Arts and Entertainment, 1st prize
Jonathan Olley
Network Photographers
Network Photographers
01 August, 1996
Anything goes at the Burning Man Festival, held on a vast, arid, prehistoric lake-bed. Ringed by majestic mountains, the Black Rock desert proves the ideal site for this celebration of alternative living by some 7,000 artists, environmentalists, anarchists and exhibitionists, brought together through the Internet. Kilometers away from what they see as a society of straitjacketed puritans, the participants live for five days in tents and trailers in a world of their own creation, where clothing is optional. The only way to buy anything is by bartering, and volunteers deal with revelers overdosing on drugs, sunshine or both. The festival ends with the ritual burning of a huge human effigy, symbolizing pagan sacrifice and renewal.
Through our education programs, the World Press Photo Foundation encourages diverse accounts of the world that present stories with different perspectives.
Our exhibitions showcase stories that make people stop, feel, think and act to a worldwide audience.
Our annual contest recognizes and rewards the best in photojournalism and documentary photography.