For this photoshoot I have been inspired by David T. Hanson photography as I enjoyed the way he made wasted land look in his photographs. I am going to try and use some of his ideas such as his ‘wasted land’ photography by taking photographs of abandoned environments or derelict buildings.
My Best images:
My Images
Adapted in Photoshop
Overall I feel as if these are my best images due to the fact that they clearly reflect wasted space which creates the stigma that is bad for the environment as these sorts of empty/derelict environments could be turned into a ethical environment which would have a positive impact on the Anthropocene. Personally I feel as if the use of colour in these photographs add specific details however I also feel that the ones in which I have adapted to black and white in photoshop may have a bigger affect as they change the overall mood of the photograph. This may be because the dark tones add an overall darkened mood to them and adds to the bad affect in which these sort of environments have.
Since both of the black and white photos and their coloured ones hold very different strengths in what they help emphasise, i am going to pair them up and explore different ways to display them together.
I chose my favourite photo from each technique to show a range of distortion and how different materials distort and alter the background. I feel like these photos stood out from the others due to their clean and crisp materials, to me they were also the most aesthetically pleasing out of the edited handful.
I also feel like these photos share a lot of similarities with my chosen artist, Nick Fancher. However, one large difference between Fancher and I’s work is that Fancher shows no examples of using clingfilm in his photos, I decided to add this material as i thought it would complement the theme of Anthropocene in a broader way than just bubble wrap and oil.
Anthropocene is defined as human activity having a significant impact on the planet’s climate and ecosystems. I feel like my photos present that as the materials in the foreground are also materials polluting the earth currently. The fact that these materials are in the foreground and not apart of the landscape also puts emphasis on the pollution overpowering the natural and rural landscapes.
This is my favourite comparison out of the 4 for many reasons. I also didn’t use one of my edited photos in an altered landscape style as i thought it wasn’t appropriate as what i want to show was development and change. First, I feel as if this area in the photo is the most developed, meaning more comparisons between the two.
once difference between the photos is the flooring, in the older photo, you can see the road is cobbled whereas now, the road is tarmacked with parking lines painted on. In the left front corner of the old photo, there is no obstructions, in fact the whole road is clear, comparatively in the modern photo, there’s a bin, rafts and cars obstructing the road all the way down.
My work is similar the Rauschenberg’s as we both set out to do our projects with the same intentions of rephotographing locations in older photos we have both previously found prior to the project. However we differ by Rauschenberg studying and recreating all photos previously taken my Eugene Atget. Whilst my photos were found on the Jersey archive page, taken by unknown and potentially different photographers.
Anthropocene is shown in this photo through all the changes. The tarmacked road, cars and rafts that weren’t previously there, but put there by human activity.
In order to produce this altered landscape edit, in the style of Felicity Hammond and through the lens of Anthropocene, I started off cutting out all of the structures I needed to use for that edit, from my urban landscape photo-shoot. After I had done this, I dragged the buildings onto my chosen photograph from my natural landscape photo-shoot one at a time. With each structure I adjusted the hue/saturation, brightness and contrast, and colour balance, to make sure the tones in that layer would match the tones and colours of the natural landscape, in order to make them fit in more with the landscape. Once I had done this, I then adjusted the perspective of the structure, meaning the angle of the layer would correspond with the angle at which I took the natural landscape from. Next I used the clone stamp tool to make sure the structure is embedded within the landscape, in the grass. Finally after doing this same process for the other three buildings I included in this edit, I added a solid orange colour as a layer and placed it over the flattened image, and selected the overlay option. This was done to cause the edit to look more similar to Hammond’s work. Then I also added a slight gradient overlay, starting from the bottom of the image.
Edit 2
For this next edit I followed the same editing process as the image above, however using a different structures and a different base natural landscape.
Edits in The Style of Tanja Deman
Edit 1
In order to create this altered landscape, in the style of Tanja Deman, I started off by cutting out the one structure I would need for this edit, from my urban landscape photo-shoot. With this edit I only used one building to replicate Deman’s work, as she usually has the focus on one structure instead of multiple. After this I then dragged the cut out image onto my chosen photograph, from my natural landscape photo-shoot. Next, I tried to match the tones and colours of both layers by adjusting the hue/saturation, brightness and contrast, and the colour balance. Once I had done this, I used the clone stamp tool to make it look as if the building was embedded in the grass. Then, after I flattened the image, I converted the image into black and white, whilst also adjusting the shadows and highlights. Finally, I used the dodge and burn tools to add slight adjustments, and highlight the side of the building that would have been facing the sun, if it were there .
Edit 2
For this edit, also in the style of Tanja Deman, I followed the same editing process as the image above, although this time using a different structure and landscape.
My original intentions where to shoot more landscape images with a wider perspective. Although I did manage to complete this for a few images, my focus shifted more towards a more close up look at Anthropocene landscapes and more abstract methods of capturing the argument between man and nature.
I believe the process of researching and reacting to Anthropocene in a creative and technical manner as a whole was sacksful as I gained a lot of knowledge about the topic and developed my skills in terms of how to react to it. I believe I gathered and edited a successful range of images which react to the topic well.
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.
