Every year, participants in the Burning Man Festival descend on the playa of Nevada's Black Rock Desert to form a temporary city – a self-reliant community populated by performers, artists, free spirits, and more. Last week, an estimated 68,000 people came to Burning Man 2013 from all over the world to dance, express themselves, and take in the spectacle. Gathered below are some of the sights from the festival, which lasted a week and came to its conclusion yesterday

Andreas Preis is a Berlin-based German artist who studied communications design in Nuremberg.
Following an advertising internship with Springer & Jacoby he turned his attention toward freelance design and illustration. Andreas’ style mixes digital and traditional art, combining hand-drawings, cross-hatching, and color with digital media. In his latest project entitled Grow, Andreas Preis creates an incredible series of animal crests using his unique style to create these wonderful works of art.

A devotee of the Chinese Ban Tha Rue shrine walks with guns pierced through his cheeks during a procession celebrating the annual vegetarian festival in Phuket, Thailand, October 17, 2015. The festival, featuring face-piercing, spirit mediums and strict vegetarianism celebrates the local Chinese community's belief that abstinence from meat and various stimulants during the ninth lunar month of the Chinese calendar will help them obtain good health and peace of mind. (Photo by Jorge Silva/Reuters)

An Israeli soldier watches as revellers take part in a gay pride parade in Tel Aviv, Israel, June 3, 2016. About 200,000 people from the LGBT community in Israel and abroad attended in Tel Aviv's annual gay pride parade Friday, the largest event of its kind in the Middle East. (Photo by Baz Ratner/Reuters)

Club-goers dance at “Morning Gloryville” at the Ministry of Sound in south London August 11, 2015. Morning dance parties with names like “Morning Gloryville” and "Daybreaker" are gathering steam in cities across the world, giving rise to a movement known as “conscious clubbing”. Its founders aim to create the energy and community of electronic dance parties with fruit smoothies and coffee instead of the drugs and alcohol more common after nightfall. (Photo by Toby Melville/Reuters)

Alexandra Crockett, a musician and jewelry designer, has been present and active in the metal community since the age of 15 and is currently a doctoral student in the Bay Area. Beginning her idea for the book by doing promotional photos for bands and friends she would cat-sit for, she found an interesting dynamic between men in the metal scene and their cats. The idea for the book formed around giving accolades to local musicians and artists in the metal scene, while also bringing to light no-kill shelters and their importance for animal rights.

The Anthem Veterans Memorial was created in Anthem, Arizona, in order to commemorate the service and sacrifice of the US soldiers that have lost their lives in order to bring peace and democracy to many nations throughout the world. Without these brave souls so many countries around the world would not be able to enjoy the fruits of Western Democracy. These pillars serve as a place of honor for military veterans, their friends and family, and to those people who want to pay their respect to the courageous men and women who continue to serve the United States. (Photo by Anthem Community Council)