What appears at first to be an abstract animated image of colors and lights is actually a mountain top view of Black Rock City during the 2013 Burning Man festival. The week-long event celebrating community, art, and self-expression is held every year at the Black Rock Desert in Nevada. This year, photographer and filmmaker Jason Phipps and his crew climbed the nearby Trego Peak to capture a unique view of the Burning Man city:
Phipps and his crew have created a unique and existential perspective on Burning Man. The festival is all about expressing one’s self through art, dance, fashion, and other creative outlets. What Phipps has done is expressed himself through the festival of expression, not by being in it, but by creating his own art about it. His filming of these people expressions through lights and colors, fireworks and bonfires, has become his own expression.
It’s interesting to think that Phipps has moved himself, both literally and metaphorically, away from the Burning Man to be able to create his own personal expression. In a way, it reminds us to step back from our own creative work once in a while to gain a better perspective on it as a whole. Sometimes we are too close and too focused on something to realize what we’re really trying to create. This doesn’t mean you have to climb a mountain like Phipps, but pulling away and viewing the larger picture can sometimes help you discover what you’re looking for.
Black Rock City at night
This year, approximately 68,000 people attended Burning Man, almost 12,000 more than the previous year.
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