This is my favourite image of my project. The content of the image is relevant to me quite literally because of the fact that me and my family produced this plastic waste in two weeks and continue to produce this amount because, it is almost impossible to avoid buying into plastic packaging. It is a conceptual photograph that carries a lot of meaning and relevance to the modern world because it brings forth an issue no one likes to see or do anything about. I think this is down to a common trait that everyone shares - laziness.
Using a camera only had a small significance in the process of making this image. If I left the image alone I would feel no satisfaction in its completion. I have learnt during this first year in photography that generating a final image with just a camera isn't enough. Even though a lot of technical work goes into producing a decent image.
It was difficult to achieve the right lighting because I could only light one side of the pile at a time unless I used the floodlights, yet I couldn't achieve my desired effect with them because of the high level of light intensity. I had to manipulate the lighting with colour and use different angles so I could accomplish an image with enough light to capture the detail but not too much to white wash my image or over expose it. It would of been more successful if I had two spotlights either side of the plastic.
For me, I want to reflect my artistic side in my images with colours and playing with the forms and shapes of the objects in a photograph by cutting out imagery from many of the photographic materials I produce from a photo shoot and piecing it together. Editing my images is the most important stage for me because it allows me to produce something that wouldn't possibly be seen in our daily lives.
In this photograph a lot of the imagery is repeated and seen in many areas of the plastic pile. I didn't want to hide this to make it seem like I produced more plastic than I did just so I could prove my point. I kept the repeated imagery visible because it has the implication that we repeat mistakes and the process of this ongoing problem is down to that fact. The dangers of producing so much plastic is known by everyone yet it is an ongoing cycle of production, because we live in a throw away society.
On the other hand, I also had to repeat the imagery because the majority of the plastic could not be seen in a singular flat image. This is one draw back that makes this image have a lesser impact on an audience. With the context of why I created this image some might ignore my points and reasons behind it because it doesn't impinge on that person. If this perhaps was an image of plastic collected over a year, it might of had a bigger impact. However, putting this image into perspective, this was one family out of billions. In two weeks how much plastic did everyone as a collective produce and where did it go?
I want the presentation of these images to keep focus on the images themselves because of the context. The style of these images are very minimalistic and I want the presentation to reflect that. I think the white and black boarders draw the eye away too much because of the contrasting shades and the bright colours.
Below is an example of Krista Svalbonas' presentation. She keeps the images she produces very raw and minimal, almost like the erratic shapes of her images defines itself. With my images, I think that the coloured backgrounds frames the pictures and there is no need for me to mount my pictures on a black board.
Bacon - I decided to have a trio of images for the pieces that reflect the meat industry and also, a larger image that I composed by repeating the bacon images over and over again - my reason behind this was to heighten the sense of mass production and consumption of meat. I would of liked to created work constructed more like Krista Svalbonas with the images I produced with the bacon, with a more contorted and twisted effect. However, I think the use of the composition in blocks mirrors the structure and order of our daily lives and constructed society and the habit of eating meat.
Plastic - With the images I produced with plastic, I think my composition reflects Krista Svalbonas' work more than the bacon images. When I was creating these images, the process felt more creative in terms of figuring out the shapes and placement of the repeated images. However, I think I could of created more out of the material I had and produced a similar image like the pop art of bacon that represents the mass and the extent humans go to, to satisfy a habit. Both the topics have the same principle, a problem that has arisen because of the growth of population and selfishness of our race.
I went through a similar process of editing as the bacon photos. I removed the background and cut up the image of the plastic and created an abstract circular block of plastic waste. I deliberately chose to make the main image circular so it plants the idea of an ongoing problem and the long cycle of the disintegration of plastic. I then used the eyedropper tool to pick out the colours that the plastic reflected from the studio lights for the background colour.
I also created a slight shadow on both edits by copying the plastic image and using a colour overlay layer, using a colour slightly darker than the background. I chose to do this because a shadow gives the image depth which makes the image seem like it is protruding from the screen and adds to the effect of mass plastic.
This is my favourite image of my project. The content of the image is relevant to me quite literally because of the fact that me and my family produced this plastic waste in two weeks and continue to produce this amount because, it is almost impossible to avoid buying into plastic packaging. It is a conceptual photograph that carries a lot of meaning and relevance to the modern world because it brings forth an issue no one likes to see or do anything about. I think this is down to a common trait that everyone shares - laziness. Using a camera only had a small significance in the process of making this image. If I left the image alone I would feel no satisfaction in its completion. I have learnt during this first year in photography that generating a final image with just a camera isn't enough. Even though a lot of technical work goes into producing a decent image. It was difficult to achieve the right lighting because I could only light one side of the pile at a time unless I used the floodlights, yet I couldn't achieve my desired effect with them because of the high level of light intensity. I had to manipulate the lighting with colour and use different angles so I could accomplish an image with enough light to capture the detail but not too much to white wash my image or over expose it. It would of been more successful if I had two spotlights either side of the plastic. For me, I want to reflect my artistic side in my images with colours and playing with the forms and shapes of the objects in a photograph by cutting out imagery from many of the photographic materials I produce from a photo shoot and piecing it together. Editing my images is the most important stage for me because it allows me to produce something that wouldn't possibly be seen in our daily lives. In this photograph a lot of the imagery is repeated and seen in many areas of the plastic pile. I didn't want to hide this to make it seem like I produced more plastic than I did just so I could prove my point. I kept the repeated imagery visible because it has the implication that we repeat mistakes and the process of this ongoing problem is down to that fact. The dangers of producing so much plastic is known by everyone yet it is an ongoing cycle of production, because we live in a throw away society. On the other hand, I also had to repeat the imagery because the majority of the plastic could not be seen in a singular flat image. This is one draw back that makes this image have a lesser impact on an audience. With the context of why I created this image some might ignore my points and reasons behind it because it doesn't impinge on that person. If this perhaps was an image of plastic collected over a year, it might of had a bigger impact. However, putting this image into perspective, this was one family out of billions. In two weeks how much plastic did everyone as a collective produce and where did it go?
I want the presentation of these images to keep focus on the images themselves because of the context. The style of these images are very minimalistic and I want the presentation to reflect that. I think the white and black boarders draw the eye away too much because of the contrasting shades and the bright colours. Below is an example of Krista Svalbonas' presentation. She keeps the images she produces very raw and minimal, almost like the erratic shapes of her images defines itself. With my images, I think that the coloured backgrounds frames the pictures and there is no need for me to mount my pictures on a black board.
