spiraling and latticed temple-pavilion by Arthur Mamou-Mani of the London-based Mamou-Mani Architects. There was also a miniature horse installation, a sculpture of a couple embracing, an installation made of shopping trolleys, and a decorative circular art piece on display at the Playa. Peter Hazel and his team brought back their installation from 2017—the 40-foot tall Jellyfish, as well.
Medina’s aerial photos are a beautiful composition of those temporary installations. The eclectic combination of the vast and sandy desert of Nevada with the installations and the crowd makes for a collection of breathtaking images.
The festival began on the 26th of August and came to a close on the 3rd of September, 2018.