VILDE ROLFSEN

Vilde is an Norwegian photographer which she extracts beauty from discarded plastic bags while raising awareness about throw-away culture. This topic links to Anthropocene as for the issues caused by plastic throw away each day due to humans. The destruction we cause to our planet, land and ocean, by the use and waste of plastics and typically plastic bags, is what Vilde wants to express through her work. She does this by exposing all different plastic bags from a macroscopic perspective. Her photography is seen to be an abstract approach to the topic of Anthropocene. Here are some examples of her work…

-Analysis

As we can see Vilde likes to make as such another world to be seen inside these plastic bags. The dynamic colors that flow through the creases in the bags, as if they were veins, and the way in which the bags have their own sense of mood and atmosphere. They almost relate to having a life such as a human. This links to Anthropocene as the plastic bags photographed are there to raise awareness of the wastage of plastic bags and also how they relate to humans. The abstract touch to these images can be seen as the camera quality is in good focus when us close and how the plastic bag fills the image with different turns and bands. Looking at the image also seems to be looking through a oddly looking cave with vibrant colors that strike through. Light floods through from lots of angles and darker areas are formed. The photos are made up of lots of different lines that are in a sense crushed, and flow in different directions. Vilde’s work is different and uncommon which makes you question what you are actually looking at when looking at first glance.

NAOMI WHITE

Naomi is a photographer who is working on ideas to express the plastic crisis that is happening daily on earth due to humans. Similarly to Vilde, Naomi photographs plastic bags in a beauty way. Using the color of the bag to be vibrant and eye catching she uses a studio to capture different angles and ways in which plastic bags can be photographed.

-Analysis

Naomi has a more outside approach to plastic bags rather than inside to Vilde’s work. The colors flowing through the creases of the bags yet again is what makes these bags interesting to look at as a photo. They almost look like other worldly creatures. Naomi has chosen to photograph plastic bags to raise awareness of the use of plastics and what it does to harm the earth. Her images seem to represent some sort of destruction with the way the camera has captured the lighting that floods through the loose and thin parts of the bags. I think Naomi’s work relates to theme of Anthropocene because she is trying to show to beauty within the colors of the bags but at the same time they have a sense of destruction and ruin. This relates to the way how man kind is destroying the world with our day to day lives, weather that is using the smallest thing such as a plastic bag

‘Jeremy Carroll is an artist and professional photographer who wants to change that (water pollution) by bringing the problem to the forefront of people’s minds. In order to illustrate what plastic pollution is doing to fish and sea mammals, he created an exhibit called “Entanglement.” It depicts humans entangled in the waste that is most commonly found in seawater and along beaches’ – thegreenparent.co.uk

Jeremy Carroll mainly focuses on closeup portraiture and abstract images displaying the effects of marine pollution. He shows the effect of the plastic in the oceans by wrapping it around the model, symbolising how it can trap and endanger marine animals in the same way. Jeremy Carroll chose this subject to tackle because he believes that marine pollution is a big problem and that his photography may highlight this problem and help reduce this pollution in the oceans.

Inspiration Images

Anthropocene – ‘The Anthropocene is a proposed geological epoch dating from the commencement of significant human impact on Earth’s geology and ecosystems, including, but not limited to, anthropogenic climate change.’ – Wikipedia

Anthropocene displays the recent period in time where humans are having a large impact on the natural world. This is supported by evidence that atmospheric, geologic, hydrologic, biospheric and other earth system processes are now altered by humans.

Example Images

Anthropocene comes under the term of meaning – “The period during which human activity has been the dominant influence on climate and the environment.” This topic can be explored in many different ways as a photographer. Linking all different human activity into photos and what has happened over time between human and nature. The bad of us humans influence the majority of photographers to take images and express what the world has come to with the world having negative impacts on the environment such as over population, pollution, de-forestation, plastic crisis, climate change, the evolution of technology, hunting, urbanization etc. These negative impacts can be a good source to photograph. But Anthropocene photography doesn’t have to be all doom and gloom with the change in the world due to humans. Creativeness and intriguing images can link human and nature together and see the similarities they have. Some examples below show the positive and negative sides to what Anthropocene can be expressed as…

Anthropocene is known to be about nature and the impacts due to humans, but not all images have to be landscape or only show what the issue is. For example, an images of cut down trees from a forest represents de-forestation. Anthropocene photography can link to portraiture which describes what humans are typically doing in our day to day life to cause Anthropocene. Examples of portrait Anthropocene is seen below..

This images may not be directly made to express Anthropocene and seem to be photo-shoots for fashion but they link to the meaning of Anthropocene for sure. This is seen by the way the photographer has used their model to use plastics, metals to cover themselves which indicates what use these materials become to humans when wasted which is nothing. Photoshop with the two pictures of the guy suggests how nature links to man kind and how similar we are to one another. It is a good outcome of photos when physically linking nature to humans and it is something i might base my own work on.

The word Anthropocene comes from the Greek terms for human and new. The Anthropocene is a geological approach which is about the significant human impact on the earth’s geology and ecosystems including climate change. The Anthropocene is distinguished as a new period either, after or within the Holocene, the current epoch, which began approximately 10,000 years ago with the end of the last glacial period.

We may be able to tackle this topic of Anthropocene through photography by capturing the man made objects such as plastic (e.g shopping bags) to create awareness of what will happen to the world if nothing is done about it. Additionally if people see what is happening to the planet visually it may create more of an impact to do something about it as well as give people more of a consciousness of those who decide to engage with it

The Anthropocene defines Earth’s most recent geologic time period as being human-influenced, or anthropogenic, based on overwhelming global evidence that atmospheric, geologic, hydrologic, biospheric and other earth system processes are now altered by humans. The Anthropocene is distinguished as a new period either after or within the Holocene, the current epoch, which began approximately 10,000 years ago (about 8000 BC) with the end of the last glacial period.

We have reached an unprecedented moment in planetary history. Humans now affect the Earth and its processes more than all other natural forces combined. The Anthropocene Project is a multidisciplinary body of work combining fine art photography, film, virtual reality, augmented reality, and scientific research to investigate human influence on the state, dynamic, and future of the Earth.

Examples of Anthropence in photography

Jamie Torrance is a professional photographer who has developed commercial and personal projects for clients on both sides of the Atlantic. I did a short interview with Jamie Torrance to ask him why he took the photos of singular trees in response to Anthropocene.

In response he explained how he was influenced by the photographer Edward Burtynsky who is a landscape photographer who focuses on the increasing development of industrialization and its impacts on nature and the human existence. As Torrance went to the same university as Burtynsky, he felt that he wanted to carry on his legacy of Anthropocene photography. He decided to take photos of trees as he believed that big projects can be lost in translation and that by the time you understand the image it wouldn’t be as effective towards daily life.

Jamie Torrance did a project of 12 images where he would find trees and what impact has happened around them such as the shed that was built up next to the tree showing the relationship between humans and nature. The trees that he chose which were bare as he wanted them to have a dead skeleton look which was helpful as in Canada the winters are long so the trees don’t grow leave until later. As trees grow their leaves back he wanted people to think “If we leave this alone, it will grow back” which is a good way of thinking of Anthropocene as if we just leave the planet alone and stop polluting it with plastic and gases then it will come back the way it is supposed to be.

Image Analysis

Photo Shoot Plan

Evaluation

With the two images they both show that at least one of the people have been changed into being a photo of nature where they both show a path leading through a forest area give the idea that this is the path we should take to save our planet. In the photo underneath show a woman’s face which gives more connection between the photo and the audience which helps influence change especially that she is interacting with the nature. Whereas with the other photo there is no close interaction and you can’t see the face of any which then puts a barrier between the audience and photo. The use of hands in the photo helps emphasis that physical connection between the two people whereas the other photo just shows two people standing next to each other which lacks connection between the two.

The effective contrast between natural lighting and staged lighting as it emphasises the change and difference between the two as the eye is drawn towards the nature photo then is drawn out to see the two people standing together. If I was to do this project again I would get the two people to hug and show a connection between the two such as mother and daughter, father and son to then really emphasis the care between the person and nature. I would also make sure that one of the faces is seen so the audience can feel a connection between the two people.