I have decided to base this photoshoot on the waste that is thrown out into the ocean. I collected waste from the beaches such as the old fishing rope and plastic parts. Then to get an ocean look towards the images I submerged a blue piece of card underwater in a sink with the rubbish floating around. The beauty in the flower placed is to replicate the oceans goods but then is shown to be surrounded by waste that humans produce. This is exactly showing and describing what Anthropocene is seen to be.
Contact Sheets
Editing
For these images i did not do much editing. I played around with the brightness and contrast levels but apart from that I wanted to keep it more creative than a fake image.
Outcomes
Relating to Mandy Barkers Work
My final images I took are seen to be describing what plastic and waste products are dong to the small beauty in which our oceans hold. As the rope and debris submerge the flower the image becomes more scruffy and out of place. This is what rubbish in the real ocean would come across to be seen as but even bigger and more.
Linking to a Photographer
-Mandy Barker
My Work On The Left …….. Mandy’s Work On The Right
Both images above are based on the idea of waste that has been abandoned in the ocean. Mandy’s work has been completely created using photo-shop and that is how her images have been made to look as if they are floating around in the ocean in big bundle of waste. Although that is true, even trying to get an image in the best quality to what they look like now would be impossible.
Evaluation
This photo-shoot was quick when coming down to taking the actual images. It was inventive and a different way to explore ocean pollution. These images I took were to raise awareness on how the beauty in which out oceans hold is being quickly destroyed. If I was to do this photo-shoot again I would use different objectives and explore different way in which I cold use photo-shop to create images closer to Mandy’s style.
To relate to the topic and theme of Anthropocene, I have chosen to do a photo-shoot which explores the beauty of plastic bags but the destruction that they seem to be doing to our world. I will be using the studio in school to take photos and will be using spot lights to create different colours that flow through the plastic. I will be taking photos from the inside of the plastic bags and also the outside but trying to show less of any background.
Contact sheets
Editing
Changing the offset was the main change for many of my photos followed by the exposure on photoshop and on camera.
next for the colour I heightened the vibrancy to get the extra glow on the images. This made the images look as if they were more environmental such as the blue bag above. It replicates the ocean and waves.
finally I cropped out any extra image I didn’t need and played around with the levels of light to make the images seem interesting to look at.
Outcomes
These images above were created using an old plastic bag ripped up with two spot lights either side with coloured gels such as blue and red. I chose to do these colours as I wanted the images not to only look abstract and colourful, but for the image to have a meaning or story behind it. For example, the redness seems to be beating as a heart through the back of the bag which has some sort of destructive energy to it. Then to the left of the images is where the pretty blue crumpled plastic which almost acts like a wave in the ocean. The image is expressing how plastic is effecting the beauty in our world such as a wave in the ocean.
This image above in red clearly relates to the theme of Anthropocene as it is describing the destruction of plastic and how damaging it can be. The red gloomy look makes the plastic looks as if it is deadly and is ready to do damage. The crisp edges seem to be sharp and aggressive.
Linking To A Photographer
VILDE ROLFSEN –
Vilde Rolfsen On The Left ……. My Work On The Right
As we can see Vilde’s work has more lines and creases that flow through the plastic bag than mine. She has used more light and a high quality camera. But both images has similarities such as the image is taken from the start of the bag, and straight though the inside. Colour has been a big part of Vilde’s work and I can see why as when reflective colour to the inside of a plastic bag it creates beautiful patterns.
Evaluation
This photoshoot turned out pretty well with my outcomes being at good quality and easy to relate to another photographer who explores the same objects with them linking to Anthropocene. If I was to do this photo-shoot again I would take more images than I did and maybe bring different materials into the studio.
I chose the above three images as they link really well with Anthropocene.
The owl sleeping in the barn window fits really well as the natural lighting beaming through the window romanticises the creature and the leaves behind it and the bubble wrap floating in front of its face represents man’s impact on wildlife. The owl is also framed really well in the window.
I chose the other two images because of how they represent ideas of industrialism and how their colour scheme reacts well to George Marazakis’ work.
A4
The above three images relate well with this project. The deralict land rover with the trees growing around it reacts well to Camilo Jose Vergara’s work and it features the idea of nature fighting back against man.
The two other images relate well to George’s work as they feature a vast landscape with subtle clues of man’s ‘disease’ on the natural environment.
A5
I chose the above three images as they all represent Anthropocene well. The second image is framed well and has a lot of leading lines which makes it an impactful image to represent the idea of deforestation.
The graveyard represents the death of humanity and the idea that nature will always flourish with the vibrant leaves enveloping the bleak gravestones.
Framing and Manipulation
I chose to form a triptych out of the images above as they all present the same theme of man’s destruction and all have a similar colour basis of a greyscale juxtaposing with a deep, vibrant green/emerald colour.
To start my choosing process, i chose the photos that had the most similar view point to my reference photos, this was to increase the accuracy of comparing the two time eras. Next, I edited my photos to have the same black and white tones as their partnering photo.
St Catherines Breakwater
Harve De Pas
Liberty Wharf
Gorey Castle
To my surprise, it is clear in most of the comparisons that they are still quite similar to an older era, considering the growing rate of development in Jersey. I like how they turned out, especially considering that due to the development in Jersey, it was difficult to stand in the exact same place as the previous photographers i.e, at Gorey, there is now a shed, meaning i couldn’t get to where the photographer was, so had to stand further forwards, leading the present photo to be closer up.
Experimentation
For my experimentation, I decided to steer off from Rauschenberg’s style of displaying the photos and decided to find a way to merge to two time eras using an altered landscape technique.
Although this is an advanced way to compare the differences, i still feel like the original Rauschenberg display is more efficient as the viewer can see the whole of the two images and not just parts of them.
Here I have Started to experiment with the editing process, in which I will use to create a piece similar to Felicity Hammond’s, by creating a rough edit of industrialism in the natural landscape. Below is the initial collage that I will use to try out different methods of editing, with my aim to create work similar to Hammond’s ‘In Defence of Industry’ series.
After putting a together a quick example of what my final piece may look like, I then attempted a few different ways of creating an orange tint over the photograph, again replicating Hammond’s work. Firstly, I edited the image first into black and white, to allow for a sepia style tint to be applied over the top of the image. I also attempted to achieve this orange hue by placing a solid colour as a layer over the edit, and then selecting overlay as a blending option. This style allowed for some of the colours in the image to show through as well, without it being all one tone. Finally, I tried including a light gradient overlay, to darken the bottom half of the image, which I believe could allow the viewers eyes to be eased into the altered landscape.
In addition to this, I also tried to experiment with editing in the style of Tanja Deman’s work, focusing on one single urban structure. I put together this rough edit to try to replicate her style, in which the urban structure largely contrasts with the surrounding nature. By doing this I am also allowing myself to have a clear idea of how I will produce my final products within the controlled conditions.
Initially, I started off by converting my altered landscape into black and white, adjusted the levels of the tones of colour, due to the fact that all of Deman’s work are presented in black and white. However, I then added an orange tint and gradient overlay, trying to see what it would look like if I were to combine the two photographer’s styles of altered landscapes. This produced what appeared to look like a slightly apocalyptic landscape. However, In my controlled conditions I will keep these type of edits in black and white, as it links more closely to the photographer.
Once I selected my best images from the various techniques, i used various tabs to edit all the photos, supporting an emphasis on the foreground distortion and creating a clearer contrast.
Experimentation
When looking at the photos on the contact sheet, i was afraid that they didn’t go as planned and be really blurry and practically useless, especially with the bubble wrap ones. However, i feel like i did a good job in editing to bring them out more, which i am very happy with. I think my favorite technique is the oil running down glass. I feel that this looks the most
I chose to keep the photos in colour as i find that in black and white, its harder to see the background and it seems too difficult to make out the message i wanted to send with these photo. i also feel like the coloured photos are better as they create a more eye catching and appealing background. However, the black and white photos have more emphasis on the materials in the foreground, making them look more clear and crisp and therefore more effective when coming to presenting how plastics harm and cover the planet.
Rauschenberg was born in New York in 1951. In 1997 and 1998, he took three trips to Paris and rephotographed 500 of the images made of that city by Eugene Atget between 1890 and 1927 to create the Rephotographing Atget project. Rauschenberg started this project in 1989 when on a trip to Paris, came across a spiral-topped gateway, which he knew was the same gatepost as in one of Atget’s images, leading to a curiosity if any more places may be holding their poses.
ALL PHOTOS BY CHRISTOPHER RAUSCHENBERG – REPHOTOGRAPHING ATGET.
Image Analysis
These side-by-side photos, taken by Atget in 1905 and Rauschenberg in 1998 clearly demonstrates Anthropocene because of the large amount of differences between the two time periods.
The biggest difference between the two photos is the lack of greenery in Rauschenberg that previously existed in 1905. In the center of 1905, a large tree is found with another not far behind it. However, in 1989, there is a wall and bench seen where the tree used to stand, with what seems like a gravel path in front surrounding the statue. However to the left of these photos, you can see that the greenery, perhaps a row of trees, remain untouched.
From an Anthropocene perspective, other than the statue, i feel like the benefit of this similarity is that it shows that the human mark is there but not quite taking over the whole of all landscapes.
Overall I think I have successfully achieved what I wanted to do when planning out my exam and ideas for the theme of Anthropocene. My goal was to show what our natural environment might look like in the future due to Anthropocene which is the effect us humans have on our planet. I have successfully used ideas from my chosen photographers as they both use photo montage and many photo-shop skills to edit opposite ideas/objects in our planet together. I have presented my ideas through editing our town/tall and built up areas in Jersey onto our coast and beach in St. Ouens to show what will most likely happen if we don’t protect our green lands and natural environments.
I have successfully use many different Photoshop tools in order to produce and get to my final image. The tools I used the most were the ‘Quick Selection Tool’ and the ‘Eraser’ to make sure I cut out each building and area well while also getting rid of any extra background sections I didn’t need. When you compare my original photo, of just the beach, to my final finished and edited images I think it has quite a shocking impact on the viewer as it really does create an idea in their head that if we don’t protect our environments our beaches will all look the same and the amazing views will be ruined by many new roads and buildings. This is the effect I wanted to create and I think I have linked it back to the theme of Anthropocene very well as it shows how we changed our planet over the years and most of the time it causes a negative impact.
Evaluating two of my final images-
In both of my images I have used natural lighting, I took my images during the day in sunny weather as I wanted the sky to be as clear as possible and the sea to be photographed perfectly. I have slightly increased the saturation levels on my images as I wanted to make them more brighter and create a warm temperature as my two chosen photographers use extremely bright colours when editing.I focused my lens on the whole image as I didn’t want it to only focus on one building or area of the image. When taking my images I took them on a fast shutter speed as I didn’t want my images to end up being blurry as I took all my images from a very high perspective therefore I had to keep my camera still. I also didn’t use a slow shutter speed as that would have captured the movement of the cars,people and waves in the sea which would have made it extremely difficult to edit and layer the images over each other. When it came to editing my images individually I didn’t want to over or under edit them in any way too much as I wanted them to look as natural as possible to create a more realistic impact/image in the viewers mind.
I took both of my images in colour as I was inspired by my chosen photographers. In both of my images I would say I have a good range of different colours as the sky and bay are both very bright and blue whereas the buildings/town are more dull and filled with more generic colours like grey and browns. I tried to keep the composition of my images into three sections, I wanted the sky to be the top section however I did crop a lot of the sky down as I didn’t want it to take up too much length of the image and I wanted the main focus to be the buildings. I then always tried to make sure the sea and main part of the built up section was right in the middle as I think that’s the first section the viewer focuses on right away. For the bottom layer of my images I experimented with different sections in each image, such as using parking lots for one or editing roads and more of the green ares of town into there.
For the conceptual side of photography I wanted to have a good idea for Anthropocene. The meaning behind both my images was to make whoever is looking at my images aware of what our future could look like or will look like, if we don’t protect our environments as we humans do anything to any spare land left as every country wants to be more modern and urbanized as the years go on. One of my chosen photographers, Jesse, also is the reason I thought of this idea as one of her image shows a mountain that reflects a massive museum building on the river below it showing what our land gets turned into eventually with a huge car park surrounding the natural environment. I think this idea is very effective as it really shows the true meaning behind Anthropocene and the effect we have on our planet , which once again I think have successfully achieved through sticking with my plan.
Critique- If I was to change something about my final outcome or the way I produced my final images it would be to also take more close up images of individual tall buildings or offices in Jersey so that when it comes to editing , instead of cutting out areas and big sections of buildings all next to each other I could just cut out individual images and spread them all neatly across the bay/coast. This may have made my final images all more different from each other as I could move the different single buildings around and place them wherever I want to as well as re-sizing them.
