This renegade operation has been in action for four whole years. That’s four more than we thought possible and four more than we could’ve imagined.

Thank you for sticking by us and for being loyal readers. Thank you for helping us provide a platform for emerging and professional photographers alike. Thank you for allowing us to create a space where art is appreciated and celebrated.

As a Thank You, we’re giving away any MOO product you’d like AND one of David’s own camera bags, signed by him, because who doesn’t like free stuff? Just leave a comment captioning the above picture and you’ll be entered to win. The best caption will be announced later this week.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

 

From,

The Burn Team

David, Diego, Eva, Candy, Kaya, Haik, Claudia

EDIT: Congratulations to winner Andrew Harrington!

160 thoughts on “BURN GIVEAWAY!”

  4. strawbleu

    “Ok – so you ‘shopped that hat on me. This doesn’t mean I condone the proliferation of fee-free cat modelling that you filled your interwebs with.

    Now, where’s the cat dope you promised?

    Meh.”

  8. zamma

    “I really hope that one mouse begins to stir again. The holidays just aren’t the same without him.”

  10. deb3dart

    Caption possibilities for cat picture:

    “Firm Believer”
    “Santa Guard”
    “Fur real, Santa will come!”
    “Don’t bug me now! I’m on Santa watch!”
    “Dear Santa, Hurry! I’m frozen here!”
    “(sigh)…Why do I put up with it!?”
    “Okay,…but seeing is believing.”

  19. rcmckee

    “Sit here,” he said. “You’ll look great.”

    “People will feed you and play with you and bring you goodies.”

    And now I’m on the Internet like this.

    Harvey, you SOB, just you wait. I KNOW where you sleep.

    And you’re not ever going to sleep well again.

    Not EVER.

  22. Frostfrog

    Magnificent! Thoughtful! Powerful!

    Of all the images ever posted on Burn these past four years this is, far and away, the best one. The entire story of this sad, tragic, happy, ridiculous, wonderful, violent, kind, chaotic, majestic world is told in this single image. I do not know how Burn will ever top it.

    MW – the cat has now been Photoshopped to Wasilla.

  24. james english

    3 cats walked into a bar…a Dentist cat, a Lawyer cat and a Santa cat…they all saw a mouse on the floor. Which one picked the mouse up?

    Answer: The Santa cat…as the other 2 were not real. Santa cat rules!

  25. eduardo sepulveda

    Santa is coming…

    You better watch out
    You better not cry
    Better not pout
    I’m telling you why
    Santa Cat is coming to town

    He’s making a list
    And checking it twice;
    Gonna find out Who’s naughty and nice
    Santa Cat is coming to town

    He sees you when you’re sleeping
    He knows when you’re awake
    He knows if you’ve been bad or good
    So be good for goodness sake!

    O! You better watch out!
    You better not cry
    Better not pout
    I’m telling you why
    Santa Cat is coming to town
    Santa Cat is coming to town

  27. Paul Joyce

    “I’m an 18% grey cat, you do know this Santa hat will screw up your white balance don’t you?”

    Happy New Year to all at BURN, keep up the great work!

  30. Milli

    -Mr. Darcy sits, stoically contemplating the origins of Father Christmas. For a moment he thinks he has spotted the elusive jolly man in the distance. A thought comes to light …’Meow, meow meow’

    Happy Christmas -Merry New Year all!!! Hope is was lovely and joy filled- on to great adventures in 2013!
    My best always, Milli

  31. photoomaha

    As the sun sets over the royal hibachi tree, Grandmaster Wu studies his reindeer as they practice their routines. Only the best reindeer are selected to fly Grandmaster Wu and his bundles of presents.

  33. Thomas Bregulla

    Outer Banks, North Carolina.
    Preparation time for fashion week. Sophia the santa cat watches over the gangway and checks the walk for the spring collection.
    Sophia loves to wear a fur. *)

    *) I found that last sentence on facebook. Should my entry win, I’ll pass it on to Marc Ludwig of FotoTV.

  34. A.g. De Mesa

    “To err is human but to purr is divine”

    Happy New Year and a Happy Holidays to you guys at burn:)

  38. paige

    Gerald, how many times do I have to tell you? I want a steak dinner for Christmas. Not that flank stuff either.

  39. Richard Man

    One day, I shall rule this land with an iron grip, but first, I need to find where I misplaced my Santa hat.

  43. carlos filipe

    thanks for these four years. congratulations. happy new year.
    as for the caption:

    – overcover(ed) sphinx
    – WITSEC (federal witness protection program) Files
    – gato escondido com rabo de fora (a portuguese saying, hidden cat and shown tail)

    um forte abraço,
    Carlos Filipe

  45. NeonplusAtlas

    “Saint Nicholas Goods Corp.” CEO Chez Gray caught moments before crowd surfing during the annual Christmas party at the company secret headquarters in Lapland, Finland *** MANDATORY CAPTION *** DO NOT CROP WITHOUT PERMISSION ***

  52. mw

    Or maybe:

    OBX, NC (Jan 1, 2013): Photog on a jog through the bog snaps a pic of cat in a hat on a log by the crick.

  55. emilyr

    By placing this santa hat on my head you have made me more powerful than you can possibly imagine.

  72. bob black

    Caption Option #2:

    if this was shot at OBX:

    “And I had to go and pick the one damn house that like has a photographer with an online Photography Magazine. Jesus”

    if this was shot in Colorado:

    “And I had to go and pick the one damn house whose owner’s kid has an online PHotography Magazine. Jesus!”

  75. mw

    Local cat claims that although it’s wet outside and the sun is not sunny, we can still have
    lots of good fun that is funny.

  80. Hillary Atiyeh

    Endemic to The Outer Banks of North Carolina, USA…The Greater Northern Polecat…Mr. S. Claws
    This large lethario lives on love, lounging and leftovers. It has been observed thriving in communities with other beasts enjoying music and fire circles. Although never documented, once a year this rare species is known to tie deer mice up to an oriental rug adorned with twinkle lights and glides over the sand dunes at night smoking a hookah.

    hee…hee…hee…happy new year!!! ~ h

  83. Nathan Pearce

    Purr it like it is…

    or for a more christmas feel..

    Divided Snow..

    And..

    For the win..

    (Based on a True Kitty)

  84. edite

    Who would have thought I’d be getting all this attention. And all because of my red hat? Nah… It’s the beauty inside.

  95. liarphoto

    Others suspected that Claws the cat’s “aerophobia” was just another excuse to avoid any heavy lifting around Christmas time.

  106. coolalee

    No man is an Island, intire of it selfe; every man is a peece of the Continent.

    Cats however couldn’t care less, during their christmas summer day.

  112. deuxdrop

    “Well Chairman Meow, this is what your life has come to. I guess it’s time to go out there and make the most of it.”

  117. amelie

    Gray wished he had paid attention to his gut feeling when a street photographer had gushed about his profile being perfect for an exclusive photo shoot.

  119. bkyoung

    ANd as he heard the sound of bells fade with the dawn sun’s rise, he realized all he had gotten was a lousy hat …

  120. achidell

    Although getting down the chimney was going to be much easier, Santa wished he had thought about how he was going to carry the presents now he had transformed himself into a cat.

  121. helle-belle

    Santa Claus only shaves during Christmas (except the beard, of course), during summer, he lets the hair on his body grow.

  123. oprea.radu

    Santa needs to know exactly how good the humans are, so he desguised as a cat to photograph them when they are bad. :) Ho Ho Ho, Santa Cat is clever than us ;) All the best, from Santa Cat.

  137. Dale

    It’s like this…I hit my head, fell into a vat of blueberry jam and as I came to there was this little guy with pointy ears who plopped this hat on my head! And that’s my story.

  147. mw

    I was just watching Citizen Kane with the voice over commentary by Peter Bogdanovich and was struck by an anecdote about the Director of Photography, Gregg Toland. Toland was, according to Bodanovich, widely considered to be the best cameraman in Hollywood at the time. Orson Welles had never made a film before. Welles didn’t know that the DP was responsible for setting up the lighting and started doing it himself. Toland just followed him around and observed what he was doing. When Welles eventually found out and asked why, Toland told him that he learned so much working with newcomers because they didn’t know what they couldn’t do. That reminded me of this link from mavina’s website to a quote from Ira Glass about how it typically takes a lot of practice before one’s skills catch up with one’s tastes.

    Seems to me those two quotes end up at the same place coming from totally different directions. The important point both make, I think, is that it’s important to do a lot of work before you know what you can’t do. Going a bit further, I like to think that while it’s important to gradually fill a box with all of the things you’ve figured out you can’t do, it’s equally important to never get to a place where you feel you know all the things you can’t do. I think for the best it’s a constant pushing at those boundaries.

    Thinking of things like this as I finally bear down and get my digital archive in order. I’ve been going through every photo I’ve taken since I got my first digital camera in 2004. I’d done a lot of work with film in the three years previous. I went through all that last time I was in my Mom’s basement and found next to nothing worthwhile. The early digital work is very sparse in terms of quality as well. But I can see and remember myself trying so many things that I didn’t know wouldn’t work. Most of them didn’t, but in many cases I see things I learned from those failed experiments manifesting themselves across the years. I think Glass has it right about keeping at it, and that’s something David constantly reiterates as well.

  148. mw

    Oh, and by the way, since I’m posting my ramblings on the contest thread, did I win? If so, when can I pick up my bag? Was it the Cat in the Hat reference or the other Cat in the Hat reference that won it? Or the Wasilla joke? Or do you just average multiple submissions?

  150. Paul

    I spent most of the afternoon “fighting” a print in the darkroom, my fault I didn’t take the photo properly. I just couldn’t manage it, lack of experience and also a lack of love for the darkroom helped me fail dismally. I scanned the image into photoshop and with a little bit of patience managed to get a very decent image. First time I’ve ever preferred a digital BW print in photoshop than a wet print…

  151. Paul

    “I believe it is when pictures are unconsidered and irrational that they come to life; that they evolve from showing to being”
    Jacob Au Sobol

  152. Paul

    I have to agree with this quote 100%. When I let go and just “ride” the feelings and the situation I find my best work.

  154. mw

    Another interesting observation from the Citizen Cane commentary. When asked why pretty much everything he did in the movie was so radically different than Hollywood norms, Welles replied that he wasn’t trying to be different, he just shot what he sees. I think that’s the right approach. Especially in conjunction with Glass’s observation that it will probably take lots of practice to actually be able to effectively communicate, in our case shoot, what one sees. Of course Welles was 25 and Kane was his first movie, so a little genius apparently can’t hurt either.

    I was never a big fan of Kane. Always appreciated the visuals but never cared much for the stories. After many years of totally ignoring them, lately I find myself very much enjoying the commentaries available on a lot of DVD’s, particularly Criterion Collections. The Kane commentary didn’t make me like the story any better but it very much deepened my appreciation of the visuals. And much as I tried over the years, I was never able to get what so many saw in Antonioni. Again, enjoyed the visuals, but even more so didn’t get the story. The commentary really helped, again providing a context for even deeper appreciation of the images.

  155. Carlo

    Nice looking NEW archive! the thumbnails is a great idea.

    https://www.burnmagazine.org/category/essays/

    What is the reason behind the missing thumbnail in the third row?

    I’m sure it is still been tweaked but it will be nice to have them under the year of publication.
    Maybe a link for 2012 for example? or adding the year at the top of the page for the 2012 ones? it will avoid extra clicks.

    Either way….looking GREAT!

  159. mw

    Sorry, I’m still stuck on the issues raised by that Ira Glass quote and the Citizen Kane commentary and David’s quip in the Geisha thread about being sick of straight photojournalism that mimics work from the mid-twentieth century. Working on my archive I came across these two days of walking around and thought they were interesting in that context. They predate my knowledge of burn, or any contemporary photography for that matter. I was working on both how to get beyond what I was taught in J-school and how to deal with very harsh reflective light. Though those light experiments didn’t work out and I wasted way too many pixels pursuing it, what I learned from those failures is directly responsible for the looks in some of my published work like Brooklyn Carnival and Goose Pond. I’m starting to miss those days when I didn’t know very much at all about what I couldn’t do.

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