Anthropocene = “proposed geological epoch dating from the commencement of significant human impact on Earth’s geology and ecosystems, including, but not limited to, anthropogenic climate change.”

Anthropocene, coming from the Greek terms for human (‘anthropo’) and new (‘cene’), is the time period where humans have had a catastrophic impact on the planet. Many things can represent Anthropocene: pollution, plastics, overcrowding, global warming, etc. In the past 11,500 years, humans have built a technological empire which is slowly killing the planet. It is argued that Anthropocene started at the beginning of the industrial revolution where the first fossil fuel economy was created. Some argue Anthropocene started when humans started farming and even some believe it dawned in the 1950s when humans let radioactive elements into the atmosphere after using nuclear weapons. Despite this argument, the thing that matters most is bring light onto what is happening to the planet and what we can do to prevent the worst happening and help save our home.

Anthropocene photography can come in the form of showing the devastating affects of humans/the impact on the environment, or showing off what we already have. Many people take for granted the beauty of what we have on this planet and cant see how we are ruining all the wonders we have.

Mood board

Mind map

Contact sheet

Images

Technical

Lighting: Artificial

Aperture: 18-55 mm f/4-5.6 IS STM lens

Technical

Lighting: Artificial

Aperture: 18-55 mm f/4-5.6 IS STM lens

Technical

Lighting: Artificial

Aperture: 18-55 mm f/4-5.6 IS STM lens

Gustave Le Gray

Gustave Le Gray is known as the most important French photographer of the nineteenth century because of his technical innovations in the still new medium of photography, his role as the teacher of other noted photographers, and the extraordinary imagination he brought to picture making.

All of Gustave Le Gray’s image have a vintage theme to them. He uses a grainy effect and the colours in his images consist of tonal yellows, slightly burnt orange and brown. His images appear to be black in areas, however, when you closely analyse the image it is actually dark browns.

I tried to base this image off of Gustave Le Gray’s work. I edited in the grain and I adjusted the tones and colours of it to create the tea- stained look. I really like the style of his work, that’s why I attempted to project it onto mine. I feel I achieved this and was left with a strong final image.

not edited:

editing:

In this image, I just did a simple edit in Lightroom. I made the image brighter, increasing the ‘whites’. I also experimented with the colours and saturation of the image; creating the tones of blue in the outcome.

outcome:

not edited:

editing:

outcome:

This image is very similar to the image above. I basically edited it in the same way, however, instead of increasing the cool colours in the image, I decided to experiment with the warmer colours. I prefer this image in contrast to the other image as it appears lighter but warmer.

Analysis:

I think this image is very effective as it captures the light trail from the passing cars going around the round about, and the lights shining from an urban finance building in the background. The photo was taken with an aperture of around f/16, a long shutter speed and a low IOS setting.

The image links to the theme of Anthropocene as it shows how humans have industrialized this area with brand new large modern buildings.

The main focal point is the lit up finance building. However, your eyes are drawn to the bright red , blurred light trail created by the cars creating a sense or rush.

The image above shows two different directions of traffic at the peak of rush hour in the evening, leaving a light trail of cars exiting and entering the tunnel on Pier Road.

The photo is taken from a high angle, looking down at the cars using the same camera settings of an aperture around f/16, a long shutter speed and a low IOS setting.

I think the image above is quite dramatic as there are two contrasting colours against each other. One of the colours being the orange lights from part of the tunnel shining down onto the road below in the foreground of this image, which is contrasted against the deep black of the night sky in the background, linking it to the theme of Anthropocene as is is another industrialized area for humans own benefit.

I also believe this image is highly effective as the top third pf the image captures the sky which could be described as moody or angry due the the dark grey/ blue tones. which is the contrasted by the bright orange lights coming from the on coming cars.

Prints relating to the topic of Anthropocene

WHO IS MICHAEL WOLF?

Michael Wolf was a German artist and photographer who focused on capturing daily life and the busyness of cities, born 30 July 1954 and died 24 April 2019. His work was mainly based in Hong Kong and Paris, he loved architectural patterns and well as daily interactions in cities. He grew up in a family of artists with his father being a calligraphist and his mother working with pottery and paint. He began his career in photojournalism, working for eight years with the magazine Stern, but he never really enjoyed it, describing it as “stupid and boring”.

WHY HAVE I CHOSEN THIS PHOTOGRAPHER?

I have chosen this photographer because I want to focus my project of Anthropocene on overpopulation and overcrowding as these can have major effects on the planet. I think his photographs show the busy lives of the city and crowded areas while it still being creative and effective. I also love the use of repition in Michael Wolfes work, it suggests that humans are only repeating what they are already doing instead of fixing the problem they have caused.

HOW I WILL RESPOND?

I will focus on areas such as St. Helier and other built up places so that I can photograph a variety of different buildings. I will try to focus a range of buildings from tall to short, old to new, colourful to dull so that it shows the variation of properties in Jersey and hopefully show the effects of overpopulation on the planet.

EXAMPLES OF HIS WORK

ANALYSIS

Who is Stephanie Jung?

Stephanie Jung is a 26 year old that has been a freelance photographer based in Berlin since 2012. Stephine Jung has focused on fine art photographer as well as portrait photography. Stephine Jung first tries started back in 2009, she was on a school trip to Paris where she was fascinated by the business district. In 2010 she went to Japan and took her first multiple exposure series and turned into her major project.

What does she do?

She is known for her multiple exposures. Her extraordinary shots show cities that depict reality but nonetheless lead to a different, surreal dimension apart from our real world. Stephine shoots some multiple exposures directly with the camera, other pictures are created afterward with image processing. Sometimes she combines those two methods or decide spontaneously.

how will this inspire me and where will I go

The photos I’m going to take will be of any busy places with people or buildings around, I will then use photoshop to blur the image to create the same effect Stephine Jung did. I will be photographing buildings, roads, crowds, town etc. I will be using these two photos as inspiration and what I will be trying to aim for.