Hi all! I’m Dave LeClair but you can call me by my playa name, Rabbitt! I’ve been burning for five years and I take thousands of photos when I go, mostly while perched atop my bicycle. Hopefully I can show you something you missed! This is my first blog post for Burners.me, and I’ll begin by sharing what I captured a few days before Burning Man 2014 officially began on Sunday, August 24th.
This was my first view of The Man on Thursday morning, August 21st. The Alien Siege Machine can also be seen. Along with Embrace and the Temple, these were some of the only big pieces of art standing at the time.
Here’s Embrace on Thursday morning.
The Man didn’t have a head until Friday morning.
This bicycle was near Center Camp.
Thunderdome being erected.
So yeah, although a couple thousand burners arrived before me, the playa was still pretty empty.
Does anyone want to guess what this became?
Mount Infinity being assembled.
The Temple.
Opulent Temple’s stage before it was a stage.
DMV registration line
The Souk was the “marketplace” of tents surrounding The Man. Souks were run by about two dozen different regions around the world. I volunteered for Seattle’s “Rat City Social Club”, which is the orange tent awaiting setup.
The Souk faced a lot of delays during setup. Souk workers like myself would stop by The Man often to find out when things would be ready. Eventually someone put this spinner up.
I loved seeing this. I don’t think it’s complete in this photo. Unfortunately I never stopped back here to see it again.
Skinny Kitty Teahouse going up.
Lending a hand on a Seattle project.
…and things are almost ready! This was shortly before opening processions at The Man.
Huge thanks to Burners.me for giving me the opportunity to write this guest blog post. If you enjoyed this post, please let me know and I’ll be back with more. Happy December, burners everywhere!
Filed under: Art, Burner Stories, General Tagged: 2014, early
