My first artist case study was Naomi White and her Plastic Bags, where she took something so normal and dramatized it to make it portray a feeling.
My response to this was this image –
The reason that I think this image relates to her work so much is because of the use of an ordinary plastic bag, created into something special. She was interested in the way that plastic responds to touch, you can see that my model is breathing in and suffocating herself with the bag portraying how the plastic bag is responding to touch. The main reason I wanted to take inspiration from her was to spread awareness, almost everyone has seen an animal entrapped in a plastic something, in danger and in pain. This doesn’t faze people anymore, whereas something as dramatic as this happening to a person will faze people, this will raise awareness and almost embarrass and scare people, they know that they’ve used many disposable plastic bags before, harming the earth, and will end up feeling guilty for harming an animal now that they see it happening too someone who could be them. Although her images are studio lighting, portrait and on a light box I did keep it similar with the use of studio lighting, keeping it plain and simple.
My second artist case study was Lucas Foglia and his ‘human nature’, where he dramatises misuse of the earth’s element’s.
My response to this was this image –
The reason that I think this relates to Lucas Foglia’s work is because it is a dramatic difference. I didn’t take use of how he used elements simply because I thought that would be too difficult for me to do, but instead I took use of his contrast. He usually takes images of humans sat with something very dramatic which can create a huge scare within people, wondering how they ever managed to do that. I have used natural lighting, which portrays the earth like he does and have taken a photo of a new sculptured through the gates of an old bunker dramatising change. Maybe proving that people cannot change their ways, there will always be some type of disruption that they leave behind no matter how hard they try to change.
I have chosen this as one of my final images to come out of my anthropocene project, because I think it clearly incorporates one of my artist case studies ‘Lucas Foglia’ this is due to the way he uses natural earthly lighting to create a raw natural imagery effect, as to show the world how it is. He also incorporates a depth of field by having his model close up to the camera compared to the rest of the landscape behind them, I think he uses this to create a conceptual idea of the destroyed vs the destroyer. His images are often 3D, including a lot of textures caused by weather, for example in his images you can see raindrops on peoples clothing, so I have incorporated this by using the wet sand to portray how the tide has just been up and that it is raining. His images are often very conceptual and I think I have portrayed this, by showing a sort of ‘ghost town’ something that may happen in the near future, and how destruction needs to stop.
Photo 2
I have chosen this image as one of my final images for basically all the same reasons as the first one, the use of depth of field, 3D texture, and a contextual meaning. But I really like this image as I think it portrays something more, I think it portrays a type of group of people, like no one knows what to do but they all know that about each other, they all know they need to do something. I think this is influenced by the contrast of the moon against the sea, the moon often tends to create a different feeling within peoples heads than the sun, the moon often tends to bring more peace to people’s minds and more comfort. I wanted to use this image as it’s not as harsh as my other ones, and not as much of a blame to humans, but rather a sign and green flag that we are trying to move forward.
Photo 3
The reason I have chosen this image is because I was inspired by Naomi White, Naomi Whites images are of objects, plastic bags under bright lighting, the reasoning for this is because she wanted to turn something familiar into something strange, this is what I also wanted to do. I wanted to take something as familiar as a plastic bag and change it into something strange, I wanted to create an image that people generally don’t want to look at, one that exposes the harsh truth that plastic won’t only end up killing all our wildlife but also us. I have used texture and studio lighting to portray how we will be choking on the plastic bag, or even choking on our words that ‘everything will be fine’.
Photo 4
The reason I have used this image is because in a way it relates to lucas foglia’s work, but I have also used it because I wanted to portray the history of the Island compared to now. I took this image up at plemont, where we spotted an old bunker, and they went in and explored while I took images. I think this portrays a massive contrast, of what that bunker would’ve been used for compared to people just using it to explore now. I think that this image is the definition of anthropocene, ‘humans have had a substantial impact on our planet‘, something made over 100 years ago is still standing, showing how much of an impact we have actually had on the planet.
George Marazakis is a Greek photographer, he looks at a link between civilization and nature.
He takes pictures of his native Crete during winter where he can achieve the soft light. This effects the viewer in ways which makes it memorable to us, as it allows us to look from different perspectives where we are able to notice different things that are communicated to us. The first glance we notice and admire the aesthetics of the photo, whereas the second glance is more thoughtful, allowing us to reflect and contemplate what humans leave on the surface of earth and landscapes.
George Marazakis captures is photographs, that show the impact the world has on climate change, in subtle ways. The reason for this was because most people would visualise Anthropocene as visual impacts on the environments showing clear destruction happening for example, manufacturing or incinerator buildings with smoke.
His style of photography was capturing landscapes effected by human interactions in the middle of natural spaces.
“If humans are a product of nature, then we can say that we are a disease attacking our own organism, just like an immune system can attack its own body – like autoimmune diseases.”
I find George Marazakis photographs really interesting and engaging because I like how he subtly describes climate change through the use of his minimal subjects in his photos allowing you to depict what he is trying to communicate and tell you about climate change or environmental changes. For example the photo above depicts a green house with sunlight shining through leaving you to engage with it. I think this is an interesting way for you to engage with the photo, because for some photo’s at first are not obvious that the message is trying to perceive about climate change.
George Marazakis photos are taken in Greece, using the original colours and scenes in his final outcomes. His photographs are never taken in harsh light, as he loves photographing the scenes with heavy clouds and fog, so to achieve this he generally photographs during early morning or late afternoon. I think how he chooses to take photos is interesting because it sets the tone for the photo, making it more obvious of the message he is trying to portray, otherwise without the cloudy, fogy, morning or evening effects you wouldn’t understand the true message.
Anthropocene is used to describe where human activity started to have a significant impact on the planets climate and ecosystems. I wanted to reflect this within this photoshoot by describing how plastic is a killer. Plastic is not biodegradable and is just filling up piles and piles of waste. Many animals within the ocean and on land get caught within this plastic causing them to become seriously injured or even die, you don’t see a fish walking around carrying a plastic bag so why do they have to be punished for our actions? I wanted to create something similar to the work of Naomi White, who takes still life imagery of plastic bags, she has described her reasoning for these photoshoots as ‘taking something from everyday life and making it look strange’. That quote was my main inspiration for my photoshoot. I wanted to take something that we use everyday and portray the dramatics of it, and the fact that these dramatics are happening to living things who didn’t cause the damage but not to the ones who did. I used bold studio lighting so create a contrast between the dark background and the fluorescent bright white light on my models face, this helped really emphasis all the wrinkles within the bag that something could get caught up in, and the fact that my model is inhaling trying to breath through the bag but it is suffocating her. I have also included an image of my model on her phone, whilst inside the plastic bag being unable to breath, this is to portray just how unbothered we are with the damage we have done.
Virtual Gallery Two (Time is catching us)
The anthropocene period is also sometimes known as the great acceleration. I wanted to take some imagery whilst the sun was setting to portray how an acceleration will always have a decline. For this photoshoot I went to plemont, where they have a sort of puffin sanctuary in order to portray how they are endangered and we need to save them, but upon my visit I found the place to be almost like a ghost town, no sign of any life at all, not even the noise of birds tweeting, I also found a lot of history such as old bunkers. Therefore I used all the things I saw to portray that our efforts are now not working, the effort of building these big puffins in order to make awareness has now not worked, it is too late and we are running out of time, by incorporating the old bunker and the sun setting it can portray nostalgia and history, that maybe too one day these puffin sculptures will be sat growing moss, deteriorating away just like the bunker. My artist case study reference for this idea was Lucas Foglia, his project ‘human nature’ photographs humans in the strongest of elements, now although I haven’t photographed in very strong elements my inspiration from him was to put the subject in the middle of what they have created. It was to create something bold and frightening to humans, to really open their eyes to what they have done, and explain how time is running out and if we do not take more action it will end up becoming a ghost town. I have used natural sunset lighting, due to its beauty but also its dramatic effect, because as we all know after sunset comes the darkness. I have used composition within my images to put my models up front and center.
Virtual Gallery Three (Sensitivity)
Humans tend to be sensitive about their own actions, not taking criticism very well at all. Within this image you can see my models being sensitive, embracing nature by throwing rocks in the rain, loving all the elements. But yet they cannot see how they are damaging these elements. By loathing in mother nature, humans will eventually reveal to themselves what they have done, so I wanted to portray their sensitive side, in order to show how they may not know how they caused the damage or how to reverse, therefore embracing their sensitive side.
Virtual Gallery Four (In the darkness)
We have created so much damage in the world, which is what anthropocene describes, but the ways of anthropocene are very harsh, calling humans out for their actions and embarrassing them when many people may not know the next step forwards, they may not know how to reverse all the damage, or even how to stop in from happening therefore many people are left in the darkness. I wanted my imagery to portray how sensitive we can be, and that really all we are on this earth for is to help each other and join together. No one can truly live a happy life without friendship so by joining together maybe we can not only be happier but also fish ourselves out of the darkness. By helping each other out we may be able to reprimand what we have done.
Artificial intelligence, or AI, is technology that enables computers and machines to simulate human intelligence and problem-solving capabilities. Making jobs quicker and faster to do, instead of humans sepening hours or even days to complete a task.
How is it used within photography?
“To create AI-generated images, the machine learning model scans millions of images across the internet along with the text associated with them. The algorithms spot trends in the images and text and eventually begin to guess which image and text fit together. Once the model can predict what an image should look like from a given text, they can create entirely new images from scratch based on a new set of descriptive text users enter on the app.”
To produce an image, a user enters keywords and a model generates images utilizing those keywords. Strings of words can be used.
How do you use it?
Ai has recently been introduced to adobe photoshop in the form of generative fill, this not only allows photographers to add elements to their images that elsewise would have been difficult or impractical to accomplish, this makes a photographer much more able to accomplish what they envision
#AI image mood board inspiration
Experimentation
Example Of Creation
I used AI to adapt this image within photoshop, I sed the generative fill tool, i selected the sky and then simply typed in “Stars”, and it generated this. It was once just an image of a plain purple looking sky which has now been transformed into a beautiful starry sky.
Final Three Favorite AI Images and Evaluation
This is one of my favourite photos’ I have created due to how the sunset is so dim yet so bright, when you first look at an image you are instantly drawn to the brightest thing within the image. So I like how the faint people swimming within the water are almost like a challenge, you have to almost focus too see them swimming down there. My concept for this image was that the ocean is a part of mother nature and the earth its self, and we are merely sharing in her offerings, I have portrayed this by making the people swimming in the water so small compared to the massive scene around them. I used photo shop to AI generate the people swimming in.
I really like this image of a starry night due to the contrast I’m the colours of lighting, this image has a very wide tonal range, it almost looks strange to the human eye too see a sunset mixed with a sky full of stars as generally the stars don’t come out until the sun has fully gone away. I love just how realistic the stars look, giving the image texture and tone. My concept behind this photo was to portray what our sky’s could actually look like without light pollution, artificial light has done much to safeguard and enhance our night time environment but, if not properly controlled, obtrusive light can present serious physiological and ecological problems. Yet another issue that humans have created which takes the earths natural beauty away. I used generative fill on photoshop too add the stars in this image.
I used ai generative fill on photoshop to add the boat within this image. This image alone was not one of my favourite’s at all, due to how blurry it is and how strange the lighting is within this image. But I do like the movement shadow’s off the model in the centre of the image, as I think it adds surface leading the eye to that golden section. I think the composition of this image is very important as it takes away from the blur/shake and makes it look less harsh. My concept within this image was to portray how, there are always many different scenario’s happening around us, including our own one, and we are only the main character in our own story, which is why it makes it even more important too look after our planet, as you are the only person to blame for what you are doing, its your own scenario and your own life, so it is all on you what you do in regards too things like pollution.
Past
For my AI generated image of the past I have used a photo of le bray beach, where you can see the La Rocco tower, which was the 23rd and last coastal tower in Jersey to be built following the Conway design and was also the largest and most heavily armed of the whole series. It maintained a military role into the mid-19th century, as evidenced by a Royal Engineers report in January 1848, which records that La Rocco Tower and Battery (as it had by then become known) was armed with five 32-pounder guns. I used the selection tool to get rid of the people I originally photographed on the beach, and then used generative fill to create a narrative of soldiers shooting up at an enemy plane.
Present
For my AI generated image of the present I used a photo that I took up at active in St.Brelards, I originally took this image to capture the storm damage of the fallen trees, and I used AI generate tool to add people walking on the grass, too show that present life doesn’t just stop when an issue as big as a storm occurs.
Future
For my AI generated image of the future I used another image that I took along the five mile road, I used the AI generate tool to add many things to this image, for example, a car on the sand, a robot on the grass, flying cars in the sky, a big cruise ship in the water, and wind turbines. Wind turbines have been something already discussed for Jerseys future so I thought this would be a more realistic thing to incorporate rather than the flying cars, but you never know what the future holds for Jersey.
Living in Jersey makes it quite difficult to photograph the impacts on the environment from humans as it’s not as obvious as other places in the world due to the island being less developed and big on agriculture, however, here are some of my ideas:
Idea 1
My first idea is to photograph areas in Jersey which experience traffic and over-population, specifically St Helier. My plan is to go into town around rush hour and take photos of the traffic in various places, preferably from above. Some places I could do this are along the Waterfront near La Frigate and from above the tunnel. I am also planning on taking images of full car parks and places which are clearly over-populated.
Idea 2
My second idea is to create an altered landscape image (or two) which consists of the various industrial areas and areas which have been hugely impacted by humans around the island. This will be inspired by Emily Allchurch, an artist who hosted a talk at Jersey Library last year which I attended with my Dad. I was really inspired by her work, therefore I have decided that it is something I would like to do for this project as I think it would be an effective way of displaying our Island’s impacts on the environment. Some locations which I am planning on photographing include La Collette, Bellozanne, German Bunkers, Le Marais Flats, Quarries and Dams. I will then create my final image by using photoshop.
Art by Emily Allchurch
Another photographer who has similar work to Emily Allchurch that I am greatly inspired by for this idea is Tanja Deman. (Link to my blog post about Tanja Deman)
Idea 3
My third idea is to take images of potholes as there are many in Jersey and they are caused mainly by traffic and not being able to support the weight of vehicles, therefore, they are caused by human activity and sometimes you could say overpopulation, corresponding to themes of Anthropocene. I am planning on editing these images to look like moon craters by making them appear as similar colours to the moon. This idea hasn’t been inspired by any photographers as it is just a thought I had, therefore, I may not go ahead with this idea as the outcomes may not align with my vision.
Surface of the Moon
Idea 4
My fourth idea is to photograph agricultural land in Jersey as, although agriculture is great for the Island’s ecomony, it can also have harmful impacts on the environment such as polluting water and soil and releasing CO2 into the atmosphere. Moreover, around 50% of the Island’s area consists on agricultural land and it is also one of the factors which promotes a great problem on the island – sea lettuce. The Island has had numerous problems with sea lettuce, which is often caused by streams running onto the beach containing fertiliser. For this photoshoot, I am planning on photographing fields from above, most likely in Grouville and St Ouen, inspired by Edward Burtynsky’s photograph of plastic-covered fields. In addition, I will also photograph old glass houses around the Island.
Edward Burtynsky’s photograph
Idea 5
My final idea is to photograph rubbish which I find on the beach and on the streets in its place but also collect it to photograph it again together and create an abstract image. This may, however, be quite difficult as it’s not easy to find rubbish on the beach at this time of year compared to summer. My inspiration for this is Many Barker’s: Our Plastic Ocean.
Mandy Barker: Our Plastic Ocean
The Ideas I have gone for
For my photoshoots, I have decided that I am going to create an altered landscape, inspired by Emily Allchurch and Tanja Deman, of the industrial areas around the island. The areas featured within this landscape will be similar to what can be seen in both Edward Burtynsky and George Marazakis’ photographs. The locations which I will be taking these photos include Bellozanne, La Collette, Sorel and St Peters Quarries, Val de la Mare Dam and various fields round the island. This is a rough sketch of my vision:
I am going to present the images I take both on their own, similar to Edward Burtynsky and George Marazakis, and as an altered landscape.
