What is Anthropocene?
The Earth is 4.5 billion years old, and modern humans have been around for around a mere 200,000 years. Yet in that time we have fundamentally altered the physical, chemical and biological systems of the planet on which we and all other organisms depend.
In the past 60 years in particular, these human impacts have unfolded at an unprecedented rate and scale. This period is sometimes known as the Great Acceleration. Carbon dioxide emissions, global warming, ocean acidification, habitat destruction, extinction and widescale natural resource extraction are all signs that we have significantly modified our planet.
Scientists now agree that human activity, rather than any natural progress, is the primary cause of the accelerated global warming. Agriculture, urbanisation, deforestation and pollution have caused extraordinary changes on Earth.
Some people suggest the Anthropocene began at the start of Britain’s Industrial Revolution in the eighteenth century, which created the world’s first fossil fuel economy.
Burning the organic carbon in fossil fuels enabled large-scale production and drove the growth of mines, factories and mills. Since then, other countries have followed suit. Demand for coal has increased, along with carbon dioxide emission, to the detriment of the environment.
Others argue that the Anthropocene began far earlier, when humans began farming. Even more people suggest it dawned in 1950, when nuclear weapons cast radioactive elements across the globe. The radioactive debris from nuclear bombs made its way into rocks, trees and the atmosphere – they may represent the golden spike that scientists are searching for. Currently there is no clear consensus.
contact sheets:
Best images – Salt mines:
Here I looked through my contact sheets and decided which images were my favourite and were good to edit.
basic edits – salt mines – colour
On photoshop I used the crop tool to line up my photos to straighten the horizontal line. I also used the spot healing tool to get rid rid of people or anything that was unnecessary to make the photos look natural. Then I lowered the brightness down to -5 and added some temperature and saturation to give it a bit more colour.
basic edits – salt mines – black and white
After the basic edits I decided to make them Black and white because the dark tones make the photos look as if they were taken on another planet because of the rock shapes and especially mountains in the background.
Experiment 1 – salt mines
For my experiment of my 1st photoshoot I used my photos with colour and used photoshop to experiment with my photos. For these photos I used the Gradient tool, which makes it look like a oil spill, An oil spill is the release of a liquid petroleum hydrocarbon into the environment, especially the marine ecosystem, due to human activity, and is a form of pollution,
How I intend on presenting these photos: I would like to mount 3 of my best photos and mount them on an black board
photoshoot 2
Comparing photoshoot 1 and photoshoot 2 they are both set in different locations, photoshoot 1 is a very dry and dull location with little greenery and wildlife whilst photoshoot 2 is full of vibrant colours making the photos look more interesting than the salt mines.
My intention with these photos is to make a collage on photoshop using all the trees and plants to show how nature is beautiful but then I will add some rubbish / plastic and tractors or adding images of objects that link into how humans are ruining the planet (Plastic waste, Farming, burning waste). The man holding the signs on the bottom right corner will be the main focus of this collage as his sighs say “Plastic is out of control, mother nature cannot self-heal” and I believe this is a super important message for people to see.
Experiment 2
My inspiration:
for this edit I selected multiple different photos from each photoshoot and I used the lasso tool on photoshop and cut my favorite part of the photos I have selected to be in the collage and then resize to fit into the frame.
step by steps:
The final outcome:
