A Man Who Has Attended Burning Man for Decades Captured the Event From His Airplane—See His Stunning Photos Here

By Sarah Cascone | artnet news | August 9, 2019

Each August, a unique gathering takes place in Nevada’s Black Rock Desert, as tens of thousands descend on the Burning Man gathering, an annual spectacle of art, music, and community that has become a cultural phenomena—and, increasingly, a lightning rod—since its founding in 1986.

Burning Man From Above: "Compass of the Ephemeral: Aerial Photography of Black Rock City"

By Gwynn Vitello | Juxtapoz Magazine | August 8, 2019

Some of us will never understand, but we’re all very curious. Compass of the Ephemeral is a stunning historical travelogue in words and pictures that defines and depicts Black Rock City, as it was conceived, as well as how it continues to regenerate. While the gorgeous pictures present themselves admirably, the accompanying essays, all written with passion and precision, relate history, process, schematics and vision.

View Black Rock City through the ages ahead of this year’s Burning Man

By James Gabriel Martin | Lonely Planet | August 1, 2019

One of the biggest cultural events of the calendar year, Burning Man sees 70,000 people voyaging to the playa of Nevada’s Black Rock Desert to build a temporary civilization free from the usual societal constraints. It has become iconic in its scope and identity, and now, ahead of Burning Man 2019, a new photo book has been released that offers a stunning insider’s perspective on the famous event.

From Burning Man to Nyege Nyege:
How music festivals change culture

BBC | July 27, 2019

We explore the world of music festivals from Uganda's Nyege Nyege to Burning Man.

You’ve probably heard of Burning Man but do you know what it really is? We speak to the artist Will Roger, one of its co-founders about this experimental community of 80,000 people that gather every year in the middle of the Nevada desert. Whatever you do, don’t call it a festival.

Fred Sigman Captures the Rise and Decline of Las Vegas Motels In his New Book

By Toby Orton | Plain Magazine | June 25, 2019

Apart from the gaudy casinos and Strip parties, visitors to Las Vegas can find an attraction in the shape of the Neon Graveyard, a place where the retired halogen bulbs of Sin City’s fluorescent lights go to die. Here, we would imagine you would find the once glowing remnants of many a roadside motel that once provided stop-and-sleep spots for the city’s gamblers. The Las Vegas motel, an instantly recognizable sight that evokes the nostalgia of vintage Americana is a dying breed, a plight that has been captured over the years by photographer Fred Sigman in his new book, Motel Vegas.

Vegas Dreamtime

By Geoff Dyer | The Spectator | June 22, 2019

It’s to be expected. You take photographs in order to document things — Paris in the case of Eugène Atget in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the shacks of the American south in the case of Walker Evans in the 1930s — and these documents then acquire a quality of elegy. What is extraordinary is the speed with which this happens, the brevity of the ‘then’. As soon as the images emerge in the developing tray — even, conceivably, the moment the shutter is clicked — they are imbued with how they will be seen in the future.

Travel Book of the Week:
‘Motel Vegas’ by Fred Sigman

By Johnny Jet | Johnny Jet Simplifying Travel | June 19, 2019

Art historian and photographer Fred Sigman released a book last week titled “Motel Vegas.” In the book, per Amazon, Fred “documents the art and history of Las Vegas motels and classic neon signage that contributed to the drive for preservation and restoration during the mid-90s. Motel Vegas provides a nostalgic look into the ever-evolving landscape that is classic Las Vegas. As the boom in building casinos moved to the southern end of the Strip, some of the classic motels from the 50’s and 60’s near downtown and Fremont Street have been able to survive in relative obscurity.

Photos Preserve Dying World of the Motels of Las Vegas

By Pamela Buxton | The RIBA Journal | June 3, 2019

Fred Sigman’s book celebrates the neon signs, convenience and low budget glamour of a once flourishing hotel type.

When I visited Las Vegas 20 years ago, I remember being fascinated by the motels, not only the neon signs that competed for the attention of those driving by but in particular the no-nonsense positioning of their swimming pools slap bang in the middle of the motel car parks. This mixture of pragmatism and low-budget glamour is celebrated in Motel Vegas, a photographic homage to the city’s once-thriving but now fast-disappearing motel culture.

The Neon Motel Signs of
Las Vegas Aren’t Dead Yet

By Jessica Leigh Hester | Atlas Obscura | May 22, 2019

If you had driven from Los Angeles to Las Vegas in the middle of the 20th century, you would have spent several hours on some very dusty desert roads, past cacti and shaggy yucca trees, maybe a coyote howling beneath a sky pricked with stars.