The topic I am interested in the most is air pollution so I have been thinking about how I can portray that through photographs.
I decided to do some research into what the particles of air pollution can look like:
This is also some microscopic images of air pollution derived illnesses and diseases:
These images show lots of different shapes and compositions that could inspire different arrangements for my images and be involved in the images I create.
I had an idea that I could construct my images of air pollution in a similar format to the shape of these microscopic images:
In this image I took a microscopic image i found on the intwernet and added my images inspired by air pollution to it.
My image shows clear representation of her work. The texture created from the creases in the plastic bag, makes the image almost feel 3D. The shutter speed I used was a fast shutter speed so it could capture everything in the image. The purple and light pink in the image are bright and eye-catching, creating leading line around the image. Positioning the bag in a certain way so the photo will have depth and texture is similar to what Rolfsen has done. This effect feels as if you are inside a cave, or in the ocean.
Vilde Rolfsens aim for these set of images is to collect old single use bags and create are work from it by photographing it. I collected bags which I found on the beach and various other places to create the images.
During my editing progress for whom I call the “Cigarette Man”, I had used only these images of cigarettes to create an image of someone smoking from a side view angle, as inspiration from Mandy Barker, and her methods of taking individual images of a polluted product, and making something out of it. Which for me, at the moment looks like this.
During my process of Editing I thought I would adapt the Images from the dump to a more Eye catching effect, and to link the chimney with the cigarette buds.
In photoshop I experimented with using the circle Marquee tool, by cutting out circles of my original image and placing the circles onto a blank white background. This creates an illusion that the image is behind a window.
Experiment 2
In this experiment, I created a kaleidoscope. I did this by duplicating my layer and then flipping it horizontally and merging my layers, then duplicating and finally flipping it vertically. After merging my layers I repeated these steps many times to get my final result.
Why its called Anthropocene- “Anthropocene”—from anthropo, for “man,” and cene, for “new” because human-kind has caused mass extinctions of plant and animal species, polluted the oceans and altered the atmosphere, among other lasting impacts. Anthropocene is the period of time during which human activities have impacted the environment engendered by the greed of mankind enough to constitute a distinct geological change.
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. It emphasizes how humans actions shape the environment in all its physical, chemical, and biological characteristics. Anthropocene is also known as the age of humans. Their argument is that humans have become the single most defining force on the planet and that the evidence for this is overwhelming. Terraforming of the earth through mining, urbanization, industrialization and agriculture.
By editing the image in Lightroom classic and adjusting the original colour of the image, making it more interesting and like my artists reference. When editing I tried to keep the flow of plastic bag and no create sharp lines between the colours.
Using the colour balance on photoshop to create contrast in the colours in the plastic bag. This also highlights the areas of the image which have more depth and darker areas.
Before and after editing
Final Image
Image 2
Basic editing in Lightroom to change the brightens and contrast of my image. Lowering the brightness to reduce the harsh white light.
Editing the image in Lightroom first helps to develop it further in photoshop enhancing the colours or fixing any areas which need improving. New channel mixer picks up different highlighted colours and by adjusting this it creates contrast in the areas scrunched together.
Final Image
Image 3
In photoshop I flipped the image to be vertical, by doing this it will flow a lot nicer with my other images a trip tick.
Why did I chose car light pollution for Anthropocene?
I chose to do car light pollution for this topic as most if not every person on the island uses a car, and by humans using cars we are damaging the environment we live in. I also thought this is quite a broad topic to focus, therefore, I wouldn’t be less limited as to what I could photograph. i became inspired by a British, London based photographer MSH* and Sebastien Coell. They take photos using long exposures, waiting for all the cars and tubes rush by with their lights on creating light trails all around London.
How did I plan?
Initially, when I planned to do this photo shoot I was going to plastics which were found in the sea which was causing pollution and impacting the world. However, I chose against that idea as i became quite limited to what I could photograph due to the low levels of plastic found on Jersey beaches.
I chose to go out to do my photoshoot on a fairly cloudy evening at peak rush hour to get the best results possible for the images to show car lights. I went with another photography student to take photos as we had the same idea and could help each other out. We waited until the sun was fully set and created the images shown in the other blog posts.
Photoshoot-
As mentioned above, I went with another student as we found it difficult at times to get the tripods set up straight on a very slanted wall. By taking the photos at night, i managed to broaden my knowledge of what settings should be used to create the images I want.
The process was very much trial and error, as I had to time the photos perfectly to work with the cars moving due to traffic lights. and many times my shutter speed was too fast or the camera was nocked whilst taking a long exposure image meaning the outcome was blurry.
Even better if…
I believe my photoshoot could’ve been better if I was able to take more photos so when it came to editing them I had more choices to pick from, however that is partly due to the fact the camera didn’t have enough battery. therefore, I would make sure my camera was fully charged. I also think that I should try stick to my original plan a bit more. Even though I have very happy how this project has come out I could have saved myself a lot of stress if I had stuck to my original idea.
Overall evaluation of Anthropocene-
In conclusion, I really enjoyed this project as I got to go outside of my comfort zone and experiment with the camera. I am very pleased about my final out come images. However I should have gone out a couple more times to take more photos and maybe have tried to take some images in different lighting.
When comparing my images with David Maisel’s you can clearly see a comparison in areas such as the textures in the layers of rocks and the contrast in tone. Maisel took his image with a drone so his images have more of a ‘birds eye view’ feel to them then my images as I had limited access to the quarry.
