Les Blank Books

Desert to Dream is a remarkable accomplishment -- a
stunning tapestry of images and words that appears in
essence to be a mystery play. I am amazed at the
visual, emotional and spiritual complexity of her work
that evokes deep contemplation. The book is very well
laid out and I like how the diptychs are paired, even
in some instances where there is a b&w and color photo
side by side. Traub's sense of style and composition
is dynamic and goes way beyond the usual ways of
seeing. Congratulations on such an extraordinary book.

Ellen Bascom
Houston, TX

The photographs in Desert to Dream: A Decade of Burning Man Photography
by Barbara Traub convey the special and unique personality of the annual
Burning Man Festival. They also convey the humanity, sense of community
and the unique artistic sensibilities of the participants. The photographs
are excellent in their own right and are a sensitive mixture of color and
black and white. There are several pictures of nude women and men, which are real tributes to human beauty. Also, toward the end of the book, many of the photographs portray surrealistic images that only an expert photographer like Barbara Traub would be capable of. This book is well
worth the investment, not only for those interested in Burning Man, but also
those interested in photography that is spectacular.

Desert to Dream is a remarkable accomplishment -- a stunning tapestry of images and words that appears in essence to be a mystery play. I am amazed at the visual, emotional and spiritual complexity of her work that evokes deep contemplation. The book is very well laid out and I like how the diptychs are paired, even in some instances where there is a b&w and color photo side by side. Traub's sense of style and composition is dynamic and goes way beyond the usual ways of seeing. Congratulations on such an extraordinary book.

Ellen Bascom
Houston, TX

Having attended Burning Man twice (in 2003 and 2005), and having connected to the amazing experience that it represents for the mind and the body, I am glad to see a book that is capable of capturing most of the images that trigger our senses. Good any time of the day ... it's best alongside your breakfast, helping you carrying the 'burn every day' philosophy throughout your day and evening.

Wow, what a dissapointment - it hardly captures the magic of Burning Man. With only a couple exceptions, the photos in this book are middling to poor. Most of the pictures of people are of the back of their heads. The pictures of art and vehicles are often framed poorly or feature distracting shadows. The night pictures are blurry and amateurish. There are a lot of great burning man photos out there (see the burning man website); I find it hard to believe this got published and even sanctioned with (a generic) blurb by Larry Harvey.

Here it is - a review about how hard it is to read a non-fiction book about how hard it is to make a documentary film about how hard it is to make a fiction film about how hard it is to drag a ship over a mountain. Seriously! The main problem with this book is that we hear the SAME story 4 consecutive times - first in the screenplay to the documentary, then in director Les Blank's journal, then assistant director Maureen Goslin's journal, THEN in a magazine piece. Enough already! I guess this was easier and cheaper than writing a real book on the subject.

The book of Burden of Dreams is a third level of self-reflexivity in action. First we have Herzog's "Fitzcarraldo", then we have Blank's excellent film, then we have this book about Blank's movie. Confused yet? For those into "method" film making, it's a fascinating read, but not much more enlightening than the films themselves. We get to read journals about how hard it was for Blank's team to watch how hard it was for Werner's team. And, we learn a lot about Blank, who is a treasure as a documentatarian.

Fortunately, the stories are worth telling. It's higher minded than, say, "You'll never eat lunch in this town again".

All have cured me of my desire to visit Peruvian jungle.