Burning Man 2009!

The MAN burns in days!
If you happen to find yourself wandering Black Rock City, come by Adapt and 4:00 for a visit. Fire performances, rope suspensions, and a bar serving drinks that burn the lips and sear the throat all the way down. [link]

Muse takes strange shapes sometimes.

Over the past few weeks I've been shooting almost every day, from dusk to dawn. Thanks to the hard work of ~Zathros and a group of volunteers, water and electrical were finally viable options on my studio backlot. A set that was years in the making came together in time to make use of the warmer, summer weather leading up to Burning Man.

I booked a two week block out to shoot, inviting back models I'd worked with for years, and initiating new ones to the experience of water, wind, and flame. So many ideas, and so little time to waste.

Naturally NO series of shoots would be the same without going completely over the top, so I called Perish and invited him to come play in water and fire. We tossed around some ideas, most of which destined to result in hospitalization or arrest. Or worse. Perish was putting the finishing touches on his new "Grind-tar", the ultimate in incendiary instrumentation. His grindolin show taken to a Whole. 'Nother. Level.

"Dude, we can't take that thing in the rain set." I pointed out. "Electricity, water, and fire. Yeah. That's going to end well."

"What if I just stand in like one of those inflatable pools of water, surrounded by half-naked women shooting sparks with my guitar on fire?" Perish suggests, exponentially increasing the danger level.

Mentally I ignore the escalation and track down the 8 foot inflatable pool, still in the trunk of my car, unmoved since the last time I shot water themes. Perish rambles on, coming up with crazier, and more dangerous variations.

"Totally not big enough, Dude. We'd need something at least 16 feet in size to fit everything into one shot."

I walk out onto my back lot, shaking my head at the 20 foot rain rig. My eyes stop, fixed on a stack of boards and metal frames collecting dust on my porch since 2005. On several occasions I'd tried to build a pool but never had the space to put it before now. On the newly cleared concrete pad are perfect anchor points, and in one of my prop sheds is the original tarp and plastic sheeting I bought years before with the intention of building a massive reflecting pool. It's all there. The light goes on, my brain flooding with all the ideas, concepts, and images I'd always wanted to try.

"Wait. Wait. Wait. Dude. We can totally do this shit!"

A week later, Perish is standing in a pool of water (drunk), surrounding by half-naked women (also drunk) in the rain, shooting sparks and flames off his Grind-tar. Gotta love it when a really terrible plan comes together!

It was also my first real opportunity to worth with Eden on a full production shoot. She not only went the distance, braving the water and flame, but helped me tear down lights when the sun came up the next morning. She and Perish, like mischievous imps, inspire muse like a wrecking ball. A week later and she's back doing an aerial performance suspended above the water, going back on set in the freezing cold water, until hypothermia (literally) ended the shoot.

Muse indeed.