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Erin Douglas

@aphotochick

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Creative director | Experience designer| Cultural producer
Founder of @blackburnerproject
I help brands tell the story they’ve struggled to land

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Baltimore photographer Erin Douglas (@aphotochick) takes us and our friends at @visitbmore to @atmamakokos, Patterson Park and @meanderartbar as we look at Charm City through her Local Lens. The full episode is out tomorrow. #ThisIsMaryland taken in Baltimore, Maryland by @aphotochick

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a year ago

Erin Douglas writes:
"My mission may be complete, but the work is far from over. The Black Burner Project was never about me; it was about us. About planting seeds, building bridges, and opening doors so that others could walk through and create their own magic. Be their own magic. And now, standing in the dust and witnessing this flourishing of Black art and presence, I see that we are in a new phase."

Pause in your busy day to read an insightful article by Black Burner Project creator Erin Douglas on the evolution of art by Black artists in Black Rock City. Link in bio!

📸 1: "Whispers of Waste" by Zulu Heru, (2025) Photo by Martin Rodriguez
📸 2: "Pillar of Po Tolo" by Antwane Lee, (2025) Photo by Duncan Rawlinson
📸 3: "Hey Queen" by Chelsey Hathman and Sterling Benefield, (2025) Photo by Erin Douglas
📸 4: "Dispensing Influence" by Gerry Laureus, Antwan Calderon, and Daquan Carathers, (2025) Photo by David Hulot
📸 5: "Dispensing Influence" by Gerry Laureus, Antwan Calderon, and Daquan Carathers, (2025) Photo by Duncan Rawlinson by @aphotochick

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a year ago

One of many dumps…

The words will come

Thank you to so many damn people

The dust was crazy

The Black! Asé team is fucking amazing

My friends are beautiful

I felt fly

Mars, a dream, hocus-pocus, never never land, the moon.

It was hard

The shop

All the things.

Sunrise

That true mirror showed me some amazing things

Black people are dope

Black Burners are dope AF x10

Expanded

I still don’t know

To be continued

#burningman2024 #blackburnerproject #blackase taken in Black Rock City by @aphotochick

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2 years ago

A little BTS peek from Build Week 2022.

I love stumbling on beautiful moments. When I find videos and photos I’ve yet to give attention to, it really brings up all the feels.

This was such a unique time in my journey. Looking back now, you realize just how distinctly special it was - not many people can say they’ve experienced something quite like this, even within this community.

And then there was a surprise that caught me completely off guard.

Fellow burner, dear friend, and mentor Scott Froschauer walks into view and looks right at the camera. I’ve been searching for any photos of him since hearing of his passing and couldn’t find a single one. Most of our connection was built over Zooms and phone calls since 2021. So to stumble on this now, to watch him just walk right in- - was a heart stopper.

Thank You @r88d for setting up that little camera we forgot was watching us.

@craft_ed._x thanks for curating the tunes for build

Scott. 🤍

#burningman #artonplaya #specialmoments #bts blackburnerproject taken in Burning Man by @aphotochick

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4 days ago

The art of noticing. Cuba, 2017.

I went solo for the first few day before connecting with the friends who would be joining the trip.

That’s usually my method. Solo first, or solo at the end. It gives me the freedom to explore and document exactly how I want, with no explanation and no distraction.

These men were there every day. Deep in the trenches of checkers in the same spot. Checkers used to be one of my favorite childhood games. Some days I’d stop. Some days I’d walk by slowly. I let them notice me, and I let them know I noticed them. A slow nod. A smile. Eventually I started photographing them. When I look back, most of my captures and especially my favorite one’s were during the time I was solo.

If you haven’t done an intentional solo trip, not just a solo flight, but a real trip planned for no one but yourself, with no work agenda and no familiar faces, you are missing something I can’t fully describe in a caption.

Cuba had mixed reviews when I went. I absolutely loved everything about it. Including the grit.
Reflecting back on some of my favorite places to photograph and what I learned about noticing and how far that one skill has actually taken me.

#cuba #havana #solotravel #theartofnoticing #streetphotography taken in Havana by @aphotochick

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6 days ago

When you’re building and shifting you can’t always see everything clearly. Surely doesn’t mean it’s not all working and coming together perfectly.

2022 - I’m so thankful as I look back at that time when playa was a bit kinder to us. The dust and heat could be mighty but rain wasn’t a thing like it is now.

We built with little visibility that year. I road my bike for an hour looking for the piece and couldn’t find it. I knew where I was, but it was near impossible to find. Luckily Art support services saw me, picked me up in their car and were able to put the coordinates into their navigation bc they too couldn’t find it with it.

When I got back from my journey of finding parts and hardware- the team was still at it. Laughter under the dust, dancing, ponding away. The best team. Many of us meeting for the first time on playa. It was something really special to witness but even more so to be apart of and to feel. How well everyone gelled.

A crazy year but such a highlight burn for me- likely forever. It’ll be Hard to beat.

#burningman #playastories #blackburnerproject #blackart #blackartists taken in Burning Man by @aphotochick

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10 days ago

Martha’s Vineyard. Polar Bear Swim. August 2026.

An early morning of unexpected joy.

I had to do a lot of convincing to get myself to do it. So glad I did.

Over 400 people showed up that morning. By the end the shivering and goosebumps had fully taken over me but that 70 minutes was a real highlight of the whole week.

Time in the water > Meditation > Exercise > Affirmations > Sun salutations > Community.

Exactly what I didn’t know I needed.

More from Martha’s Vineyard coming, including my honest take on the most talked about food spots on the island.

#marthasvineyard #polarbearswim #oakbluffs #whattodomarthasvineyard taken in Oak Bluffs Martha's Vineyard by @aphotochick

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13 days ago

Warm Nights.. We Slay

#playa #dance #burningman #blackburnerproject #blackart taken in Burning Man by @aphotochick

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18 days ago

Good food, old friends, and the city doing exactly what it always does.

New York has a way of picking up right where you left off. No matter how long it’s been.

Where I ate:
- West Village> Lily Pond

- LES: Revival (go for happy hour) and Pianos (for the nostalgia)

- Greenpoint: Mariscos El Submarino (a must, seriously) and Chinta Thai taken in New York City by @aphotochick

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18 days ago

A friend called me recently and said he just finished his first art installation at Burning Man.

He was sad. Didn’t feel what he expected to feel when it was all finished. A Mixed bag of emotions. He said.. and Wasn’t sure what was wrong.

And I immediately went back to my own moment. Standing there after my first installation was complete. Then my second. Both times trying to force myself to feel something. Waiting for the emotion to hit. Thinking something was wrong with me when it didn’t.

And then it hit me differently.

We already had the feeling. We just had it at the beginning.

That feeling you were chasing at the finish line — the awe, the emotion, the fullness — you felt that in the ideation. In the vision. In the moment you decided this thing needed to exist. That feeling is actually what pulled the whole thing out of you. It’s why you started. It’s why you kept going through all the hard parts.

We just don’t recognize it as the feeling because it’s wrapped in uncertainty and stress and not knowing if it’s going to work.

So when you get to the end and feel nothing — maybe that’s not emptiness. Maybe you already spent that feeling. You just spent it at the beginning where it actually needed to be.

Try Rethinking what the mountaintop is supposed to give you once you reach it. It might already be behind you.

So as the saying goes… it’s all in the journey. But it’s also might be at the very beginning. Soak that up.

Think back to something you built or created. When did you actually feel it most > the beginning or the end?

#finishline #creators #artinstallation #reflection #entreprenuer by @aphotochick

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24 days ago

I took my camera out. I mean literally out of the bag. I say this because I haven’t taken it out much lately.

My New York trip was a full one. Food, more friends than I expected, laughs, cocktails, bright city sun bouncing off everything. LES, 34th, subway rides, G train, memories, new moments, strangers. 8am to 1am in them New York City summer streets.

And the camera came along.

A beautiful end to the summer.

#nyc #summertime #newyork #fuji storieseva taken in New York City by @aphotochick

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a month ago

Off he cuff & in the moment

Ugh. My brain is tired.

As it should be. I just spent a 2+ hour time block doing some deep work.

But let me tell you, i was going through all its ins and outs. ups and downs. Intrusive thoughts. The positive ones. The negative ones. All of it cycling through at once during that time.

Like, I feel like I’ve been in the building stage for way too long.- judging myself.
And then at the same time, maybe I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be.

i had the hard realization that I wasn’t as far as I thought I was in this process. A blow and a blessing.

So, I’m giving myself a challenge right now. Writing out my business in a way I never really have before. With actual strategy. Specific goals. Milestones. Market research. Not for anyone else but me. - the challenge came from a friend and a mentor.

It’s scary. I have no idea if it’ll work. But this is where I’ve been leading myself for a while, so i have to trust and believe that fully. I keep having to remind myself that I’ve done hard things before.
I’ve built something before.

But this time I’m doing it differently, with intention, with a plan, with people around me who challenge my thinking and push me further than I’d push myself.

The tedious parts, the mind-exhausting parts — someone reminded me recently that those are actually the most forward-moving parts of the whole journey. They just don’t feel like it in the moment.

I’m tired. And I’m ready. Both at the same time.

A quick walk outside and back to it.

Photo by @skinnywashere

#buildingseason #entrepreneurlife #expansion #blackwomencreatives #adhd by @aphotochick

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a month ago