Monthly Archives: April 2017

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Research

Lu Guang

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His https://www.worldpressphoto.org/collection/photo/2015/long-term-projects/lu-guang

Lu Guang is a Chinese photojournalist who focuses on social, environmental and economic issues. His covers a wide range of consequences which are due to China’s rapid industrialization. He is not a well known photographer and does not have his own website but is credited on World Press Photo as he has won some awards. His work has also been published in the National Geographic which he has received a grant from.

His work takes a very unique perspective on documentary photography as he combines it with abstract in my opinion to create thought provoking and intriguing images which reveal the truth about pollution in China, which the world has no clue about as the media will never cover the devastation which we have caused. I very much like his work as his images could be seen as controversial because they reveal things which the rest of the world is not meant to know because it reveals the true extent to which pollution has taken over the world and soon all countries will be like China, if we do not do anything about it now. His images are very well composed and thought out, Lu has taken the time to find and photograph the perfect spots which pollution is taking place and almost make them seem beautiful in a sense due to the angles and camera setting which he uses to create his images.

This is my favourite image which he as taken because he has managed to make a sewage pipe look beautiful and make the photo unique and interesting to the viewer. This image combines documentary and abstract photography because of the unusual place that this photo was taken. Lu Guang uses the pipe to create a frame around the buildings in the city and make your eyes focus on the center of the image. He has also used a slower shutter speed as the water flowing out of the pipe is blurry which adds to the effect of the image. However, even thought he has managed to create a beautiful image, there are signs of pollution such as they grey sky which is caused by Smog which is the result of high pollution levels in China, we can also see that the beach is also black with oil and soot coming from boats and particles of pollution settling down on the ground. This image makes you wonder why they would need such a large sewage pipe and how much is pumped out of it a day onto the beaches and into the sea which is transported to other parts of the world by the current. Many people think that the levels of pollution in China will stay there but eventually, it will make it’s way to Europe, America and Canada. This image is very intriguing and is thought provoking as the viewer will most likely create ideas in their head from the image such as what is was like in the pipe, how tall the pipe is for Lu Guang to fit in it and what it would look like filled to the brim with water and it gushing out onto the beaches.

Research

Sean Gallagher

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His website: http://gallagher-photo.com

Sean Gallagher is a British photographer and filmmaker who has been based in Asia for over a decade.

Sean often spends months in the field documenting the worlds most important environmental, social and cultural issues for some of the world’s leading news outlets.

He creates photographic, video and multimedia projects which often highlights people’s stories from communities which have/are affect by these issues such as desertification, pollution, species extinction and climate change.

He has done environmental projects in China, India, Indonesia, Mongolia and Sri Lanka. His projects include:

  • Saving Mongolia’s Wild Horses
  • Drought in India
  • Beijing – The Masked City
  • India’s Rising Tide of E-Waste
  • Tainted Waters: Pollution in Jakanta
  • Lockdown – Inside China’s Zoos
Saving Mongolia’s Wild Horses:

The przewalski horse was once on the brink of extinction but in bouncing back thanks to the work of conservationists and scientists who have reintroduced the species. The world is currently experiencing a new age of extinction which is the 6th to occur throughout global history.

Sean Gallagher wants to raise awareness of the small but extremely important environmental issues and successes which the news does not talk about as it does not involve terrorism. His photographs aren’t the best composed but they have a strong meaning behind them which makes them unique in many different ways. He does have images in the collection which are well composed and thought out but it is very difficult to photograph animals which are often scared of people. Sean Gallagher takes very good landscape photographs in my opinion as the white snow contrasts with the brown horses and the blue sky.

Drought In India:

In the summer of 2016, some parts of India experienced record breaking droughts which was the result of consecutively failed monsoons.

Global temperature records have been record in each month of 2016 and India has its highest recorded temperature of 51C. This is something the news doesn’t tend to cover as India is considered an undeveloped country and is not worth covering unless it has been destroyed by an environmental disaster. This is why i like Sean Gallagher as he covers stories which are important as they raises awareness of what we are doing to the planet. His photographs are very shocking and thought provoking which makes them important and unique. They show the world what global warming is causing in the most dramatic fashion using documentary photography. I think the most shocking photo of this gallery is the one of the landscape in which only trees are visible and the ground is a dark brown and cracked.

The Masked City:

“I’m really scared of the pollution”, says Mrs. Zhang, a 62-year old retiree who has just finished her morning exercises in Beijing’s Ditan park

This project of his relates almost identically to mine in which he is photographing people in masks they have to wear due to the high levels of pollution. I am photography people in beautiful, natural environments with a mouth mask and a gas mask to show that the pollution levels are rising around the world. His photographs are very striking as they are environmental portraits but they have an element of formal portraiture within them. I think they are very well composed and show the true life of people in China and how their life has been restricted by the levels of pollution. I think it is really shocking that he has a photograph of an innocent child wearing a mask to protect them, i think this is sad because they do not have a normal childhood like children in other parts of the world do. They are restricted to what they can do because of health risks, i think this is really sad and the world should make an effort to help heal the planet so the children of the future can have a normal life.

India’s Rising Tide of E-Waste:

By 2017, all of that year’s end-of-life refrigerators, TVs, mobile phones, computers, monitors, e-toys and other products with a battery or electrical cord worldwide could fill a line of 40-ton trucks end-to-end on a highway straddling three quarters of the Equator. — United Nations’ Solving the E-Waste Problem (StEP) Initiative

I think these photos are more thought provoking rather than shocking as the world knows that electrical waste just ends up somewhere in the world as it’s not biodegradable. Sean Gallagher has composed these photos very well and has documented the life which people in India live very well as some of these photos are very intimate and show the reality of life for children who live around E-Waste. His portraits of young children are very powerful and well composed within the environment. His photos show that India is the dumping ground for the developed worlds rubbish and no one seems to care they are are living in filth and there are dangers around them all the time, like for example, the young children stepping on either glass or plastic.

Tainted Waters: Pollution in Jakarta:

Jakarta is the Indonesian Capital and the first impression should be the electric culture and the diversity of Indonesian people but it was not. The smell was: “400,000 liters of waste are dumped into the capital’s rivers and canals every day.”

It seems that we do not care about the undeveloped and minority countries of the world and use them are our dumping countries but the news would never cover this. This is why Sean Gallagher photographs these issues because he wants to bring to light what is hidden from our view by the media and how we need to change our ways and now. These photographs are more abstract photography than documentary photography but however is shows clearly the level of pollution in the river which we would not see from afar. I think these are some of his most interesting photos which he as taken because they do not follow his usual pattern of documentary photography. He gives us a different outlook on pollution than ordinary photographers.

Lockdown – Inside China’s Zoos:

Hidden away in the second tier cities of China, are a plethora of smaller unknown zoo which do not have the capacity to provide the proper care and environments for these animals.

For me, this is the most shocking of his projects mostly because i feel very strongly about Zoos in the sense that if they are not there to help save animals from extinction then they should not exist. These images show what no one knows, what no one cares about and how no one is trying to help these animals. His photographs are not well composed but i think that is the idea because he did not want to show the zoo through pretty, well composed images because that defeats the point of this project. For example, he has a blurry image of an elephant but it works well with the project as it shows the desperation and mayhem which occurs in these zoos. Many of these animals will have not known a life outside of the bars which they are confined too and will most likely never know what freedom feels life. I personally wish i had the money and ability to close down these zoos and give the animals a proper life which they deserve.

Uncategorized

Theo Gosselin Book ‘Sans limites’ compared to Corinne Day’s ‘Photo Diary’

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For my final outcome for the project ‘Environments’, I’m producing a book, this is because all my photographs can finally come together and tell a story.  Therefore when designing my layout I compared Theo Gosselins Book ‘Sans limites’ to Corinne Day’s ‘Photo Diary’. The reason for selecting these two photographers is because they were both big influences to my photographs, and there photo books have a lot of similarities and differences which are good for comparing when it comes to designing my book.

Theo Gosselin – Sans Limites; 

Theo Gosselin has been my main source of inspiration throughout this project, therefore I have looked at his book ‘Sans Limites’ to get ideas and inspiration for the layout of my book.

The video below shows a flick-through of Theo Gosselins work in his book Sans Limites;

Gosselin has purposely chose not to put the title on the front cover. Also, he’s intentionally chosen a cover which is an oil spill, which is linked with the fact he’s on a road trip. Therefore using an image which makes you think, because before opening the book one doesn’t know he’s on a road trip, and therefore capturing the readers attention before even opening the book.

When reading the book ‘Sans Limites’ there is 3 double spread pages before the page which states the title, and Theo Gosselin, the photographers name. I believe this makes it more interesting as normally that’s the immediate page you see when opening a photo-book. Alternatively, Gosselin captures the readers attention and allows them to think for themselves what the book is going to be about, rather than just reading the title.

After analyzing Theos book I have noticed the vast majority of his pages are double-spreads. I think this is because there’s so many aspects to his photographs which he doesn’t wants the reader to miss, which the viewer may have done if he put them on a smaller scale.

On the other hand, when he doesn’t do double page spreads he tends to have pictures which have white borders around them, and tend to have a completely blank page opposite. This is probably because he doesn’t want the viewer to get distracted and not completely focused on one.

When I saw this double page spread in Gosselins book, I was quite surprised, as he’s put the models face directly in the binding of the book. Personally I wouldn’t do this in my own layout, as it takes away from one of the main aspects of the photograph, just because of the way he’s presented the photo. In my opinion, I would still do a double page spread but with a white border as that way you can still take in the photograph but the binding isn’t as distracting. Although, this doesn’t work with Gosselins work as he has the theme of using the full double page spread or having it very plain, there’s no in-between. I think that this image has to many aspects which are aesthetically pleasing to put it onto a smaller layout.

After scrutinizing Theo Gosselins book ‘Sans Limites’, I have noticed my photo-book should have some sort of layout and pattern, which how I present double page spreads against my smaller scale images. I’ve also thought about how I don’t necessarily have to have my title on the front cover or immediately when opening the page, which may be interesting when reading my book. Another important aspect I noticed is when reading his book, there’s no text among the images. I think for my personal project I won’t add text either, as I want the photographs to tell a story in themselves.

Corinne Day – Photo Diary

The reason for comparing Gosselins work to Days is because I analysed both artists work, and their work has both differences and similarities.

The video below shows a flick-through of Corinne Days work in her book Photo Diary;

Her autobiographical book, “Diary” was published by Krus Verlag in 2000, and contained frank and at times shocking images of Day and her friends. The images in “Diary” featured young people hanging out, taking drugs and having sex, and have been compared to the documentary realism of Nan Goldin, another artist who’s work I’ve analysed for this project. Coinciding with the publication of “Diary”, Day had two large scale exhibitions in London in 2000.

The front cover of Days book is black, with a photograph of her friend on the front cover, with ‘Corinne Day Diary’ written underneath the photograph, looking like a caption but actually being the title for the book. This is opposite to Gosselins as he has no writing on it, and nobody featuring on it.  Day has used a very explicit image for the front cover, as it looks as if the girl has just snorted some sort of drug as she has blue around and inside her nostril.

Similarly, to Gosselins book she opens immediately with an image and not her name or title. Capturing your attention straight away. However, she uses text in the way she captions the photographs, giving the viewer a bit more of an insight to the image, whereas Gosselin never uses text with his images.

Corinne Day tends to shoot images in colour, except for a few, which are presented next to one another in the book. Gosselin is similar in the way he tends to shoot in colour, however he has no images in his book which are in black and white.

The main difference I personally noticed between Day and Gosselin, is that the majority of Gosselins book is double spread pages, whereas Day has no double page spreads featuring in her book. Also, when Gosselin doesn’t do a double page spread he tends to have one next to a blank page bordered, however Day uses book next to one another for most of her book, as shown below;

In both books nudity is shown, however Gosselins nudity seems to be not as sexualised as Days. As one can see in the below image, hers are very explicit. However, the image below shows a similar layout to what Theo Gosselin uses when he doesn’t do double page spreads.

In conclusion, I have been influenced by both photographers books as they both have a certain style which I find aesthetically pleasing. Therefore, when designing my photo book I will take ideas from both of their books and alter it slightly to make it my own, combining both of their ideas.

 

Analysis, Development, Presentation

Dusk Photoshoot 5

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I decided to make a 5th shoot to expand on the narrative of my book. Similar to previous shoots I explored different exposures and white balance.

the light was constantly changing and even with the above photographs I was still using a longer exposure.

i like the dreamy, glowing appearance of the above photograph as well as the seemingly ghostly long exposures.

Here are some experiments where I used different filters as well as experimented with text.

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Projecting onto a den

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As i looked at the work of  Felicity Hammond i decided to create a den and then project my images onto it. Below you can see the structure of the den with no images projected onto it. I decided to build the den out of white material as i wanted the projections to be as clear as possible. I built the den to have loads of layers of material as i wanted the projections to be projected onto an abstract surface. I wanted my projections to look more abstract by having the material in wacky fold and curves. I used a variety of different types of white material as i wanted to see how the different opacities of the material looked with the different projections on them. The majority of the material i used was some sort of lace. I though that symbolically this could be quite interesting to consider the contrast between the old fashioned material and the dens made in childhood. My images of dens are essentially looking back in to the past and i used a material to construct my den which was traditionally used in the past. Lace has an extensive history, beginning to be made in 1500 AD. In my mind it is mainly associated with the Victorian ages and grandmothers houses. I simply though that as my whole project is about looking back in time, the material itself in this den should be a reflection of times past. 

Overall the idea worked better then i thought. I wasn’t sure how clear the projections were going to look when they were projected onto the material but they actually showed up really well. I was also able to make quite an interesting den structure as i made it inside and therefore had more walls ect to be able to attach the material to so that it lay right. This den more than any of the others really explores how material can be layered and folded over each other to construct a structure. 

The below image shows the setup i used. I simply used a normal projector in which i moved the distance towards and away from the den to project the dens onto the structure. The only thing was that the projector created quite an yellowish light which was not as effective as the white light i had been using to photograph my night time dens.

Above and below are the umbrella den projections. Some of the projections worked a lot better then others and this was one of the most effective ones. I quite like how there is the slight hints of colour from the projection but without it being a solid form or colour. I think this works better as the den and the projection therefore blend together better. The only annoying thing is the definite line where the projection ends as the light from the projector ends. This is frustrating just because i would have liked to have been able to take some pictures of the den as a whole with the projection on them but it doesn’t look very effective as you can see from the below image.  This is defiantly an instillation however which needs to be seen in person as it looks a lot more effective when you can see the projections in reality. 

The above image shows a close up of the projection on the den.

The beach den at St Brelades also worked really well. The way the material falls within the photograph in the foreground works really effectively. I think this image works so well as the colour of the sky has been washed out to become white and therefore it blends really nicely into the material. 

These images were the best as i started to project the material a bit more abstractly. I projected the above photograph on the corner of the den which was where the material fell in an abstract way. As i wasn’t projecting the material straight onto the structure and it wasn’t a flat part of the structure it created a more dynamic image. I quite like in this one how the projection ends and the rest of the frame is in darkness. It doesn’t work for other images but for this one it is really effective in emphasizing the abstract way in which the material falls. I think it also works because the angle of the purple material it at the same angle as the material coming down from the top of the frame. This creates the impression that the projection and den is more of the same.

The above and below images are close ups of where the material is curved and folded over itself and the projection appears in a more abstract manner because of this overall, i quite like the effect. 

The above and below dens were the ones which didn’t work very well. I think it was probably the photographs i choose to project from which just weren’t as effective.

 

 

 

 

Analysis, Presentation, Recording

Documentary: Energy from Waste – Results

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Since being invited to have a insiders look of Jersey’s ‘Energy from Waste’ facility, I set out to meet with them at our arranged time. Before completing this shoot I have researched the facility located at La Collette and gathered amazing inspiration from topographic photographers Bernhard and Hilla Becher. As I explained in my planning, my main aim for this shoot was to capture the scene and show exactly what happens to Jersey’s household/commercial waste once it is thrown away. By doing this I hope to get across the message of the importance of recycling which I will back up in my next shoot depicting La Collette’s recycling centre. To complete this shoot all I needed was my camera and the safety equipment that was provided to me when I got there. Upon arriving at the location I headed up to the reception, signed myself in, and had an initial explanation of what we were doing during my tour. Fortunately, this opportunity turned out to be a great success as I was actually shown around the entire facility for 2 hours and explained exactly what happens to Jersey’s waste and how we can reuse it for energy. To take these images below I used a slightly faster shutter speed than normal, capturing as much light and detail as possible using the limited natural and artificial light. Below are some of the original unedited photographs from this shoot presented in a contact sheet…Because of my original plan to take as many photographs as possible of every aspect I was shown, the contact sheet above only shows 47 out of the 500+ images I took during my visit. To narrow down my outcomes from this selection above was quite difficult as I really liked many of the angles and compositions that I managed to capture. Below are the 14 images I have chosen as my final outcomes, although I won’t be using every image in my end result, I wanted to include them in this post for future reference to my efforts. As well as this, as requested by the manager of the energy from waste facility, Ian Williams, I have edited and saved about 16 more images to send to the department for unknown reasons. This shoot, much like my previous documentary shoots, shows a mixture of colour and black and white photographs depending on their style. Below I have displayed my final 14 outcomes along with four other images presented at the bottom that helps me to tell this documentary narrative…

This first group of my final outcomes above depicts the waste before transformation, the burning of the waste, and the ashy result of the process.  The first two images on the top row depict the difference between the amount of household and commercial waste produced on our Island. The image on the left presents an average sized machine transporting commercial rubbish from one spot to another whereas the image on the right shows a gigantic claw machine, capable of moving up to 3 tonnes of household waste.  For use in my project, I love the photograph on the right because of it dramatic intensity as well as its ability to give my viewers an idea of how much we produce.  This image is one of my favourites overall and was taken through one of the ‘rubbish shoots’ after the operator kindly positioned the claw for me.  The two pieces on the bottom row can show what could be seen of the burning process alongside with the final outcome of this waste. I love the orange glow and intriguing composition/aperture of the image on the right whereas the one on the left shows an important part of what happens to Jersey’s un-recycled waste. – this ash is actually re-purposed to be used in Jersey and England to create buildings and roads.

This next image is one of my favourite topographic style outcomes which was taken from inside the ‘Energy from Waste’ facility during my tour. This image depicts two massive pipes coming up from a lower floor and curling around the edge of my composition. I love the perfect symmetry I have captured in this piece and the topographic/straightforward style it was taken in. The reason I have decided to edit this image in black and white is to emphasise it dynamic features as well as resemble the many blast furnaces captured by my inspirations Bernhard and Hilla Becher. The meaning behind this image is to show a specific section of the massive machinery that combined, works to process the safe disposal of our island’s waste and turn it to clean energy.

These next group of final outcomes from my shoot show more specific details from inside the ‘Energy from Waste’ facility. The meaning behind these images, along with the final outcome above, is to show exactly how much work and complicated technology goes into this process. These images can give an idea of just how difficult it is to cleanly produce only 7% of our island’s energy at the same time as disposing of our waste. The first and largest image on the top left is my favourite from this and depicts a scene through the building completely filled with pipes and machinery. I love the high contrast and dramatic overtones of this image and I think the intricacy of the pipe work really helps prove my point. The next two images on the right of this piece depict a few close-up detailed shots of specific parts of this extensive setup. I love the simplicity of these images as I feel they share a very strong topographic style. Lastly, the two photographs on the bottom row depict some amazing shadows and angels looking through the facility as well as more intricate pipe work hanging down from the ceiling.

Next are some important outcomes depicting a few of the elements that go into the purification of the smoke produced from burning the rubbish. According to CSBC, the La Colette ‘Energy to Waste’ facility meets the highest air quality standards in the whole of Europe. If their emission levels are outside of the licensed limits the plant is shut down and any underlying problem is rectified before the plant is started up again. The fist three images on the left depict some features that help keep track and purify the smoke before it is released. First is the point where samples are taken for testing, next on the top is a monitor for viewing the levels of each element and finally, the bottom image shows a very small part of the machine that acts as a filter. Lastly, on the right of this contact sheet is the view from outside the window looking up at the JEC chimney and the pipes that connect the two facilities.

Lastly are some images I have taken that are not intended to contribute to my topographic photography style like the images above. Instead, I have chosen to add them to my blog simply to give a little more insight into how the facility actually works. The first two photographs on the left depict the building releasing steam from the perspective over the top of Mount Bingham. I have included these images to present the clean white steam that is let out of their small chimney which has just been through a system of turbines to create energy. The black and white image situated in the middle of the contact sheet represents how we still have a long way to go before beating the use of fossil fuels and powering the whole island cleanly. The last two images on the right are just quick snapshots of some of the tables and graphs the operators use to carefully monitor the waste disposal emissions and make sure they are under the licenced limit. By looking closely at this information we can start to understand just what types of chemicals are released from the burning of waste and exactly how much is being pumped into the atmosphere. 

Planning

Photoshoot 5 planning

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I decided to do a 5th shoot to tie together the photographs I have previously made, also combining techniques I have used previously. I plan on making these portrait photographs. These photographs will feature similar locations and buildings featured previously but featured with different lighting. I also plan on taking photos from inside the garage I have previously photographed as well as the white house. I plan on working with different lighting such as light from at light as well as unnatural lighting. I really like the warm lighting contrasted with the cool shadows in the first photograph by Todd Hido, this use of colour is something I plan on emulating in my own photos.