Photographer NK Guy, from the web site Burning Cam, is probably the first person to photograph a Temple Burn from the inside. I hope this trend continues and we get insider’s look videos from every Burn from now on. Send in the robots!
Name: Temple interior
Caption: As far as I know, nobody has ever photographed the interior of a Burning Man temple burn before.
To pull this one off, I employed a solid steel armoured box equipped with a tempered glass window. My DSLR and fisheye lens were tucked inside, and fired via a radio remote. I then hauled the camera out using a steel cable and hundreds of feet of rope.
The searing heat was intense. The liquid you see is accelerant, flooding down into the wood below.
I pulled the camera out just in time. Moments after this shot was taken, pieces of burning wood began hurtling down, and everyone outside at the front line had to fall back because of the blazing heat. In fact, the box was too hot to touch when I got it back. But the camera was just fine.
Super thanks to the temple crew for letting me set up this shot, and to Dave Best and the BlackRockFX pyro team for their kind help!
Here’s a bonus shot of the Temple from LA-based photographer Curious Josh. The halo effect is not from any computer trickery:
And here’s half an hour of HD video of the entire Burn:
I fell to my knees and teared up when I saw this video! I missed the Temple Burn as I had to leave early with my fellow camp-mates on Sunday, I had walked around the Temple many, many times in deep prayer before entering and leaving a tribute to my mother. I had set my item – a sash – on the stone altar and departed. Then, in the photo shot inside, I could clearly see my tribute go up in flames inside the Temple in this photo! And I have seen most of the video and now I feel as if I were there with her at that moment. . . . . .
Thank you very, very much!
I am complete now.