I started this piece in photoshop using this photograph, copying three more versions of the image and flipping each one horizontally, vertically, and both at the same time, and positioned them together to create a mirrored effect.
I then flattened the image, turning it all into one layer, and created several copies of the layer, rotating each one at 45 degree angles.
I experimented with different blending modes for each blending layer and was left with very prominent yellows, with some reds and blues in the background.
I flattened all of the layers into one, sized down the entire image into my canvas, and centred it.
I then decided to copy and paste another version of this shape, enlarged the new copy behind the original, and centred it. I was left with this as my final image and I am quite happy with it.
Mandy Barker‘s style of photography is what will inspire me in throughout my photoshoots, collecting rubbish from the beach and photographing them on a black background in the studio. I plan to do something similar to these images, using batteries, sea glass, bottle corks and other “pollutant” objects from my house, some of them on the black background and some not.
My understanding is that Anthropocene is a recent period of time where human activity has significantly impacted the ecosystem.
The word combines the root “anthropo”, meaning “human” with the root “-cene”, the standard suffix for “epoch” in geologic time.
Examples of Anthropocene through photographs:
Credit: Tom Hegen Quarry in the state of Bavaria in Germany. In describing this photograph, Hegen has said that a huge amount of raw materials are required to construct growing cities.
The birds eye view image above is from the website: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/dramatic-scope-of-the-anthropocene-can-be-seen-from-above/ This website has many more images taken by Tom Hagan, where he explores the natural landscaped altered by humans , using drones and helicopters to show the area from above. “I photograph landscapes that have been heavily transformed by human intervention and show places where nature is channeled, regulated and controlled,” He says. Through his photographs he want to inspire people to get closer to the responsibility of the impact humans have on the invironment.
An image of a landfill in the documentary “Anthropocene: The Human Epoch.”Credit…Edward Burtynsky/Kino Lorber
Behind the documentary which explains and shows how humans effected the world, there are directors: Nicholas de Pencier, Jennifer Baichwal, Edward Burtynsky, They have worked together as film makers of the documentary to show the realistic world and its problems. They are the most important figures when it comes to the link of Anthropocene and photography/filmmaking. These are some of the photographs they have produced.
Highway #8, Santa Ana Freeway, Los Angeles, California, USA, 2017Dandora Landfill #1, Nairobi, Kenya, 2016Basque Coast #1, UNESCO Geopark, Zumaia, Spain, 2015
here’s mind map of Anthropocene photography and all the photos are from the Edward Burtynsky I will be basing my photos on Edwards photos, so I will be taking pictures of industrial areas or areas where there is a lot of waste. I am plaining on going to the harbour, the incinerator or any construction site. some of the photos I will try and personalise and not copy Edward Burtynskys photos.
this is one of the locations that I will be taking some photos, its a industrial area with pipes, waste management, industrial vehicles, fishing boats and equipment, etc.
this is where I will be taking photo for the mock and this only one part of the area. as I said its mostly an industrial area so it will be great for one of my photoshoots. what I want to take a picture of is when the incinurator is on and smoke is coming out
Construction sites (buildings, scaffolding, signs, etc)
Where
St Clements
St Saviour
St Helier
When
Around midday in order to have good lighting.
Why
I want to take pictures of buildings and construction sites as it links into the theme of Anthropocene as it shows how human activities have impacted the environment.
I want to photograph roads as it also links to the theme, but also because I like the look of having tree tunnels separated by roads. I think it emphasises how because of something man-made (roads), the environment around us has been altered and changed/separated.
I would like the have an abstract approach to this project, my images would be related to things that either effect or are damaging to the environment. For example, plastic bags collected from the sea, oil on the floors from cars, toys, bottle caps and other plastic.
Examples of abstract images I can respond too. The images above, all have an effect on the environment, for example the scaffolding creates a geometric image. The meaning of the image may be that the construction of new large buildings is contributing to damage of the environment.
Mandy Barker
Mandy Barker is a British photographer. She is mostly known for work with marine plastic debris. Barker has worked alongside scientists in hopes of bringing awareness to the mass amount of plastic that is floating around in our oceans.
In my images I wanted to take ideas from Mandy’s work of plastic collected from the ocean and use plastic toys. Using small connecting toys bottles and other plastic items which cause pollution to the Earth. I will try to create an abstract response to anthropocene. The black background brings out the colours of the bottle lids, I will replicate this by using a black background.
Her images create the idea of space and that her objects are floating in space, but at the same time she is raising awareness about single use plastic.
Vilde Rolfsen
Norwegian photographer Vilde Rolfsen extracts beauty from discarded plastic bags while raising awareness about throw-away culture. Vilde Rolfsen is a fine art photographer based in Oslo. Her series “Plastic Bag Landscapes” addresses the detrimental effects of plastic waste to our land and our oceans. While highlighting the abstract beauty of discarded bags found on Oslo’s streets by exposing them from a macroscopic perspective, Rolfsen also hopes her work will remind viewers to look more closely at their own consumption patterns.
“When I started my degree at Kingston University back in 2011, I wasn’t really that worried with the environment, but my engagement with the issue grew over the years I spent in London. This might have something to do with the fact that I grew up in Norway, a fairy small country with little impact on the environment world wide. But as I lived in London I started noticing all the waste around on the ground and in parks, and I also noticed that most of it was used plastic bags. I wanted to do a project to draw attention towards this issue. I didn’t want to do something that was too in-your-face, because I think that puts people off. No one likes being told to do something. So I landed on creating a body of work where the images are aesthetically pleasing to look at, and the viewer can make up their own minds when they see what the image is. It was natural to me to take inspiration from mountains and glaciers, which I have grown up with in Norway.”
Steven Gallagher – plastic bag topology photography
Steven uses single use plastic bags to create topology’s, he uses a direct light from the back of the image. This light helps to bring out the colour in the bags. Re using the bags and turning them into art, helps to raise awareness for single use plastics in the world.
In my approach to Anthropocene I am going to try to recreate a similar response to Vilde Rolfsen and Steven Gallagher. By collecting single use plastic bags, in all different colours and using different light to create colour images of the single use bags. Creating these images relates to the idea of Anthropocene as single use plastic is now being band in parts of the world, as it it ruining our environment everyday. Taking these bags to make art work from them helps to reduce the amount of plastic being thrown into the bin and further polluting the Earth. I will use coloured lights in the studio or at home to create the bright colours. When plastic bags are coloured I will use a white light from behind to bring the colour of the bags through.
Naomi White – plastic bags.
Naomi White is an abolitionist feminist, artist, and educator, working on ideas at the intersection of political ecology and photography. Throughout her work White addresses an array of complex contemporary issues, questioning dominant ethics and narratives throughout history, and asking how we can shift our focus away from the current racist, capitalist model of domination to one of equity and collective voice, for the sake of all people, animals and the planet.
‘A current is a continuous, directed movement of water generated by the forces acting upon it, such as the gravitational pull of the sun and the moon. Interaction with other currents transforms a current’s direction and strength. In Plastic Currents, the every day plastic bag is transformed by light, turned from something familiar into something strange. Undulating and fluid these forms transition from non-biodegradable, reviled plastic bags into seemingly organic forms, imitating the very nature they threaten.’
From all of these artists I will create a response using all the different elements/ techniques that photographers have used. Each artist has similar reasons for the images and what doing there projects mean to them and the environments being helped by the projects.
Canadian photographer Edward Burtynsky is widely recognised for his depictions of global industrial landscapes and his work is included in the collections of over 60 major museums around the world, including the Museum of Modern Art and the Guggenheim Museum in New York, the Reina Sofia Museum in Madrid and the Tate Modern in London.
Burtynsky first encountered the term “Anthropocene” when he was invited to contribute to a special issue of National Geographic in 2008. At the time, a small but growing band of scientists began to conclude that humanity had altered the planet to the extent that we had entered a new geologic time scale.
For Burtynsky, defining the Anthropocene is a matter of urgency. Once formalised, he believes it will act as a body of evidence that policymakers can use to promote and enact changes that could slow or reverse climate change. He worries that we might be nearing the point of no return.
Urban means belonging to, or relating to, a town or city. Most of the population is an urban population. In photography, it usually relates to images of multiple buildings clustered together.
Urbanization began in ancient Mesopotamia in the Uruk Period (4300-3100 BCE). It is thought that a particularly prosperous and efficient village attracted the attention of other, less prosperous, tribes who then attached themselves to the successful settlement, thus creating an urban environment.
Urban mood board
Majority of urban photo shoots take place in big cities such as London.
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.
The group was created in 2016, however, the effects of Anthropocene on the world had been going on long before that, some suspecting as early as 1610 with an unusual drop in atmospheric carbon dioxide.
Anthropocene mood board
All of these works are aimed to show the world how we affect our planet.
