Collaborative Concept Photo Project at Burning Man 2003

Do you want to help question societies views on TV, money, love, the US flag, breast feeding, body image, Race, War, and the issues that you feel most deeply about?

Some rules are important to question. Can your brain come up with either silly yummy-fun or serious ideas that will help with this cause? Is there some issue that's deeply personal to you? Would you like to be the subject of a photograph like this?

The photographs are for a book project, so there are release forms. All the photographs are to be taken at Burning Man against a white (or in some rare cases black) background.

The photographs should have some story behind them. They should engage the brain. They should be more then just fashion. Some of the ideas listed here are negative. Very positive images are especially great also.

This is a Supersnail cooperative project.
www.supersnail.com

• Political photo ideas
• Body paint
• More photo ideas
• Past Supersnail Photographs
• Other thoughts
• How can you participate?

How can you participate?
If you read this web page and see something that inspires you, then that's likely what we should collaborate on.

• If there's a shot you'd like be part of, email me and say which shot and any thoughts you have about it. If you can bring any props that are needed for the shot, that's a bonus.

If you email me with ideas, you are agreeing to freely give those ideas to me and to this project.
Contact julian

This web page is long. If you wanna read it all, maybe print it out and put it in the bathroom.

• Transformation
  • Bring your high school or prom picture to Burning Man this year. The more posed and awkward (or prim and proper) the picture feels, the better. Then we'll photograph you in your most over the top Burning Man style holding the old photo of yourself. I believe this can make a statement about transformation and choice. Who were you then? Who are you now?
  • I love transformations. Costumes that look like one thing during the day and another at night. The same person doing super macho one time and super fem the next. How about a caterpillar costume one day. Then a butterfly costume the next. Optional cocoon stage in the middle.
• Money - Anti-materialism
  • Person burning a $100 bill. Are you willing to burn an actual $100 bill of yours? If so, then your the person who cares enough about the photograph to have it be of you. The rest of these ideas would all have the $100 bill being burned...
  • Money in the background in piles (I have a large collection of $1 bills for this). Hands reaching from just outside the shot to grab the $ on the ground.
  • A child could be the one burning the money - Money doesn't mean so much to them. It's a concept that they don't need.
  • A person dressed in a suit and tie. Burn what means everything.
  • Maybe one burning man fun person is burning the money while a man in a suit and tie is on his knees either praying or begging.
  • What image would speak to you?
• Gender issues
  • A man in drag standing with a woman in drag. She's holding a wad of $. He has a child in his arms (or if not a child, then maybe he's holding a broom)
  • If there are any Burning Man people who have had their gender changed, I would love to do a shoot with them.
  • Two woman boxing
  • A man with a heart shaped "chastity belt" type of locking metal device over his heart. There's a key-hole in the device. The man is in the process of swallowing an old fashioned key.
  • A woman wearing a symbolic strap on. Maybe the flag is hanging from it. Maybe it's a barbie doll. Maybe it's a large nuclear bomb.
• TV
  • Woman with a hollowed out TV over her bare chest. Rabbit ear antenna hat on her head. A strap on harness with a remote control (rather then a penis). On her breasts are written advertising phrases. "Buy now!". "Watch tonight at 8". "Lose weight fast".
• HIV+
  • A person holding their HIV test results. They're with one or more people who love them.
• The American flag (or other flags).
  • Who owns the flag? Right now the American Flag too often means "Republican". Do you want it to be this way? Is it your flag also? Think of ways to show the American Flag as a symbol that includes you.
  • I've gotten a lot of anti flag shots. I want more pro flag shots (or shots that could be taken either way). The flag for gay rights is good. The flag for freedom (actual freedom).
  • A woman with a pierced nipple has an Israeli flag painted on one of her breasts. Another woman (also pierced) has a Palestinian flag painted her breast. The two women's nipple rings are linked together. Close up profile photograph of the two breasts.
  • A woman with her breast painted like the american flag. A baby is breast feeding. We'll use non toxic paint and have the nipple unpainted.
  • An "American flag for peace" type of photo is a huge bonus.
  • Paint a penis with the American flag on it. Paint a butt with the Iraqi flag.
  • A couple fully body painted as the american flag.
• Societal roles or Job/Career/Work
  • Does what you do at Burning Man go against what most people would expect given your usual role in society? Are you willing to take a photo that emphasizes and plays with this?
• Gay family
  • A gay couple with their child. The family is having fun together.
• Eating meat
  • My friend Frog is going to do a shot of her painted up like the butcher diagram of the cow. "Chuck, Prime rib, ect.". We're also going to do her packed up in a giant supermarket meat package.
  • Borrow from any of the sensationalist anti meat photos we've seen in the past.
• Kids being around nudity
  • The human body unclothed is natural and should be okay for both kids and grownups.
  
• Nudity
  • Why is society so attracted to and afraid of nudity? Why is it considered such a big deal in american culture?
  • I grew up as a child on a commune where nudity wasn't a big deal. It takes the right kind of people for this to be okay. Showing cases where it's totally fine, can be a healing thing for the western world. Nudity tends to be thought of as such an oddly powerful thing in our society.
  • Can you think of a photograph that makes a political statement about nudity?
  • A pile of nude people (all flopped on top of each other or wrapped around each other). If you're part of a camp that would like this to be a group camp shot, that would be great.
  • Nudity does not equal sexuality. This is something our society needs to learn. Photographs of families (who happen to be nude) help show this. Or a brother and sister. Or a portrait of a parent and their child.
  • Two Nude man people are in profile facing eachother. They are bowing forward towards eachother. Crouched down in between them is a clothed person who wants all the attention. They are doing all they can to be agro and get all to look at them. They want to break the consentration of the two who are bowing and looking into eachothers eyes.
• Body Image / Fat / Lookism
  • Society says that people who are fat are supposed to not like their bodies. This is way messed up. I want to take pro fat power photos. A heavy person who loves their body and is nude (and full of joy) is one possibility, but there are others.
  • A heavy person who is decked out in a kick ass over the top costume works just fine.
  • A child offering a flower to you.
  • A heavy person with lots of folks worshiping at their feet. It's silly, but could still work.
• Tattoos, Piercing, and branding
  • Facial or head tattoos say "ratical self expression" in a way that's permanent. I would love ot help show that. A body suit. Something that covers a huge amount of a persons body.
  • Photographing an actual tattoo, piercing, or branding being done would be awesome, but could be hard to arrange. Also, time is tight and safty is of course #1 (#3 if you ask SaftyGirl).
• Pregnancy / Breast feeding
  • By the way, if you may go to the playa pregnant, click here for some Burning Man advice.
  • Woman having fun with their own pregnancy is awesome! Let's have your belly painted in a beautiful spiraling pattern that starts at the belly button. Maybe body paint on ovaries and such.
  • The modern world is oddly anti-breast feeding. Let's help to adjust this. A shot of a mother in a business suit breast feeding a child.
  • Or a nude woman with a nude child breastfeeding. Private bits don't need to be showing. The point would be to make the shot feel spiritual.
  • A woman with her breast painted like the american flag. A baby is breast feeding. We'll use non toxic paint and have the nipple unpainted.
• Mastectomy photograph
  • Do you know any burners that have had a mastectomy? If so, might they be willing to be part of this photo project?
• Woman pissing
  • Guys can piss anywhere and it's no big deal. But for woman, it's a different thing. Shot idea: A woman wearing a skirt. She's standing up and pissing into a fancy tea cup that's on the ground.
  • Can you think of another way of addressing this issue?
• Police / Authority
  • Dress up as a police officer. Gosh, there are so many possibilities once you start with a cop outfit.
• Race
  • A group of black (african american) and white (caucasian) people.
    • We photograph the group in their natural state.
    • We cover everybody with playa dust and photograph the group again. Everybody will be basically the same color for this photograph.
    • For the last photograph in the triptic, the white people are painted completely with black tempera paint. The black people are painted completely with white paint.
  • Inter racial couples (maybe with children)
  • Several people wearing traditional African outfits.
  • Help me here. What shots can you think of that question how race/ethnicity is treated in our society?
• Polygamous/open relationships
  • Three people are all kissing. Shot is taken from above?
• Disturbing
  • Just about anything that's disturbing will question society. Anybody from disturbia wanna give this a shot? Anybody else?
• Drugs
  • I won't go very far with this one. I don't want people to automatically associate Burning Man with drugs. It would threaten the existence of Burning Man. On the other hand, tongue in cheek silly photos might be able to work. Or addressing the topic in a vague/abstract way.
• Sex
  • I don't ever want a shot that looks or feels like porn. That all said, sex is and incredible and wonderful thing. If we can show the spirit of good happy healthy fun sex, that's awesome.
  • A person holding a hand written cardboard sign that says "spare an orgasm?". They're sitting on the ground and holding out their hand like a beggar. This picture needs more, but I'm not sure quite what.
• Genitals
  • Circumcision: Photos of the faces and penises of 8 men. Four of the men are circumcised. The pictures are randomly placed in a 4 by 4 grid. Under the photos are quotes from the men about how they feel about circumcision. The graphic for the page has scissors going around the photos.
  • People have such an attraction to (and fear of) genitals. This is worth playing with. I only want to take photos that are fun. Nothing crude.
  • A person dressed as a giant vagina/yoni or a giant penis/lingam. I've seen people with such costumes before, but never managed to get a studio photo shoot. Maybe just make a huge cartoon painted penis and/or yoni which you wear.
  • Yoni/Lingam/breast paint prints. Two people put body paint on parts of their body. Then using that body part (a breast for example) they make body paint breast prints all over the other person. Two people who are covered by such body paint prints (made by the other persons body) could look great.
  • Photograph the stages of a person putting their entire body inside of a condom. Yup, it's possible.
• Nuclear
  • Build a round metal hat with a nuclear symbol on it. From the hat are metal wires with little nuclear bombs hanging from them. Your face is painted like the earth. Blood is flowing from under the hat.
• God, Religion, and/or spirituality (maybe related to this years theme)
  • We should take photos that show the wonderful side of your spirituality and religion. Pagan, Jewish, Christian, Muslim, or any other religion or spirituality.
  • Also other photos that show the absurd side of the mechanized brain washed sexist religions.
  • Jesus on a cross, but totally covered in fake blood and gore. Way over the top.
  • Two people. One is an angel. One is the devil. They are reaching out towards eachother. Maybe their about to dance.
• Age and Ageism
  • People think Burning Man is only for twenty-something folks. If you have a very small child or you're over 75 years old, I would love to photograph them/you.
• Physically challenged body
  • Help show that Burning Man is not limited to people with four limbs that all function the normal way.
• Corporate America
  • Show an alternative representation of the G8 Summit. 8 men, each body painted to match one of the 8 countries. They are in a tight circle. In the middle is a pile of money (which I can provide). Photo is taken from above.
• Suit and tie
  • Be the sacred business man who has an inner soul.
• Transformation
  • One shot before putting on an elaborate costume (normal cloths). The next shot after putting on the costume or body paint.
• Credit cards and debt
  • Person with several credit cards imbedded in their head.
• Injuries (Burning Man is more rugged than Disneyland)
• Getting Married
• War
• Homelessness
• Abortion
• Work and Jobs
• Anarchy
• Death
• Land or home ownership
• The nuclear family
• Violence or blood
• BDSM
• Alternative sexuality
• Community
• Clowns
• The US Patriot act
• Jail - Crime and punishment.
• Civil liberties
• George Bush or Politics
• Tradition

If there's anybody out there who's going to be doing air brush body painting (and has the air brush and all), I'd love to plan out some shots together.

• Body painted pretend clothing
  • Wear an outfit that's tight to the skin all over (no loose sleeves or pants cuffs). We'll take a photo of you in the outfit. Then you take off the outfit and use body paint to try and simulate the same outfit you were wearing. The book will have a page of several people in cloths. the page accross in the book will be a mirror image, but with the cloths painted on. Any gender or body type is great. I'd love solo shots of lots of people doing this. Bring your friends if you want. Also, then you can paint eachother.
• Two in one suit.
  • One person is wearing a suit top and is nude from the waist down (and painted white). The other person is wearing a suit bottom and is nude from the waist up (and painted white). The two people overlap. Against a white background, it should be a dramatic effect.
• Black and white stripes.
  • One or more people entirely painted with black and white stripes. Against the white background, this could be wonderful!
• Group with matching body paint
  • A group of people that all have matching body paint (and maybe matching wigs or some other prop). This is a Burning Man classic that can be amazing in photographs. Neon tempera is quite interesting.
• Israel and Palestinian Breasts
  • A woman with a pierced nipple has an Israeli flag painted on one of her breasts. Another woman (also pierced) has a Palestinian flag painted her breast. The two women's nipple rings are linked together. Close up profile photograph of the two breasts.
• Reverse your race
  • A group of black (african american) and white (caucasian) people.
    • We photograph the group in their natural state.
    • We cover everybody with playa dust and photograph the group again. Everybody will be basically the same color for this photograph.
    • For the last photograph in the triptic, the white people are painted completely with black tempera paint. The black people are painted completely with white paint.
• The flag
  • A couple fully body painted as the american flag. One person is the first half. The second person is just red and white stripes.
• Penis Butt War
  • Paint a penis with the American flag on it. Paint a butt with the Iraqi flag.
• Elaborate body painting
  • I would love to photograph any body painting that takes many hours to apply.
• Breast print women.
  • Two women. One has blue body paint on her breasts. The other has red body paint on her breasts. The one with blue painted breasts puts blue breast prints all over the other woman. The one with red breasts makes red breast prints all over the other woman.
• Yoni/Lingam paint prints.
  • A man and a woman. Both put body paint on thier butt and yoni/lingam. Then each sits on the others abdomen and makes a print on the other person. Maybe other body parts are used to make prints in other places.
• White people on white background.
  • A person or group of people that's painted completely white or completely black.
• Funny hands for faces.
  • You and another person paint faces on your hands. (make a fist, lips are formed by thumb and edge of hand). Draw in the lips, eyes, and such on your hand. Your hands are then held out far so that they block out your real face. This would probably be shot with a fisheye so that the hands look as large as real heads would be. Maybe have a silly hat on the hand face. The outfits (or lack of outfits) should somehow go with the hand heads.
• Upside-down faces
  • Person draws eyes on thier chin. Then draws a nose in between those eyes and their mouth. They wear a hat or doll that covers their eyes and top of head. This hat/doll may have arms and legs. The photo is taken upside down.

• Being tickled.
  • The photo is just of your face and shoulders (but with no clothing showing). You're being tickled. We would also take a shot of you relaxed (pre-tickle). A page in the book will be a collection of tickle photographs.
• Borrow images from the classics
  • Visually represent a proverb or parable
    • Pick a proverb or parable that means something to you. Think of a way to express the concept in a photograph. Doing "Hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil" or "the blind leading the blind" could be good. There are may others where the picture would take more thought to come up with.
  • A classic painting or religious image
    • Doing a version of "American Gothic" is a fun photograph. There are tons of other paintings or icons that are very much worth duplicating. I'm not quite sure how a versions of "the last supper" would fit in the studio space. It doesn't matter if people will know which painting your copying. The important thing is that they can sense that their is somehow a story or a purpose.
  • Represent a tarot card
    • Think of a way to do a photo that represents a tarot card that's of significance to you.
• Paper Doll set.
  • Photograph a man and woman nude. Then photograph the same couple in a variety of off the wall Burning Man outfits. In the book, each of the outfits can be cut out and put onto the people (complete with little tabs that fold over to hold the clothes on). This is probably the only idea in this list where I'd like to see some sample photos before we start shooting together at Burning Man. These would be of a few different Burning Man outfits that you have.
• Documenting a scientific project.
  • For example, documenting a person who sends a kite up in the air which then takes photographs. All documentation will be done in the white background studio.
• You and your large artwork
  • A person with their big artwork creation. It needs to fit through the studio doors (about 6.5' tall by about 4.5' wide). Inside the studio is about 10' by 10' by 7.5' tall. I'm mostly interested in artwork that's human sized or bigger.
• Show the function of a camp.
  • It should shows both the function of the specific camp being photographed and also the point of camps in general. It should be a social thing. There should be an activity being performed (which is in some way beneficial). The activity should be an odd or interesting one that works visually. A simple camp group shot doesn't qualify unless it still fits all the other requirements listed. An example of a shot that might work: There are three folks from "bike repair" camp that are all fixing bicycles.
• Can you do extraordinary things with your body?
  • Are you double jointed in a way that makes people cringe? Can you do a body trick that could be wonderful in a photograph?
  
  
• A person welding.
  • This would be taken at night (black background).
• A Burning Man kid
  • A kid who is decked out in Burning Man fashion. A costume and/or body/face paint.
  • Swing: Two parents on either side of their child. They're holding their kid off of the ground by their hands. They're swinging the kid towards the camera. This makes of a great shot so long as the kid likes to be swung.
• Two mirrors causing an infinity shot.
  • Do you have two portable large mirrors that you can bring to the studio? The photo you and your reflection in a mirror, which also reflects in another mirror, which reflects... and so on. Maybe we can add some additional twist to it.
• Dry Ice
  • Dry ice can have a way cool effect. Anybody out there going to have a tad they could spare for a photo soot? Maybe it's a devil with a glass of liquid/dry ice. If somebody has the dry ice, we'll come up with a good photo for it.
• Camera+TV feedback loop.
  • Do you have a camera and TV? Maybe we can set up a photograph with the camera pointing at the TV (and you or some other person in the mix also). The infinite feedback thing can be visually quite odd and fun.
• Sleek Cat Women.
  • There's a reason I'm looking for a group of stylish women in cat outfits (ideally the 50's sleek look).
• Butoh Dancers
• Fire at night
  • The book will have black background photographs as well as white background shots. Can you think of any way to use fire or fire spinning/blowing/eating in a way that's political or that touches a more conceptual idea?

Here are some past supersnail portraits...
2001 Portraits
2000 Portraits
1999 Portraits
1998 Portraits
www.supersnail.com

The 2002 photos are still in progress.

Help us create a book!

• All of the photographs for the book need to be taken against a while background (or in rare cases black background). I set up a studio with white seemless paper where almost all the photographs are taken.
• None of the photographs can requires manipulating the photograph (no tricky photoshoping)
• If the point of the concept isn't clear, that can still be great. So long as it feels like there's some meaning or story behind the photos (even if the idea behind it is unknown) it's good.
• Many of the example photographs shown here were not taken at Burning Man. Click on the photograph and you should find out. If the photograph wasn't taken at Burning Man, then I can't use it for the book. If you wanna do your own version one of a similar idea, that would be rad.
• The closer it gets to Burning Man, the busier things get. It's much better if shoots are done early in the week.
• Nothing crude. The photos should never feel anything like porn.

How can you participate?
If you read this web page and see something that inspires you, then that's likely what we should collaborate on.

• If there's a shot you'd like be part of, email me and say which shot and any thoughts you have about it. If you can bring any props that are needed for the shot, that's a bonus.

If you email me with ideas, you are agreeing to freely give those ideas to me and to this project.
Contact julian