Final displayed images forHendrik Kerstens and Vika Pobeda
Evaluation:
My original intentions for my work was to create images that related to my artists and to the idea of Anthropocene. I wanted to mainly focus on portraiture and show plastic and water wastage through my images. I wanted to show the damage of plastic waste on the marine animals and how it effects our oceans and environment and I wanted to represent purity and the lack of access to pure water for some based on peoples social class. I feel I represented this well in my mages by using many different plastic objects and used these images to distort and ‘destroy’ the models face in order to represent the damage done to the environment. Although I wasn’t happy with all the images in my shoots I picked the best ones and edited them till I was happy with the final outcome and felt it presented my intentions. Although I was happy with the majority of my final outcomes I feel I could have explored the water images more and created a more powerful image to represent my ideas more. I feel that you can see a clear resemblance between mine and the chosen artists images and can see a correlation between the ideas.
David T. Hanson is a photographer was born and raised in Montana. His photography has a strong view on Anthropocene as he chosen to photograph wasted land which suggest that he has decided to photograph manmade environments.
Jerremy Carroll is a photographer who based her work around man made items and the way they can effect living things. I know this due to her calling a series of her photographs ‘marine pollution’ this relates to Anthropocene as he is concerned about the pollution going into the margins.
Barry Rosenthal is a award winning photographer who collected discarded items of plastic and captured photographs of them to reflect on anthropecene. His series of these photographs were called “Found in Nature”, in which he started in 2007. His series had a worldwide following and has created several opportunities for Barry Rosenthal to talk about his work to a larger audience. Additionally he is also stated that ‘In today’s world, consumer goods are increasing in volume. At the same time their useful lives are shorter and shorter. Consuming without a thought of what is left behind is what we are taught.’ which highly highlights that he cares about what impacts humans have on the world.
Barry Rosenthal – found in nature
Image analysis:
Jerremy Carroll – choked by plastics in the ocean.
This image in which Jerremy Carroll has taken is very unique as I haven’t seen a photographer take photos in relation to the Anthropocene in this way as she has used items such as fishing nets to create a stigma that the woman in the photograph is trapped the same as if she was a fish in the sea relating to the Anthropocene and the impacts us as humans has on it. I personally feel that the use of the harsh bright white light adds specific details because it makes you more aware of what is occurring. I feel as if Jerremy Carroll has a strong opinion on the topic of Anthropocene as she may not have decided to take these sort of images if she didn’t care about the world. Additionally the name of the series of photographs in which she has taken is called ‘choked by plastics in the ocean’ which highly suggests that she is concerned for the well being of the fish that live in the sea. The tones in this photograph are very clear due to the bright lights being used. In addition the way in which Jerremy Carroll has structured her photograph makes the photo have more details and portrays the mood of power which the Anthropocene has over the woman used in the photo as the way in which she has structure the fishing nets and stings it almost as if she is trapped and has no power over it.
Barry Rosenthal – found in nature
Barry Rosenthal in this image uses different tones of blue which brings out the textures in the different objects. Having the background black, and the objects set in a certain way gives the photo more dynamic and draws the eye into the photo. The way Rosenthal has set out the objects used in the photo creates levels as this photo has been taken from a bird eye view. This photo which has been taken for Anthropocene relates to world wide problem of global warming and littering. As some of these objects relate to the beach like the flip flop for example, Rosenthal might be trying to make a point of the rubbish which has been left by man kind creating problems for the sea life which can become very harmful for the ecosystems.
Comparison:
Overall the two images are very similar but in different ways. AS you can see both photographers have Bothe use a different variations a blue objects throughout their photos which I feel could both relate to rubbish found in and around the ocean which has an impact on the world globally (The Anthropocene). Secondly both of the photos have a plain and dull background which makes their main focus off their photographs stand out more leaving the background being their non-focus. Additionally I also feel that these two photographs are very different to each other as Barry Rosenthal photograph is more related to just the objects and how all plastics are bad for the environment having a negative impact on the world. However, on the other hand Jerremy Carroll has based her work on how it can effect us as humans as she has used a model to represent what it does to animals in the sea as she has made the woman in the picture look trapped in the netting which surrounds her. Furthermore both of these photos relate to how tragic plastics can be for the environment.
First I selected my best images from the shoot and put them into a separate folder so I could focus on a few of the best images.
I started by cropping all my images to get rid of background that wasn’t needed to make the image more smart and effective. I did this to all my final images.c
I then changed the brightness and contrast on my images as they were all quite bright from the artificial lighting. I lowered the brightness and altered the contrast to create the look I wanted.
I then changed the vibrance of the image to create a more yellow tone to the image to suite some of Darian Mederos images. This left me with my final image.
I wanted all my images to be close up images and so I had to crop my images quite a bit in order to achieve this.
Final images:
I like the outcome of my images as I feel they represent my artists approach well and you can see a clear similarity between my images and the artists. I wanted to represent the plastic wastage in these images by using plastic objects as props in my images. I used plastic waste to distort the models face in order to represent the idea that the earth may look incorrect or different due to the damage plastic has done to the earth. I feel i represented this well in my images as the bubble wrap creates a blurred effect meaning you cant properly see the models face and relates to Darian Mederos images. I also used a plastic bag over the models face to represent all the animals that are trapped or injured by plastic that is polluting the seas and their habitats. I chose to put the bag over her head to represent her being trapped and the ingestion of plastic by animals. I also used cling film and folded the cling film to create dents to distort and change the models face, I also put vaseline onto the cling film to make it looked blurred.
Nick Fancher
Nick Fancher shoot
I used mainy different editing techniques for this shoot. For my colourful images I:
I started by overlapping the 2 images and made them fit ontop of each other perfectly.
I then changed the opacity and experimented with it to find the perfect level to create the image I wanted.
I also put most of my images into black and white and changed the exposure and brightness on all images to create the right feeling from the image.
Final images:
I used water in a few of my images to represent purity and sometimes a lack of access to water. Pure water is so important to reduces the risk of contamination of diseases and it is important when cleaning utensils and everyday items and especially important for a basic action such as washing your hands. An estimated 2.2 billion people need access to safe drinking water, including 884 million currently without basic drinking water service, this means these people do not have easy access to fresh , clean water and face the risk of catching deadly diseases everyday just from a daily necessity. Unsafe water is one of the world’s largest health and environmental problems particularly for the poorest in the world which relates to social class. Woman and young children must carry buckets full of water every few days and sometimes everyday and walk for miles carrying the heavy buckets of fresh water. In regions where freshwater must be retrieved from sources outside the home, the burden of fetching and carrying water largely falls on women. Therefore I wanted to use water in some of my images to represent this as it relates to Anthropocene as humans have caused this lack of access to water. I also chose to use barbed wire and use the holes to look through to the model to divide up the face and also to make it look like she is trapped in the wire which is what happens to the sea animals from all the waste that goes into the sea.
Hendrik Kerstens and Vika Pobeda
Initially I wasn’t happy with the outcome of this shoot so I decided to try some editing techniques to change my images to fit my aim and represent Anthropocene more.
Therefore, for all my images in this shoot I chose to use multi exposure.
I put some of the images into black and white to add more effect and improve the image , I then overlapped the images.
Then I changed the opacity to the right opacity for the image I wanted to create.
I then cropped down the image to create the final image that I was happy with.
Final images:
I chose to use the multi exposure technique for these images to create a confused and overwhelming look for the viewers. To create these images I used multiple types of waste that is typically found in the ocean and caused injury to animals whether that be the animal trapped in a plastic bag or a turtle getting a plastic straw stuck in their throat. On a boat off Costa Rica, a biologist had to use pliers from a Swiss army knife to try to extract a plastic straw from a sea turtle’s nostril. The turtle squirmed in agony, whilst bleeding profusely. Around 700 species of marine animals have been reported—so far—to have eaten or become entangled in plastic.
For my second photoshoot under the stimulus of Anthropocene, I have taken inspiration from Naomi White and Barry Rosenthal. I chose these two artists because their work is very stirring, as it addresses the vast amount of plastic objects in the oceans, such as plastic bottles, children’s toys, hair combs, and flip flops.
According to National Geographic, The Anthropocene Epoch is an unofficial unit of geologic time, used to describe the most recent period in Earth’s history when human activity started to have a significant impact on the planet’s climate and ecosystems.
Anthropocene focuses on the idea of mans impact on the planet, specifically post industrial evolution. In light of the global climate crisis, this topic is becoming increasingly popular to explore by photographers who aim to bring to crisis to attention. One such organisation is the ‘Union for Concerned Photographers’ or UCP who dedicate time to creating images based on the idea of Anthropocene to highlight key issues of climate change to potentially make a difference. The issues of Anthropocene are various, they range from the melting of the polar ice caps to the over abundance of plastic. These issues effect everyone which makes it even more important.
Mind Map of Ideas
I decided to base my project on fast fashion because I feel that as a topic it is much more relevant to me as I myself am guilty of using fast fashion to get cheap clothes and therefore am part of the problem. I hope that this project will help me better understand my contribution to climate change and potentially make my carbon footprint better.
I was inspired by artist and photographer Benjamin-Von-Wong, whose stunning and creative photographs illustrate the immorality of the fast fashion industry.
Work by Benjamin Von-Wong
KEYWORDS
SWEATSHOP, WAREHOUSE, STORMY,DIRTY, COLD, STORMY
FORM
The photo is a scene in a bare and grimy warehouse. From the ceiling leading to the floor is a tornado fashioned out of clothes presumably from the fast fashion industry. A woman dressed in red stands at its base. As a tornado is a type of natural disaster its reflects how the fashion industry does immense damage. This is impactful on the environment through climate change, the labourers who are payed the bare minimum and are forced to working terrible and unhealthy conditions, and the consumers who wear cheap materials that can do damage to the skin. The light seems to be natural, coming from seemingly a crack in the ceiling suggesting that the building is abandoned and creating a dystopian narrative. It leads directly to the woman indicating that she is important as well as the leading lines from the end of the ‘tornado’ leading to her. The room used is very spacious with not much in the room except the tornado and model leading to feelings of isolation and loneliness. There is very little colour except from the red of the model clothes again showing her importance to the photo.
CONTENT
The photo is reminiscent of the Dhaka garment factory collapse in 2013 that killed 1,134 people and injured many more. The vast majority of the injured and the fatalities were low payed clothes makers for companies such as Gucci, Moncler and Versace, going against the misconceptions that fast fashion is only an issue connected with budget fashion chains such as Shien or Misguided, making fast fashions impact on the environment a problem most people in the western world contribute to. The red clothing of the model connotes the dystopian novel the handmaids tail, perhaps reflecting how the lives of the workers in these factories are intensely controlled by consumerist culture in a way that seems dystopian.
PROCESS
The most challenging part of this photo seems to be prop placement of the clothes tornado. It was made from recycled clothing from the warehouse which had gone bankrupt, giving the clothes a new lease of life. It was shot on a 16-35mm f4 lens
I was also inspired by the work of fashion designers Vin and Omi who created a line of sustainable fashion from recycled materials and handmade eco fabric made from cow parsley.
Work by Vin and Omi
KEY WORDS
SUSTAINABLE, ECLECTIC, MAXIMALIST, VIBRANT
FORM
The photo is of one of the models walking for Vin and Omi’s collection at London fashion week. They are wearing a very a very garish ensemble that looks like they have had scrunchies superglued to their clothes. The look is very gender fluid which adds to the idea that the effect of fast fashion involves everyone. The lighting is very artificial, as is normal for fashion shows and completely covers the model. The model takes up the majority of the shot leaving little space for background space and subsequently making the model important. The repetition of the ruffles is very expressive and adds a variety of colour to the shot. It is in the eclectic, maximalist style which makes it interesting, if a little overwhelming, to look at.
CONTENT
The poodle symbol on the poodles head links to the shows subtitle ‘poodles and pentagrams’ which they say links to their form of eco religion ” growing out of the need to save the planet.” which links to the idea that they are not a brand but an ideology. The white undershirt beneath the ruffles could represent the purity of their intentions regarding their brand as well as the hope that they can aid in ending the fast fashion industry and in turn make the world a better place.
PROCESS
The process for creating this outfit comes from the eco material flaxley. To make this material, cow parsley and flax are women together. The models hair also links to this as it looks like poodle fur. There is a possibility that it actually is poodle fur as the pair also have an initiative called the no kill coat where they collect fur from pets and spin it into wool to use in their clothes.
Comparing my inspirations
The most obvious difference between my two case studies is that one is a photographer whilst the other is a pair of designers and therefore created very different outcomes. Von-Wong’s work is very gloomy and depressing and focuses on the effects on the people who make the clothes while Vin and Omi work to demonstrate how to fix the solution whilst also making it look beauty. Von-Wong uses his work to push a narrative but Vin and Omi offer a solution and use their work as a display of optimism that we can solve the problem of fast fashion.
Sketching ideas
My main idea is based on Barbie dress birthday cakes that I had when I was little. The concept is that my model will be wearing a corset style top and her legs will be covered by a pile of fast fashion garments, fashioned to look like a skirt. It is a portrait project but I may take some of the photos in landscape.
Shoot Plan
Who
Zuzanna
What
Wearing skirt from old clothes
When
14/05/21
Where
Home- in front of kitchen wall
Notes
collect old clothes and move furniture to create DIY studio
CONTACT SHEET
From this shoot I selected my favourite photos and highlighted them in green. A lot of the photos have background furniture such as plug sockets and artwork peaking through but I am not worried about this as they can easily be cropped out. Additionally there are quite a few distracting quite scratches in the wall being but it shouldn’t take too long to edit that out either. I had my model wear an Oh Polly dress as the bodice of the dress as it is a common example of fast fashion aimed at girls to wear once on a night out and then throw away.
Here is a selection of my best photos, shown as they were taken
Here are the same photos but with distracting background pieces cropped out and slight imperfections removed with the spot healing tool on photoshop
Using the spot healing tool to slightly smooth out the skin
I used the software Lightroom to further edit my photos. The idea was to use vibrant and unnatural colours to reflect the harsh chemical dyes that employees in clothing and fabric factories have to work with. These dyes are often damaging to the skin and cause the workers to sustain painful injuries as well as develop potentially more harmful medical conditions due to constant exposure. I used tools on Lightroom such as contrast and clarity to create a more synthetic, plasticky look resembling cheap manufactured clothes.
Collection 1
Collection 2
Collection 3
Out of all the collections, number 3 is my favourite. It emulates the pop art movement, specifically Andy Warhol, who, like me, used art to condemn over-consumption, greed and capitalism
New Idea
Another idea I have is reflective of the Dhaka garment factory collapse, in which 1,134 workers died. To do this I want to use the clothes against the model. With poses such as being crushed or strangled by the clothes. Using the same concept as my first shoot I will be using old clothes that would otherwise be thrown away. The photos will be taken in the school studio with a proper white backdrop compared to the kitchen wall I used for my first shoot when there wasn’t a studio available. Hopefully this means there will be less flaws to edit out as there were previously. Instead of full body shots, I plan for these to use the face or neck as a focal point.
SHOOT 2 PLAN
Who
Carmen,
What
Strangled by fast fashion
When
25/05/21 morning
Where
Studio
Notes
Bring clothes able to wrap around
Second Shoot Contact Sheet
From this shoot I selected 4 that I felt worked best in conjunction with my ideas. I ran into a few problems whilst shooting this. The 2 models I had arranged to shoot with were unable to come so I had to find another at extremely short notice. Another problem was with the camera, I found it really difficult to take any of the photos without them coming out extremely blurry. At first this was really annoying however when I took the time to properly look at the photos I really liked the effect the blurring had on them so decided to keep them as they are. I also think that it strengthens the narrative that the people who make the clothes for big companies like ASOS and Shein have their identities blurred.
Similar to my other shoot I experimented with colour to make my photos more interesting but this time made the colours much more subtle and understated as the photo is obvious enough with the material strangling the model. These photos have a much darker more melancholy feel to them much more reflective of Von-Wong’s work than my other photos.
Collection 4
DISPLAYING
On photoshop I moved my photos in their collections onto empty gallery space or on a white background.
Collection 1
As colour is an important aspect of this project, I decided to display this set of photos in the style of the colour spectrum, ordered as such. The photos mimics vibrant fashion campaigns, adding an ironic twist to my shoot.
Collection 2
Collection 3
Collection 4
Like with my other collections I ordered these photos using the colour spectrum and whilst I like how it turned out it seems to look like the Microsoft windows logo which ideally it wouldn’t.
Conclusion
Although the individual photos from Collection 3 were my favourite, as a collective, displayed using the colour spectrum, I think that collection 3 is the most put together and therefore my best. It effectively conveys my message on fast fashion but still manages to look like art you would display at home.
Comparison with case studies
Similarities and differences to Von-Wong
Creating something out of obsolete materials, creating a narrative based on the fast fashion industry from the centre- the place it’s made. Von-Wong’s work is a lot more gloomy and depressing than my final outcomes. He displays realism while mine is more abstract. His is much more prop based in part due to a larger budget and team helping him. His is landscape and focuses more on the scene itself rather than just the model as I did. His background is a derelict building where mine is just a DIY backdrop. His photo works as a scene to tell a story where mine uses repetition.
Similarities and differences to Vin and Omi
Both very fashion based. Use of bright and vibrant colours to show hopefulness. Mine is more pop art inspired and heavily edited whereas, because its taken directly from a catwalk it is pretty bare. Neither is monochrome, we both use a variety of colours to keep the photo interesting. The items of clothing are both similar, made up of mismatched material however, instead of recycled materials they create their own eco material
REFLECTION
Through my research into this project I have learnt a lot about the fast fashion industry and it’s deadly effect on the environment as well as the lives of the people who produce the clothing. The project has shown me how I myself as an avid consumer of fast fashion contribute to the problem and will be trying to buy more sustainable clothes from now one as well as avoiding companies that employ labourers from sweatshops in order to help combat the problems associated with them e.g the mistreatment of low level/ low pay workers and it’s contribution to climate change. If I was to do anything differently I would have done my second shoot well before the deadline so that even if things went wrong I would have more time to fix it and redo it. I would also take more photos to allow more for selection to end with a better photo. I think my photos have ended up looking really good and I’m happy the way they all turned out. I have really enjoyed this project and am confident about the photos I have submitted and feel that they fit very well with the idea of ‘Anthropocene’
To recreate Troy Paiva’s style I used two continuous lights and added a grid and coloured gels to them. The grid allowed me to narrow the light so that it only lights specific part of the objects I wanted. The colours gels allowed me to add contrasting warm and cool colours just like Troy Paiva does. The camera was set to a very slow shutter speed of between 30 seconds and 8 seconds of exposure time. Since we where shooting in the dark this permitted some ambient light to get sucked in to the exposure. As I moved from the location to location, I had to change the shutter speed to adapt to the ambient environment and in some shots I decided to use flash light rather than continuous light. This helped to isolate the subjects. Off course the camera was always on a tripod. This is very important for slow exposures.
photo that I chose:
The three first pictures are from the same shoot ”Domestic waste”. Each of those three pictures presents different waste. The image I especially like is the first one the ”McDonalds rubbish” because it makes you question how something that is loved by young, old people can be very bad for the environment and pollutes our planet. Those packaging can be found everywhere like on street floors or the beach … But what if we took the packaging of our favourite fast food and turned it into an inspiration from a 17th century painting. Is like what Mat Collishaw or Krista van der Niet does. Let’s convert our waste into art!
The second picture I especially like is the third one since we can see a place that use to be used, now completely abandoned. The colours and patterns of the floors let us guess from what period the hotel was. We can see the unused chairs left on the tables, rubbish everywhere the carpet is dirty… and all this makes me think about what this room was for before, why is it no longer used. The only thing left now are the memories. The last two photos are from my second shoot ”Ingrained in nature”. This shoot had a different meaning for me since I wanted to represent the fight that nature must wage against an anthropogenic element, in the end nature tries to adapt to it and grows up despite everything. The building is hidden in nature, and its colours are the same as the forest: brown, green, yellow, blue
Review and Reflection
I like the finals results of my photos I think I managed to interpret what I wanted to show. In the first controlled conditions I did, I was a bit disappointed because I didn’t focus on little details because I was not well organized in terms of time. But in this controlled conditions I got better organized and I managed to put the details I wanted like well place the objects, change them, transform them and I also explored more in my idea than the last time. Another thing I had to improve in my last controlled conditions was lighting and sincerely I think it’s something that I handled well in this theme.
This shoot was inspired by Jeremy Caroll. As well as including Caroll’s style I wanted to highlight the topic of air pollution as well as water pollution.
I wanted my images to show the impact that people have on the world. Even by eating something with a plastic wrapper humans are negatively impacting the world and pouring plastic into the oceans.
Water Pollution (plastic)
Plastic is accumulating in the world’s oceans at a staggering rate. An estimated eight million tons of plastic – the equivalent of over 26,600 Boeing 747 planes – are swept into our seas and oceans every single year, mainly via rivers and coastal urban centres.
500 marine species are known to be affected by plastic pollution.
Nurdles – the pre-production pellets from which most plastic items are made – are a significant direct source of microplastic pollution. Because of their small size and the way in which they are transported and handled, millions of these pellets are spilled in factories and other sites every year, and are often washed straight into storm drains and out to sea.
Unfortunately, the environment is the worst hit by activities of the tobacco and cigarette industry. Until everyone learns to start doing something about this trend, they might be in for some big trouble in the nearest future. This article will focus on some of the negative effects of tobacco on different elements of the environment, as well as steps that must be taken to prevent the looming damage.
The smoking industry is designed by its own processes to harm nature. The kind of land needed to grow tobacco is often not gotten, except by chopping down of trees. Over time, deforestation has cost our environment. And continuing in the process of deforestation will do more harm than good.
Land Pollution (plastic and global warming)
In 2019 a new report “Plastic and Climate” was published. According to the report, in 2019, production and incineration of plastic will contribute greenhouse gases in the equivalent of 850 million tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) to the atmosphere. In current trend, annual emissions from these sources will grow to 1.34 billion tonnes by 2030. By 2050 plastic could emit 56 billion tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions, as much as 14 percent of the earth’s remaining carbon budget.
Plastic pollution on land poses a threat to the plants and animals – including humans who are based on the land. Estimates of the amount of plastic concentration on land are between four and twenty three times that of the ocean. The amount of plastic poised on the land is greater and more concentrated than that in the water.
Plan
WHO
Kiera and Miriam
WHAT
Strangled by plastic+vaping
WHERE
studio+house
WHEN
05/05/21
Contact Sheet
Final Outcomes
Best Edited Images
For this image I used a blue and green gel on top of my light which was on the highest brightness and had a slight warm tone to help the green shine through however I wanted it to be a cool blue to emphasise the coldness of the ocean and the the fact that humans can be seen as cold hearted since we are so careless with what we do with our rubbish. The blue background also helps emphasise the fact the image is focusing on the treatment of ocean life.
I liked the shadow that the mask created on my model’s neck as it helps represent the deeper parts of the ocean and that plastic effects them as well even though they are hundreds of miles deep. The shadow could also emphasise the fact that millions of creatures are dying due to plastic.
I used a mask in my image to show that the current pandemic has caused lots of damage to the environment. For example, many people have the disposable masks which can easily break, they’re also very light weight and if dropped, can easily float away out of reach and can land anywhere. Even the COVID 19 tests have plastic packaging which is only used once and then binned and destroyed.
I zoomed in to 35 mm on my camera and stood quite close to my model to ensure that her neck, which is getting strangled by rubbish, was the main subject. I wanted my model’s hand to be in the image to show signs of struggle and pain to further show that if humans were in this situation more people would want to help and stop what is going on. I also used a fast shutter speed and got my model to move her head and hands so that I could get a more realistic image.
I like the fact that there are a range of textures in the image. The mask, crumpled bits of paper and the plastic bag all have a harsh look to them which nicely contrasts the smoothness of the model’s neck. I got my model to keep her rings on her fingers to show that it’s not only large bits of plastic that are the problem.
There is a very cool tone to this image which I believe is good to help present the important issue. The blue and black colours in the image link to the saying ‘blue and black’ which is often said when someone got hurt and badly bruised. I feel like the colours in my image are a metaphor of how our world is slowly deteriorating and getting beaten till it will break.
This image was taken to represent air pollution and the damage it does to our bodies. I used red LED lights for my main source of lighting as I wanted the image to be quite dark. I chose the colour red to help emphasise the dangers of smoking and also emphasise the fact that our air is slowly getting polluted by fumes from cars and industrial sites. The thick smoke represents the fact that the air we breath in isn’t clean and we are slowly damaging our bodies.
The smoke is in front of my model’s face to emphasise that we aren’t really seeing what’s happening in the world and that we are normalising things that should be changed. Smoking not only does it damage and kill your lungs, it is also putting a strain on the environment making the trees take in more CO2 and since trees are decreasing in numbers due to deforestation, we are getting less O2 in our atmosphere.
The image is blurred to represent the fact that the world is changing ridiculously quick. The image has quite a smooth texture all together. The smoke, because it’s so thick, helps smooth out the model’s face and when the smoke rises above the model, it looks like its a shadow on the middle of the wall.
The shadow in the bottom right of the image represents the fact that we are slowly beginning to change the the world for the better. It could also however represent the irreversibility of the damage we have done to our planet, and it is looming over us, slowly growing and becoming more and more apparent.
I used a quick shutter speed for this image as I wanted to capture the smoke at different stages so that I could pick the best looking images. Since the smoke is in front of my model’s face, I think that it allows the model to represent the whole world watching its planet get slowly destroyed. The smoke being thick also represents the amount of chemicals that get released into our atmosphere each day.
For this image I zoomed in at 25mm and stood about a metre away from my model which I think was a good decision as I wanted to focus on her face and above so I did a headshot and left quite a large gap above her head to allow the smoke to rise.
The chains around the models neck links to the fact that when you smoke you are slowly damaging your lungs and the chain looks like her airflow is being restricted which is what we as a community are doing to ourselves when we release harmful gases and chemicals into our atmosphere.
I chose this image because I thought that it looked like my model was praying for help whilst they were tied up with rubbish. I wanted my model to represent the struggle the animals go through, however I feel like this image looks like it represents the people who are noticing the damage that the animals are put through and they are pleading for help and for people to notice the harsh reality of what the world looks like.
The green lighting helps this idea of people wanting to help the animals who are in danger. Green is a colour often associated with life and new beginnings. I chose the green lighting to emphasise the fact that even though plastic effects oceanic life quite significantly, land creatures and the land itself gets effected equally as bad.
I asked my model to keep her rings on as I noticed that one of them was made from microplastics which are now known to be even more dangerous for animals as they mistake the plastics for things like small eggs or insects.
Final Analysis
I believe that my final images worked well with Carroll’s work since I used the same concept as him. However, I focused on keeping little things in the images such as jewellery and also wanted to use coloured lights to create more of an atmosphere and have a story behind it.
For my first gallery, I wanted to put the red image in the middle because it’s the most eye catching out of all three of my images. The red also has connotations of danger and I thought that it would be best to put that in the middle so that the viewer can subconsciously understand that the images are about the danger we are putting ourselves and our planet in.
The other two images next to it have a cooler tone which is less harsh than the bright red. Although they are cooler toned, they are more aggressive images due to the fact that people are tied up or are seen struggling.
For this gallery I wanted to do the same pattern as the one above. However, I wanted to show that the two blue images result in the red image. Where smoke takes over your body, and you put yourself in danger. Just like when people emit fossil fuels into the atmosphere we are damaging the planet’s ozone layer, and consequently putting ourselves in danger. The middle image could be seen as a warning, and the other two images is the world before things get permanently damaged.
For my first photoshoot under the stimulus of Anthropocene, I have taken inspiration from Jeremy Carroll and Darian Mederos. I have chosen these two photographers as my influences as I believe that their own images are very thought provoking, and stimulate a very particular mood and feeling. In this photoshoot, I aimed to take the main principles of each artist’s images and use them to create captivating and interesting photographs.
