Phenomenology — an extravagant word meaning the study of how things appear to us in our conscious — or lived — experience. Anger counts as this sort of phenomenon, while believing the sun will rise tomorrow in the East does not. Philosophers are fond of asking questions we might consider tedious, like: “Is there something it is like to be an octopus?” Said another way: does an octopus have conscious lived experiences unique to itself? It seems photography might make modest contributions to these investigations.

We might ask what is it like to experience a raucous gathering of college-age humans, fueled by African drums and alcohol, and whether this can be characterized. I share my positive answer with the image above, and below.