For this shoot I wanted to highlight the fact that even when we need to heal ourselves, we harm the planet in the process.
I took pictures of a packet of capsule tablets which were encased in foil and plastic wrapping. The capsule itself is made from a kind of plastic which dissolves in our stomach acid. By having these types of tablets we are constantly adding to the plastic productions.
In addition to this, I wanted to emphasise the fact that the whole population now relies on medication. As more diseases are found, there is a higher demand for cures/vaccinations to be found at the same time. This then means the production of plastic waste increases as well as the funds that need to go into pharmaceuticals around the world. This has become more apparent recently as COVID 19 took over throughout 2020- the present day. The whole world was relying on the pharmacists around the world to find a vaccine to prevent the spread of COVID. This lead to the government needing to provide millions of pounds to ensure that the NHS and labs throughout the country were safe enough to work in but also so that they had enough protective clothing and equipment to help those who caught the virus to keep as many people safe as possible.
Lockdown had a major impact on the UK’s economy as shown here:
However, there is evidence that even more money will be put into the NHS and pharmaceuticals in the next coming years:
Contact sheet
Final Outcomes
Best Images
For this image, I went into photoshop and increased the contrast from 0 to 22 and decreased the brightness from 0 to -15. This helped enhance the texture of the plastic and foil wrapping. I also put the image into black and white, I did this to show that even the things that help us can harm us. I think this works well with the two ends of the tablet. The darker side represents the harm that plastic does to our environment and the lighter side is how plastic can help us, like for packaging our medication and keeping things fresh.
I also think that the fact that the image is in black and white also represents the dangers of medication. Even though they are made to help people, they can quite easily kill . Some can take to many without realising and cause serious harm to themselves. The contrast in the colours of the medication can represent this fine line.
The two colours of the medication could also represent the fact that in America, there are fees for medication and medical care. This was problematic especially throughout the pandemic because if someone who was financially struggling , they wouldn’t be able to afford the medical help they needed which then meant that they had to struggle and live in pain. But, if you had enough money to afford the medication/ help you would be able to recover quickly and get on with your life.
I created this image by merging the image above with the colour version and flipped it. I did this to try and represent the mass production of medication that happens each year. I wanted it to be a circular image to show that there is a routine in this industry and once the routine has finished it begins again. I also mixed the coloured image with the black and white to show the range of medication that is created and sold to different people around the world.
The Corona Virus put a huge pressure on the Pharmacists around the world to work constantly around the clock. This meant there was a mass production of test tubes, syringes and pipets, all of which are made from plastic.
Experiments
For this shoot I took images of my friends, first individually and then together. I did this to show that people became united during the pandemic. It also represents the fact that people get closer when they are in certain situations that can cause panic. I chose to put the black and white image behind Aaron and the coloured medication behind Kiera to show that they are different people and have totally different lives. But when they are together I put the coloured medication behind them to represent that they are in the same situation and are connected in some way or another . This represents the world when the pandemic hit and everyone had to go into lockdown.
