Posts tagged Community

It finally made it back to me.

Four weeks had passed since it was dropped into the alkaline dust of Nevada’s Black Rock Desert, aka the Playa.

Holding it in my hand once again, feelings of astonishment and belief mixed around in my head; then a grin, almost a smirk stuck on my face.

Community. Karma. The Universe. Whatever you call it, once again proved its existence as it has done over and over again at Burning Man during my seven trips home to that magical place. It is one of the most amazing parts of the annual gathering. Even with 54,000 this year, it held true. #beautiful

So when I lost my camera the final night, just a couple hours before the man burned, that’s what I told myself: It has to come back to you. I just needed to believe it would. Things literally manifest themselves there when you need them. It happens so frequently and so consistently; it’s impossible to deny its existence.

Though, one of the greatest lessons I’ve taken from the unforgiving elements of the Playa is to let things go. And at that moment when I realized I had dropped the camera, I had to come to peace that I’d lost all the photos I’d shot during the week and to now just have fun. Quite painful, since I had purchased a new camera specifically to take night shots of the spectacular, light show rollercoaster that is a night at Burning Man.

But they were all gone. Even as we made the trek back to San Francisco, I said how hard it was to let go. I just had to believe there was a chance someone in the community would find all these wonderful memories and try and get them back to the owner.

Of course.

Within a few days of returning, a kind soul from Washington DC had finally made it back to the default world and posted a photo on his camp’s Facebook page, Distrikt. Lost & Found 2011. Within hours someone had identified me and tagged the photo.

Lost & Found Facebook Post

It took another couple weeks until my camera made it back to SF and into my hands, until the kind soul returned for a visit to the city (just before leaving for his sixth tour in Iraq). #hero

Thank you Paul, Josh, Benjamin, Brian, Ferd, Derek and everyone who carries the community of Burning Man with them. You made this possible.

The man burns in 327 days )’(