ENVIRONMENT: When i think about environment, i think about the contrast between real jungles and the urban jungles, in the sense that urbanization is taking over the world and real jungles seem to be disappearing daily. Animals that were here before us, are getting killed for our pleasure and so that our population can grow even though it is clear that if we keep growing, the forests and jungles will decrease and so will our oxygen. Many people forget that we rely on our environment for clean air that we can breath that doesn’t kill us. The less trees, the more carbon dioxide which will lead to carbon dioxide poisoning and so on.

Many people believe that global warming isn’t real or that it isn’t going to effect but sadly it is going to effect the entire world and it already has. The snow gaps are melting as our air warms, this means gallons of water pouring into our oceans daily which is rising our sea level. Soon islands which we used to visit will no longer exist, New York will get permanently flooded but Jersey will be first.

Pollution is one of the biggest problems facing the earth, everything that it destroying our planet stems from pollution. Cars, Planes, Boats, Buses, Motorbikes etc.. all contribute to pollution as well as our electricity, our lights. Light pollution is real, when you look up at the sky and you wonder why you can’t see any stars this is because the light our island omits blocks out the stars. China is one of the primary sources for pollution, they have to wear masks to protect themselves, they do not often get to see blue sky, it is just grey now. Clouds are permanently over China due to the amount of cars and other vehicles on the roads 24/7 and the population of China is overcrowded and is still growing.

The government controls everything in our life and nothing we can do can change their mind on either building new houses and new offices. They will do as they please and do not care about the environment as they live in their luxury houses, waited on hand and foot and drink wine and champagne on a daily basis and they believe nothing can touch them. Well sadly carbon dioxide poisoning can magically bypass walls and windows, global warming doesn’t just effect the population who aren’t part of the government and the privileged. They will listen to no one as they only care about making money and the only way to do that is by destroying our environment and building houses and offices which people and companies will pay a lot of money to live in. However, what happens to the animals? where do they go? Do we have the right to destroy their environment just because we are classed as the superior race? If it weren’t for animals, we wouldn’t be here so we are basically killing our ancestors for money.

My first idea has originated from photographs created by Alex Hofford about Chinese people and the pollution in China. He created images with individuals wearing gas masks in ordinary places. I have been fascinated with the rate of pollution for a while as no matter what people seem to do, it doesn’t go down, this is mostly because the government controls everything and activists will never be able to get their message across to them.

This is why my first idea for my exam is to create a series of images which will be a set of 3 sequenced images going from a vivid image of an individual looking happy in a beautiful place on the island, the next image will be them wearing a white mouth and nose mask and the image will be in black and white but with low contrast so that it is not dark. The final image in the sequence will be the individual wearing a full face gas mask and the image will be very dark in black and white with high contrast and low exposure to add drama and to show the deterioration of our air.

My second idea involves making comparisons between urban and natural environments. Real jungle vs Urban jungle. Creating images using trees then replicating them with the urban environment of Jersey. Which feels more like home to you? I will be creating dramatic images in either black and white or in vivid colour to represent the contrast/ the resemblance between them. I would also like to photograph images of trees cut down or damaged and make a comparison between building sites in the sense that trees are falling down/ being cut down whilst we are building things up. I will visit places in Jersey such as St Catherine’s and look up at trees and create images using the trees then go to town in Jersey and recreate these images using buildings instead of trees.

My third idea came from me seeing an image of a environment with a wine glass in the middle which flipped the environment upside down. I researched this photograph and found a photographer called Steve Brownstein, who created a book called the art of wine, in which he held up a glass filled with wine to different environments which flipped them upside. I think this could symbolizes that we need to look at our environment from a different perspective, the entire world needs to. The roles which humans play need to be flipped upside down as we need to start looking after and re-building our environment instead of destroying it. I could use clear water to represent those who are aware of the effects we have on our environment and blurry water to represent those who’s vision is clouded by money and who do not see the damage we are causing.