For this photoshoot I walked through the lanes near my home which have a large amount of unique plants and landscapes, which I thought would be a great way to start photographing for this project. I aimed to take pictures with an abstract approach similar to Henry Fair’s own work. During the photoshoot I managed to take many pictures of different plant life such as flowers, trees and leaves.

Photoshoot Plan

What?	I will take pictures of the plants and aim for an abstract approach
Where?	Near/In St. Peter’s Valley
When?	Mid-late day as the trees in the valley obscure light, so I will need as much light as possible
Why?	I think the large variety/amount of plant life in this area will give me a good set of different images
How?	I will walk around the valley and look for interesting scenes

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Contact Sheet

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Editing Process

For my first round of editing, I went through my images and selected the good images from the photoshoot using the ‘Pick’ and ‘Reject’ tools on Lightroom. This leaves only the images that I think I could use for a final piece.

Next, I used the star rating tool to distinguish which images I think are strong and which are weak by rating them out of 5.

I also used the colour rating tool to assign a colour to each image, which will help to further narrow my image selection, while also making it easier for me to see which images I am/ am not using (With red being the weaker images and green being the stronger ones).

Eventually, I condensed this photoshoot into what I think are the strongest 5 images, which I will be manipulating and likely using for my Final Piece for this project.

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Final Images

Here are my final images for this photoshoot, I have adjusted them slightly on Lightroom.

I have also made black and white versions of each final image to see what they would look like without colour.

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Image Analysis

I chose this as a Final Image because I think the way the camera seems to look beyond the leaves (seen in the foreground) into a group of other leaves and stalks gives it an abstract feel. I think the viewpoint (slightly downwards facing) also helps give the image an abstract look, as it looks downwards into the shaded ground, while also showing more of the stalks and leaves in the background. I like the way the stalks and leaves in the image are separated: the obvious colour difference, which uses complimentary colours giving the image an unnatural, yet natural look, but also the difference in shape and line, with the stalks naturally having a more rigid, straight-edged form. The patterns seen on the leaves gives the image even more lines to make it more abstract. When editing this image, I made it ever-so-slightly more cold, which gives the leaves a more vibrant greenish-blue tone, which creates a greater contrast between the red stalks and the green leaves.

Comparison to Artist

While my images are not a completely direct response to Henry Fair’s images, I took inspiration from his use of shapes and colour specifically for this photoshoot.

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Photoshoot Evaluation

Overall, I am very happy with how this photoshoot turned out, I think each final image is interesting and unique from each other, and fits with the project nicely. I enjoyed taking the images and I feel like I have learnt more ways on how to photograph the environment in an interesting way, as well as how to take abstract images in particular more effectively and uniquely. If I was to do this same photoshoot again later, I would maybe change the weather I go out in, to maybe change the subject matter slightly (with the inclusion of raindrops for example), or perhaps go out at a later/earlier time of the day to give the images a more interesting natural light source

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I really like how my collages from this artist reference came out, I think they look really unique while also being obviously inspired by him. My colours are a lot more saturated and they look different compositionally as Smith’s was taken from above while mine was from the side. Mine was also taken from a lot closer up so has more fine details.

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I like my final result for this one less, it took a lot longer to make than I expected. Mine features a lot less clouds because I was struggling to find clouds in my shoots. I also could not find many images of green netting, as there was not very much actually being used in town, so mine lacks some of the artificially made natural forms.

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I also made a zine containing a selection of my images from this project.

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If I were do this project again, I would want to be more organised with my shoots, as well as potentially going on a third just so I have more material to work from. I would also want to take a longer look at which artists I want to pick, and how I think my pieces in response to them would look.

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Similarities: In the photo above I have been influences by Troy Paiva’s ‘Night Vision; The Art of Urban Exploration’ project. One of the main similarities in these two images is the neon colours that highlight the objects or structures. One of the more saturated colours that moth the photographs share is the neon green/yellow the covers the top of the petrol pumps in Troy Paiva’s work and the side/underneath of the medicine packaging in my work. I wanted to use two colours that were similar to Paiva’s as I liked how they complimented each other but were still very different. Another similarity in these photos is the dark background and the darker aspects of the image which help the main piece standout and seem brighter, in Paiva’s work he was working during dusk, so different factors in the background are mainly silhouette’s .

Differences: One of the main differences in the two photos is the setting that the two images where taken in. In Troy Paiva’s work he was outside where you can see the sky where the sun has just set and the big piece of land that is covered in dried plants, where as I used black card as my background so that there was nothing else in the final piece. I prefer Paiva’s background as it add more context to the image and tells more of a story compared to my plain background. Another difference between the images is the type of objects that have been photographed, I decided to photograph different types of plastic, mainly the ones that are the most common, where as Troy Paiva photographed different structures that were in the middle of a desert, for example the petrol pump, cars and buildings.

For the presentation of each of my final outcomes, I displayed them in a way that would show reference to both of my case studies and their way of presenting their work through grids and sets, especially for my first photoshoot – the use of both a black and white filter and set of three shows close attention to Hilla and Bernd Becher.

For my second photoshoot, I put my photos in sets of four or three, sorting them by colour or texture whilst experimenting with other photos to see how they would fit together.

FINAL PIECE #1 – CHAOS

This is my final outcome for photoshoot one named CHAOS. I based my first shoot on industrial architecture inspired by my case studies. These set of photos are presented in black and white to show the damage power stations are causing to the environment, the lack of colours representing the pollutions in the sky. These photos were taken around La Collette and the harbour, two hotspots for harmful gases and lack of nature. I presented my photos from two different viewpoints; one taken head on and two looking upwards to symbollize how society looks down on nature to take over and build what they please, essentially destroying ecosystems. I put my photos in black and white to showcase an ominous atmosphere, but to make sure the viewer knows exactly what they are looking at, the dark colours used to exaggerate the message i want to spread about anthropocene through photography.

FINAL PIECE #2 – DOORS

I named this set of photo DOORS because each photo showcases a different type of door, for this set I wanted to take a different apporach and showcase my photos in a more abstract way, so I decided to display them according to shape. My goal for this set of photos was to make the viewer feel curious as to what’s behind the door, which relates back to my interest in abandoned buildings and wanting to know what’s inside. This set of photos I feel are the closest to my case study on Paul Talling because he has similar ones on his website; sets of conceptual photos that don’t have a correlation unless you read between the lines, which was my idea behind these images. Before grouping these photos together, I had to make sure the lighting matched, and was all natural light without any flash.

FINAL PIECE #3 – DECAY

This set is one of my favourites of the four that i’ve produced because to me it evokes the most emotion. When editing on Lightroom i set the temperature to blue to show a sad, lonely atmosphere which is what most people think of when they see abandoned places. I lowered the saturation to make the photos appear faded as i wanted to show the disrepair and state the hotel had fallen into since being derelict and taken over by nature. These images were taken at all different locations around the hotel which i think helps show a wider representation of what the atmosphere in there is like.

FINAL PIECE #4 – DESTRUCTION

As i mentioned in a previous blog post, i took these photos to replicate some of Talling’s work as many of his photoshoots are of graffiti and street art, but i also wanted to capture the vandalism caused not just by nature but also by trespassers and perhaps show another aspect of anthropocene where humans are their own worse enemy, representing destructive behaviours through the smashed objects and graffiti i found whilst exploring the hotel. I was originally reluctant to switch these photos to black and white as i felt it would clash with my other sets but I am satisfied with the outcome as i feel it really highlights the graffiti and makes it stand out whilst still having multiple other focal points.

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Evaluation: I have selected this as my first final image for a number of reasons; I think the composition of the image is one of its main strengths. With the incinerator being in the background towards the left and the metal pipes being very far into the foreground creates a good perceptive and sense of depth. Furthermore, the lighting of the original image was perfect considering the time of day it was taken at, meaning this image required minimal editing and to edit this image all I did was change the saturation of the image from a blue tone to more of a yellow tone, this meant that the final image came out appearing to have been taken at dusk. Additionally, the rule of thirds is demonstrated in this final piece, with the incinerator taking up the first two thirds of the image and the metal pipes taking up the rest. This links to the topic of Anthropocene as it demonstrates how human life has forced the natural landscape to adapt to our needs.

Critique: This piece could be viewed as not having enough components to link to our topic of anthropocene, the fact that this piece is so subtle could be a negative thing as theres not much contrast within this image. The sky isn’t filled with clouds so this image wasn’t as successful edited in a monochromatic way and it could be viewed as dull compared to my other piece of work. Furthermore, the photoshoot during at which this image was taken could have been planned better so that clouds could have present, which would have gave the image more depth.

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Evaluation: This final piece is a reflection on human life on not just the landscape but specifically how human life has affected Jersey, as this photograph of the reclaimed land illustrates how we have been forced to expand our environment in an unnatural way to combat our overpopulation and overconsumption crisis in the island. This image was taken at an angle with shows an overview of Jersey, the composition of the image means that this image is filled with features. Additionally, making this image black and white means that the individual structures become more evident. This piece was taken using manual camera settings and this allowed for the final piece to come out with good lighting, altering the contrast however, does make it look a little bit unexposed.

Critique: The fact that this photograph was taken from such a far point away, it means that there is no focal point within the image and it becomes a little muddy. This is created because of the lack of contrast and texture within the piece. I attempted to create more juxtaposition within the piece, but this didn’t work because of the clear sky in the original image.

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Evaluation: This final piece is probably my favourite all, factors which aid this piece in being one of the best firstly includes the lighting. The original photograph was always one of my strongest and this was only enhanced by adding the colour. By overlapping a border affect is created and this helps create even more contrast between the warm toned pink and cool toned blue. Furthermore, placing the pinker image at a smaller size over the original meant that the unedited image is still visible. This was meant to be an experiment but I really like the ideas of the colours together so this was developed into a final piece. Additionally, the green within the pink photograph is cool toned so despite all of the contrast these images do link together.

Critique: The blue background image is a little lost with the vibrance of the pink in the centre, the overlapping factor mean that a new better piece cane be created but this only occurs when another image has to be compromised. Furthermore, the pink image could have been replaced with a saturated image that complimented the blue border rather than contrasted it.

Evaluation: I have selected this as my last final photograph as it was intended to be a Frank artist reference but it turned out to be one of my most aesthetic images. This is because of the composition of the image, the angle at which it was taken means that the tanks are in the centre. The metal structures and road heavily contrast with the tanks and the sky, I like how half of the photograph is composed of lighter features and half are composed of darker, creating a more cohesive image. I think the message behind this image is more important then the piece itself, I think it has a sense of sadness would could link back to anthropocene as its all about what humans have done to the earth, which are mostly negative factors.

Critique: I think that I could have cropped this image to get rid of the tarmac in the foreground and some of the image could have also been taken away from the left side of the photograph. Despite this image being more true to my artist reference it could be more exciting and possibly (by using Photoshop) only edited the sky within the image to create more contrast and more of a dramatic look, which would also link to our topic of romanticism.

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Evaluation: I have selected this as the arrangement for my final gallery as I think that the lighting of the individual images makes for a more cohesive image. There is lots of contrast within this image and this makes it more successful as its more of an eye-catching piece. The photographs have been placed so that the images with metal pole or water tanks are not next to each other, this is to create differentiation within my work. Additionally I think that the lighting of the image plays out well together as they lighter and darker images are placed next to each other,

Critique: This work could be seen as not a true typology and all the image are of of the same thing or taken in the same way. I have attempted to make the levels or contrast and lighting all the same in each of the images, however, I’m not sure if this was apparent or if all of my images turned out successfully.

I have decided to develop my ideas into a Zine for my final outcome. To create my zine, I used the following format in Adobe InDesign: a new document with a width of 148mm, a height of 210, 16 pages, 2 columns and a column gutter of 5mm. This will be printed as A4 but will fold to be A5.

Experimenting with the placement of images

I have decided to place this image as a two-page spread as I think it is one of my most successful images – the two-toned nature of the light in this image also means that it is split down the middle of the page spread which I like.

Here I was unsure of which photo to use – I decided against the image to the left, as I think the textures in the photos were too different – I felt that they were not closely related enough.

Therefore, I changed the layout – I think this picture to the left works well with the one on the right due to the shared sense of line and shape, linking them cohesively together.

Here, I was in the process of using a larger image (the left), enlarging it to full size then cropping it – the blue lines on the image were pulled in to create the cropped effect, aligned with the inner purple left line of the page.

Final Zine

Below is my final outcome, created on Adobe InDesign.

I chose this image as my front cover due to the sense of the looming towers – I think the group of three towers give an idea of the different parts of my project. I think that the graphical and measured look of the towers, through the use of line and shape in the image, helps to give a clear introduction to my project and zine.

This spread I think creates great contrast and a statement about housing on the island – I chose these two images next to each other because of their similar large amount of white tones, and slight black tones around the edges. Furthermore, I think this image shows two facets of the housing crisis: the left shows the demolition and destruction of housing, whereas the right shows the neglect and ignorance of the government about vacant properties. Both show the unfiltered reality of the impact of overpopulation and housing poverty on the island. – Overall, I think this was one of the most successful spreads in my zine.

I used this image as a double spread in my zine as I wanted to show the different details of each individual window in the building – each individual window shows a different life in the building, which contrasts with the rigid patterning and dullness of the outside of the building.

I have placed these two images next to each other due to the similar use of line and shape – however there is also great contrast between the two with the varying light and dark tones in each image. Each of these images in in 3 parts in a way, which means that they work cohesively together in one piece. I also think that the repetitive shapes of both these images shows the ‘copy and paste’ nature of a lot of social housing in the island, and how these buildings stick out because of their size and shape.

I chose this image as a double page spread as I wanted to highlight one of my best images from my project. In this image, I particularly like the contrasting tones in the image – when I was shooting, the light was coming from the right, shining only onto the left side of the building. This creates a kind of split-tone effect, and with my use of black and white editing this is much more obvious. Having this image as a double page spread means that the split between the two tones is just off-centre – I like this about the spread.

This is another one of my favourite spreads from my zine. I think these two images tell an interesting story, and in my head they show the idea of a so called “ideal home”, but one that is not conventional, as it is derelict. I think there is a sense of calm given from these two images, away from the destruction and slight sadness in my other images and spreads. It shows what looks like a normal, lived in home, but as you look closer, you see it has been left, unoccupied. I think this spread also shows the waste of vacant houses on the island, as I researched – this home looks almost lived in, almost welcoming, amongst destruction and waste that was seen in my other images.

I chose this image to be a two-page spread, as I wanted to highlight the high amount of fine details in this image – the rainbow image to the right on the door is a reminder of the lockdown in 2020, showing how the lives of those who have left these flats are still left behind but only in little amounts. Furthermore, this image shows evidence of destruction in these derelict and disused buildings, which to me also symbolises the mistreatment of those struggling to access housing on this island.

This spread is made of one image – I decided to split this image in half and did so by duplicating and splitting the images in InDesign. I did this to make sure the composition was balanced – with the image whole, the eye was drawn too much to the white part of the image to the right, and I think that the focal point of the image should be the strong sense of line and repetition in the actual building. To me, the repetition and geometric shape in this spread represent the similarity of each big block of flats on the island, almost as if they have just been duplicated – giving more reason for my duplication of the image in this spread.

I think this image is a more lighthearted end to what is quite a heavy, and dark project – this ‘no-ball games’ sign shows what would have been a fun side to living on the estate, flipping my project’s idea round, which I quite like.

After I decided which images I was going to use for my final piece, I went into Adobe InDesign and created a zine. Overall, I think my zine wasn’t as successful as I would’ve hoped because I didn’t have a great selection of images and I struggled to put the whole zine together. I was also unable to print it because I didn’t really like the way the layout had turned out. I think I should’ve stuck more to one colour theme in order to not make the zine look too cluttered. I did however improve my zine making skills and now I know for next time to be more careful when doing phtooshoots.

Final:

Settings:

I will be printing these images in a range of sizes in order to create an interesting layout. I really like how the black and white images turned it because of the high contrast and because I think they will look very nice together as a little group of images due to their similarities.

For my Anthropocene project I also got inspired my Anastasia Savinova. She uses different parts of houses (doors, windows, roofs etc.) to create a collage of a new building. A thing I would improve next time would be taking more images from far away and only from one angle. I would also take more pictures of roofs because this time I didn’t and my pictures ended up looking uncomplete.

My Work:

Old Vs New

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Mass Wastage

Plastic and single-use medical supplies have become part of our daily lives but they have severe consequences on our environment. Most plastics and medical supplies are single-use which is increasing plastic pollution, especially after the pandemic due to the number of medical supplies that were disposed of every day. Plastic is ‘becoming part of the Earth’s fossil records and a marker of the Anthropocene’.

Single-use plastic has been integrated into our day to day life, most of which comes from packaging, that eventually ends up in landfills or unregulated waste. Food wrappers, plastic bottles, plastic bottle caps, plastic grocery bags, plastic straws, and stirrers are key items that are infesting the environment, with cigarette butts being the most common, as their filters contain plastic fibres.

Since the Covid-19 pandemic started in 2020 the use of face masks and other protective medical supplies has skyrocketed, but using these single-use protection has had huge environmental costs. It has been estimated that the pandemic causes 7,200 tons of medical waste every day, even with it slowing down last year. Most of the waste is disposable masks, as health care workers in most places are still required to wear them.

The environmental toll of disposable masks | MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Visual Feature | Beat Plastic Pollution (unep.org)

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These three photographs were inspired by Troy Paiva and his use of neon lighting in his photo book ‘Night Vision; The Art of Urban Exploration’.

For my first image, I photographed a plastic water bottle while it was set up against a black background in a dark room which gives the photograph an ominous atmosphere, which is enhanced by the red lighting that is highlighted around the bottle top. I like how the most illuminated feature of the bottle is the top and as you get further down the colour doesn’t show as much but there are still pops of it when the edge of the bottle catches the light. I enjoyed using the black background as it was able to single out the bottle and put it to the forefront of the image making it the centre of attention. Lastly, I think the position and angle of the bottle create a more captivating finale image, I made sure that the bottle wasn’t centred and that it wasn’t photographed as a whole as I wanted a more unique photo.

For my second photograph, I used four different empty medicine packages which I hung up on clear string so that they look as if they are floating. I decided to use this type of packaging because I liked how there were different textures and features to each item, for example, the crinkled parts of the plastic when the tablets have been removed which produce shadow’s against the red light illumination the packaging. Also, the thin metal covering that has been opened shines when they reflect the light. I angled the camera downwards when taking the photo so that the top of the medicine was in focus and clear and the bottom of the photograph was blurred. This effect gives the image more depth and I like the contrast it makes between the focused and unfocused parts of the final piece.

For my third photo, I used three disposable masks that were hung up at different angles to make the image more interesting so that they crossed over each other as if they have just been dumped or thrown away. I chose to use the red lighting as it gives the photograph an eerie feeling and some people suggest that red can be used as a symbol of danger, which correlates to the danger that our environments in if plastic pollution increases and mass wastage isn’t lessened or stopped. I decided to include disposable masks in my photoshoot because of the increase of medical waste that has come from the coronavirus pandemic, with the majority of it being from single-use masks. In the image I like how the red light is intense on the left side of the photo and slowly fades into the darkness of the background as you get further to the right, I did this by angling the lighting nearer to the top of the mask placing the camera more to the left looking down of the right side.

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These two photographs were also inspired by Troy Paiva as well as Naomi White and her collection on plastic bags and how they are affecting the world.

My fourth photo is very similar to my second final image and they are of the same packaging but this has a more intense and rich red instead of the faded red the second photo has. My fourth image is also taken at a different angle which shows off more of the medicine packaging. I like how the metal film creates different shadows due to the different dips and folds that it has, it gives the image more shape and meaning which helps to draw people in and understand the photograph. By having the objects centred it gives the impression that they are floating in an abyss of darkness, which is heightened by how the medicine is only illuminated in the middle and is darker around the edges making it seem like it’s fading in and out of the light.

For my fifth photograph, I had created a set-up of a water bottle and the plastic packaging which I wrapped around and layer across the crinkled bottle. I used faded plastic so that it looks more used and worn down as I wanted to give the effect that they have been thrown away or washed through the sea that destroyed the writing. I placed the light to the left of the camera so that it wasn’t shining on the whole setup and I also didn’t put it too close as I wanted only the packaging and middle of the bottle to be lit up which I achieved. I enjoyed this style of lighting with these objects because I was able to position them in particular ways and change the intensity of the colour depending on how I wanted the image to look. In this particular photo, I had folded the bottle so that it looked more damaged and used, I also angled it away from the light source so that the top of the bottle would be in the dark where you couldn’t see it and the only highlighted area would be the middle with the worn-out packaging.

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As well as the five images above these three were also inspired by troy Paiva and Naomi White for their influence on lighting and plastic in the environment.

For my sixth image, I have used three disposable masks, like my third final image, but I used purple lighting instead of red. I decided to put the light source quite close to the bottom mask making the lighting more pastel instead of neon and then it slowly fades into a darker, more neon purple and then into the black background. I took the photo from an upwards angle so that the parts of the mask that are closer to the camera are more focused compared to the bottom of the photograph. I like how the masks are folded which helps to make lines of shadows throughout the photo, which adds more texture to the final image. Lastly, I like how close the camera was to the items when the photo was taken which helps the depth in the photograph, which intertwines with the different tones of light. For example, the further down and into the image the lighter and more bright it is and the closer it is to the camera the darker the masks are with deeper shadows.

My seventh photograph is taken at a similar angle as my second photo, from a high up angle, looking down at the objects. Instead of the red, I used blue lighting has a very different atmosphere compared to the red lighting. By using a lighter colour, more of the packaging can be seen as well as the background. I like how the different capsules have been pushed in and create new textures and shapes making the image less flat. I think the colour compliments the silver colour of the metal film and the darker blue writing on the packaging. The shadow set diagonally across the top of the main medicine packaging and travels down onto the smaller packing adds a new element to the photograph which makes it more alluring.

For my eighth photo, I have again used the medicine packaging but with a darker purple that has been made more vibrant by the metallic colour from the packaging. Because the purple is so dark some parts of the packaging blend in with the background which I like because I think it looks like the objects are being pushed through the darkness and are finally coming to light. This could relate to the meaning behind this project which is that over the last few decades the plastic pollution issue is finally coming to light and people are trying to fight against it. Another feature of the image that I enjoy is the different tones of purple that flow throughout the picture, starting from a neon purple which blends into a rich shade of purple and finally into the black of the background. Furthermore, I decided to make the items look like they were floating in the middle of the image, I got the idea for this from Steven Gallagher. 

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These two photos were heavily influenced by Troy Paiva and his photo book ‘Night Vision; The Art of Urban Exploration’.

For my ninth photograph, I used two coloured glow sticks to create the pick and yellow combination on the medicine packages. I really enjoyed using the glow sticks as a light source as I was able to mix different colours together and they only illuminated the objects and not the background making them easier to edit. I decided to use pink as the main colour for my image and yellow to highlight the underneath parts of the medicine capsules. With this photo, I didn’t hang the objects up, but I laid them on the black card so that I could keep my dark background and I think the darker background compliments the neon colours and help make them more vibrant. The different textures of the plastic packaging create interesting shadows and new tones of pink and yellow.

Finally, for my tenth image, I also used two coloured glow sticks, pink and blue, which I think compliment each other nicely, they also are able to add another colour as they have mixed together, which has created a neon purple. I placed one of the packet’s upsides down because I wanted the white to contrast with the silver film of the other packet, it also helped to add more colour and shades to the final photograph. I like how the packaging towards the top of the photo is light and as you go down to the bottom it fades into darker colours and blends into the background. As I said before I was inspired by Troy Paiva, and I feel that this is the main image that represents and replicates his work because Paiva used a lot of blues and pinks in his work.