I don't like the restrictions, I don't agree with them, but I understand why they have them. I find it interesting that several of the people in this discussion are arguing their point and have never been to burning man, any of the burner community events, or quite likely even read the rules in question. Then again, I doubt that ignorance of a subject does much to deter any member of this list from pontificating at great length on it.
I've seen this wailing and moaning and gnashing of teeth a couple of times, tried to find the specific restrictions, and couldn't. I asked my friend who borrowed my van to go to burning man if he saw them, and he said he didn't see anything different than previous years. So, before you protest too vehemently that the rules this year are so much unreasonably stricter than last year, perhaps someone could point out the specific language that they object to. On Sep 4, 2011, at 2:50 AM, Bob W wrote: >> How many people refuse to go see >> a play, or a movie because they aren't allowed to video tape it? How >> many people refuse to go to a concert because they aren't allowed to >> take photos? > > the restrictions at BM are not the same as those at a theatre or cinema. At > a theatre or cinema there is a blanket ban on photography from the audience, And people go to those events anyways. > and a very clear distinction between audience and performers. As I > understand it, at BM there is no distinction between audience and That's the theory, but there are an awful lot of obnoxious lookieeloos that go there just to get drunk and ogle. > performers, and photography is not banned as such; rather, the organisers > impose a condition (model releases) that is impossible to comply with, and > claim rights to any photographs that are taken. This is very different from > the situation with theatre and cinema. I wasn't able to find the model release clause in the rules, perhaps you can point it out. > > The question that always comes to my mind in cases like this is, why pick on > photography? Do they also lay claim to writing about the event, or sketches > that someone could make? No they don't, so what is different about > photography? IF I were to go there, write and then publish a piece > accompanied by a recognisable sketch and naming a supreme court judge > "wearing nothing but boots, goggles and a dust mask, dancing to rave music > dressed in a fluorescent french maid's costume", how would that be different > from photographing the same thing? The length of time that it would take you to draw it. > >> There is also the fact that a lot of people go to the Playa to let >> loose, and do the things that they can't get away with in what they >> call the default world. People who would have bad things happen to them >> if pictures of them doing some of those things got seen by the wrong >> people. > > If someone wants to behave in a way that they don't want publicised, they > should do it in private, not in public What makes you think that burning man is public? It's a very, very large private party. Here is a case in point on that subject. There are no nudity taboos at burning man. This is a good thing on many levels, not the least of which is that it makes it a lot easier to wash up at your camp. As such, a lot of people happen to wander around their camp naked, especially when they've first gotten up, are taking a sponge bath etc. Now lets say that Suzy Q. Public teaches third grade in Crotchcricket Arkansas, which is not the most liberal city in the US. Suzy goes to burning man each year as a chance to relax, party with her friends, and blow off a little steam. By burning man standards, she's a little uptight and is never nude in public, but she does go around topless in her camp, and on the critical tits ride. Nothing that you couldn't do on a lot of beaches in Europe. Or for that matter, Santa Cruz. However, if photos of her topless got back to the people in her home town, she'd probably lose her job over them. She's the sort of person those rules would protect. Unlike my girlfriend, I haven't spent hours sitting around the kitchen table talking with Larry Harvey about his motivations. Nor am I employed by burningman LLC, like my nephew. However, I've known a lot of people in the community for over 15 years, I've been to the playa, and I've been to a lot of burner parties over the years. I don't think that the rules are quite as restrictive as people are making them out to be. And, if they were, I don't think that for the most part they are being enforced to the full extent. I think that they would say those things to allow people to still take photos, but to give BMLLC them legal recourse to remove offending photos from public display. I think that the primary motivation for a lot of those rules is complaints from the people at burning man. There are enough people who are obnoxious enough with their cameras to make enough people complain that people with cameras are considered a problem. It's very tough to tell, ahead of time, a member of the PDML who is only using their photographic skills for the betterment of humanity, from some scruffy perv who is going to go around sticking his camera in the business of every pretty girl he sees. The easiest solution to this problem would be to just say "no photography", but I think that they are trying to do what they can to allow people to still take photos, and still preserve the reasons that a lot of people go to burning man. What it boils down to is that a few people ruin it for the rest. That is why they no longer allow firearms at burning man. Nor do they allow most people to drive other than to arrive, or to leave. If you think the rules on photography are strict, you should see the rules for the Department of Mutant Vehicles. I think that Harvey is a bit of a megalomaniac, and there are a lot of things I disagree with the way that he runs things. However, Burning Man is his party, and he is free to run it however he wants. If someone else wants to throw a week long party for 50,000 half naked hippies, but where photography is allowed, they are most welcome to host their own event. -- Larry Colen [email protected] sent from i4est -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
