What you want to explore?

I want to explore the contrast of nature and technology though a documentary.

Why it matters to you?

It matters to me since I was born in 2006 and the first iPhone was released in 2007 so I have basically grown up with technology and watched it develop over time. Even though it has made a positive impact on todays society such as medicine and businesses, It has become a world wide addiction debilitating multiple people with how much time they spend in nature which has decreased more than half since the 1980s. The use of technology is also causing a world wide epidemic with the eyesight condition ‘Myopia’ which effects peoples Near-sightedness, this has gone up 26.9% since the year 2000 and is still continuing to increase. The addiction of technology is often ignored or not looked at by most people comparatively to other addictions such as tobacco, alcohol and Caffeine due to it not being perceived as ‘harmful’. It is also disregarded due to it being society’s norm. Its also something that I’m trying to improve on as I spend multiple hours a day on my phone which distracts me from real life. Every day we are surrounded by people generally hypnotised by technology and ignoring that actual real world.

How you wish to develop your project?

For my project I am planning to take pictures of people using different types of technology but in a dystopian setting with artificial lighting, and then contrast it with pictures of wildlife such as plants and wild animals which have been undisturbed by humans, to do this I am going to use natural lighting in my garden and artificial lighting in my house.

When and where you intend to begin your study?

To begin this study I am going to use some old pictures that I have taken over the years of different types of wide life that I haven’t used in previous projects. In the next few weeks I am going to be taking multiple images of my brother, friends using most the most common forms of technology inside and outside. and then I am going to take pictures in my garden of wildlife such as fish, birds, squirrels, plants etc. To combine the two themes I am going to take pictures of people using their mobile phones while sat in nature such as sat around a pond and under trees ect. This will also be done in my garden. I have been developing my study for the past month and I am going to continue to develop pictures in the next two weeks.

I took these images in my sisters room, focusing on all the surf related objects within her room such as medals, trophies, posters, surf books and magazines. As well as taking photos of her room, I also took photos of her surf equipment (boards and wetsuits.)

Image selection

Flagged images

Rating my images

For this photoshoot I was inspired by Eric Pickersgill, though I took a different turn on his style there is definitely a resemblance of our images. I tried to follow the aspect of a dystopian society but is contrasting with my First photoshoot.

For this photoshoot I decided to do it at 3pm when the sun was radiating so I could use the natural lighting, I did this photoshoot with five female models, taking images of them on their mobile phones around my front garden. I chose this setting as my garden is surrounded by nature such as plants, ponds and creatures such as rabbits and birds. The idea behind this photoshoot was for the female models to ignore the nature that surrounds them and for all of their attention to be on their devices. I took various images such as the girls sat on a bench in front of a pond. One of the models on a swing with her full concentration being on her phone. 3 of the girls sat with a rabbit but again only looking at their phones, One of the models looking at online images of nature while oblivious that they are surrounded by similar surroundings, and multiple more.

The images below are raw and unedited

In conclusion I am very happy with how this photoshoot came out as I feel that it really captures todays society of technology and the ignorance of people when they are surrounded by nature.

Final edited images

I used Lightroom to edit the images below

Contact sheet

I took these images during a CISF training camp which included surfers from Wales, Guernsey and Jersey. I didn’t have a zoom lens with me at this shoot so wasn’t able to get many images of my sister on the waves. However I did mange to get images of her doing her warmup run, coming out the sea and debriefing with one of the coaches.

Image selection

Rating my images

Contact sheet

I took these images at St. Brelade’s Bay during another CISF training day. The conditions weren’t the best so I had to make sure I captured the right moment when my sister caught a wave.

Image selection

Flagged images

Rating my images

Contact sheet

I took these images at Le Braye during my sisters free surf session. I took images of my sister getting ready, entering the water and her surfing as well. I had a zoom lens which enabled me to capture action shots of my sister in the water.

Image selection

Flagged images

Rating my images

I have rated my images on what I think are my best images. I will definitely use the green images and I will work on the yellow ones as they have potential.

For my exam I am going to make links to Nancy Honey and Tamara Lichtenstein, and tying in the exam topic observe seek and challenge. I am going to take my images in they style of the male gaze which can also be turned into the idea for empowering women on making themselves comfortable when they feel vulnerable, which links to the observe and challenge part of the exam board theme, as I am observing in the way women are seen in media and in general though men and then challenging that by letting females feel empowered by the way they are seen and making people comfortable around a camera as it isn’t objectifying them as it is capturing beauty.

I am going to experiment with lighting to try create shadows I am going to do this by using lights and lamps which I have at home, I am going to do multiple shoots in different locations to construct the idea of adventure and seeking new places.

For this final project, I would like to present my study in a photo book form. As a result of this, I intend to produce many photoshoots so that I will have a large variety of images that I can pick from. This means that, I would roughly need a minimum of 30 final images to create my book. I have plans to begin my study for this project as soon as possible to allow me the most amount of time to compete it.

In my third photoshoot, I produced 401 images.