I like this image as the whole lower section is waste, with an ironic text on the vehicles container saying ‘waste disposal’. This is further amplified by the only colour in the image being this text. However, some parts of the photo is lacking like how most of the image is in a mid grey tone, especially the sky, giving this image a blander look. This photo had some similarities to Edward Burtynsky photos with the presentation of large waste areas.

This image is good in the use of motion blur as it draws the eyes to the main focus point of the image (the large industrial pipes), making it seem more important and more destructive to the natural environment around it. the organic background paired with the subject creates a contrast between the pipes and the landscape. I think the editing could be improved on as the edges from the foreground to the background looks odd.

I think this image is a good representation photos from the likes of Edward Burtynsky. This is because the image is packed with detail and is very vibrant. The image does lack in some ways as the subject (the bus) doesn’t stand out as much from all the details elsewhere in the image.

Virtual galary:

Here are two images I took in the Pyrenees that I spiced up a little using photoshop. For the first image I used multiple exposure and flipped the centre of the image 180 degrees, making this image stand out more. For the second Image I highlighted the sign and used a geometric pattern to colour in the backside of it. This also makes the image stand out more to the viewer because the geometric shapes contrast the natural landscape in the back.

For this small photoshoot, I took many photos around town, focusing on the movement of people, giving my images another dimension, time. This links with my Anthropocene work as it shows the built up landscape, with nothing natural left. I think the movement of time in the photo could represent how fast the world is changing.

How I took the photoshoot:

I would hold the camera with my hands to add a blur to the image, then I would set the camera to a high exposure setting, allowing a ghosting effect for people walking by, giving a feeling of time. I took multiple images, each slightly changing the angle as I plan to overlay them in photoshop after.

First Attempt:

I did this photo exclusively in photoshop, I used a few of the image I took and used multi-exposure, by overlapping images, to show one person more that once in the image, giving a the effect that time is moving in the image. I increased the exposure as well.

Second Attempt:

For this one I used more photos to blend, I think this may be worse than my first attempt because there is too much going on in the photo. Jung also said that using more than 4 exposures can be hard to control the output of the image.

3rd attempt:

Here I only used one photo but had the shutter open for around 1 second. Then I moved my camera around to create the motion blur.

Other Attempts:

I walked around the jersey dump/ power station to find dramatic images that show how much produce humans use and waste. The whole area we walked around was added land built by people, which many people believe has effected the environment around it. For example, lots of sea weed now gets washed up on the beaches next to it. We found many interesting subjects, like a large pile of colourful glass, large mounds on cobble, concrete and other materials, lots of working requirement and more. I edited my photos with high saturation like an Edward Burtynsky photo, with the composition having many things inside so if I scale up my images like he does, there will be many focal points to look at.

Photo1:

Here you can see leading lines towards a broken down fire truck. This image has almost no new objects and people which adds to a wasteland feel.

Photo2:

Here you can see the view of the jersey power station, with large piles or rubbish and dirt in the foreground. The smoke (from diesel turbines) just started, likely because it was around peak energy usage in jersey. The destruction of the ground added with the smoke almost makes the image seem apocalyptic, notifying the viewer of a serious global warming problem.

Photo3:

Here, the whole image is covered in glass bottles, overwhelming the viewer with the worlds waste problems. I have increased the contrast to make each bottle easier to distinguish from one another.

Other Photos:

Creative Editing:

Here I only allowed red to be saturated, causing the rest of the image to be black and white.

Here I let gave colour to main subjects in the image, leaving the rest white and black. This helped the images noise as before there was too much going on in one photo, so by doing this the image has main parts the eyes can look at.

What if humans change there actions, and restore the environment?

I added wind mills to the landscape as Jersey has been planning to do off sure wind farms for a while. This is a clean, environmentally friendly energy source and would help jersey a lot if they can generate there own energy.

I took these photos while in the Pyrenees during spring. I went down into the valley to hopefully find some construction work, destroyed landscapes, ext that would link to the Anthropocene project. I found a half abandoned power station that was the main focus for this photo shoot of around 200 photos. I took the same photo with different exposure levels to get a higher dynamic range for more dramatic and detailed photos. I set my camera to aperture priority, with a low ISO level as it was a sunny day and I wanted to get as much detail as possible. my f-stop was mostly high (around 20f) to get more of the image in focus. Below is a panoramic view (using Lightroom) of the power station/industrial estate I went to:

My Strongest photos:

These photos were taken in the power station (half abandoned), down in the valley. The geometric shapes of the power station contrasts the natural shapes formed by the mountains in front. I edited the photos with high saturation to replicate most of Edward Burtynsky photos. I also increase the contrast to give a more dramatic image. A lot of these images, especially the on with the bus, shows nature overpowering human structures, with the weeds and plants growing through the rundown little French power station. This gives some of the images a pleasant look as nature is beginning to take back the land it use to have.

However, the photo on the top left is very different as the powerplant looks fairly new, with its clean, geometric building and wiring. This makes the image less pleasant to look at as the powerplant does not match the environment its in (also because no consideration for the aesthetics has been used). The mountain behind dominates the power plant in the foreground which can give the viewer hope that our planet is still not fully destroyed yet.

Creative editing:

Here I added motion blur to the background, allowing the viewers eyes to focus more on the industrial pipes dominating the foreground. I also bumped up the contrast only on the foreground image to really make it stand out, as an Anthropocene is about humans effect on the earth, and this large industrial pipe is a clear example of humans impacting the earth negatively. I was inspired by Stephanie Jung to edit the background as being blurred.

Here I again took inspiration from Stephanie Jung set these 4 images above into multi-exposure. This creates a very abstract photo, which gives a similar effect to motion blur.

Stephanie Jung works as a freelance photographer, based in Germany. She Discovered her passion in photography after finishing her studies in visual communication back in 2010. Since 2012 she has been working as a freelance photographer. She Enjoys traveling the world, especially to large, vertical cities where her photography work is in its best elements. She has had many of her photos shown in various magazines and art galleries. You can see her portfolio here.

how to take photos like Stephanie Jung:

She decides her location by walking round cities and does it spontaneously, this gives her the freedom to shoot where ever she feels she wants to. She then takes multiple exposures and then uses post production techniques to enchance the colour and feel of her images. She creates layer upon layer of each image. This make the image feel like its moving along in time, instead of a single snippet of time.

Her Photos are often multiple merged images, each slightly offset from each other. Stephanie Jung does this to create a sense of movement, matched with the busy environment. This is a better way to present the busy, chaotic city life rather than using long exposure methods. I think her photos like strongly with Anthropocene as her urban photos are almost overwhelming, in addition to being completely disconnected with nature. Compare this to some of her Nature photoshoots, they more still and peaceful as there is little movement happening in the natural environment. The photo below is a good example:

Edward Burtynsky:

Edward Burtynsky, born in 1955, is renowned for his continued investigation of the ‘indelible human signature’ of the planet, caused by are excessive destruction of the natural landscape, for resources, land, energy, dump sights and more. He is famous for his large format photographs of industrial landscapes, That show immense detail of the increasing development of industrialization. This size and detail can overwhelm the viewer with with “astonishing colour and relentless detail”, always focusing on the consequences of global consumerism. He is an advocate for environmental conservationism and his work is deeply entwined in his advocacy.

“Our dependence on nature to provide the materials for our consumption and our concern for the health of our planet sets us into an uneasy contradiction. For me, these images function as reflecting pools of our times.”

He has received the inaugural TED Prize in 2005, and won the Tiffany Mark award in 2012. In 2006, he was named an Officer of the Order of Canada, and in 2016 he received the Governor General’s Award for Visual Arts. He also holds six honorary doctorate degrees.

You can find more about Edward Burtynsky Here.

He has many pieces of work, but the one I will be focusing the most on is his recent Anthropocene Project. In the photos below, taken from both aerial and subterranean perspectives, and presented at a large scale, the patterns and scars of human-altered landscapes appear to form an abstracted painterly language.

Photo Analysis:

This photo found in his ‘oil’ series was taken in Pennsylvania USA, called ‘breezewood’. The photograph depicts around 5 gas stations all within seconds of driving distance between them. This photo instantly stands out to the view with bright colours from the various bill boards, trying do draw drivers in. Its almost unreal how many gas stations, shots and restaurants are all crammed into one image, along one road. It removes the power of an individual human in comparison to all the huge, globalized franchises. It shows how much we have evolved as humans from the single corner shop that would sell only the essentials to these company’s that sell everything we could ever need at our fingertips. The automobiles are the most common object in this photo, and are seen throughout the whole image, likely on purpose as Burtynsky has strong views on how cars have impacted the world as seen from this quote:

Burtynsky states, “The auto-mobile is the main basis for our modern industrial world, giving us a certain freedom and changing our world dramatically. The automobile was made possible because of the invention of the internal combustion engine and its utilization of both oil and gasoline. The raw material and the refining process contained both the idea and an interesting visual component for me.” 

Photos I like from his Anthropocene series:

anthropocene is defined as the current geological age, viewed as the period during which human activity has been the dominant influence on climate and the environment. The official geological time is the Holocene (begging 11,700 years ago) making Anthropocene an unofficial unit of geological time, but as humans have changed the climate and ecosystems so much recently, many are beginning to accept it as a new geological time. The national geographic go into further detail about anthropocene.

Anthropocene in photography/Mood Board:

The main issues explored in Anthropocene photography mainly the human effects, and future of or planet. We all live on the same planet, and will be doing so for many more years, so humans need to start looking after the planet that they live on. This could be through less human resources being produced (for example, recycling plastic so less new plastic will need to be made), or from being conscious of using fossil fuels (like walking to the store instead of driving and turning off lights when you leave the room). Voting for environmentally conscious governments can also help keep the planet sustainable for future generations, meaning we would not need to create a new geological time for humans effect on earth.

A lot of the photos above are showing the human effects on the environment, but allowing the viewer to work out how to solve these problems. A lot of the photos can be seen as quite beautiful, with lots of symmetry, geometric shapes, vibrant colours, and being very dramatic. This is done to draw the viewer in, and as they look, they see more details and more destruction of the natural environment. The difference between these highly human impacted areas, compared to work like Ansel Adams with the untouched, natural landscape of parts of America, it can make the viewer hope these areas wont disappeared forever in the future.

do these photographers solve the problem of environmental destruction?

Not directly, but indirectly I would say they are contributing to helping the environment. They are trying to change the viewers ideas on the environment, which it turn leads to better actions and habits that will ultimately be better for the world. For example, many photographers take photos of the plastic that’s been eaten by birds in areas full of plastic. Lots of bird see plastic as food, so they eat it and it stays in there digestive system, building up and eventually taking there life.

Mind Map of photography Ideas/ where I can take them?

I will be going to the Pyrenees over Easter, so I’m planning to take some photos over there. When I get back to jersey I will find some photographers that I like and use there photos as reference for my second photoshoot.

For this photoshoot we went for a walk from Havre Des Pas to the energy station. I took photos of textures and the environment. I went into the photoshoot knowing will want some panorama photos (will merge them in lightroom), so went to wide open spaces and took photos of the vast beach landscape. I tried to find interesting perspectives and objects to take photos of (e.g. using a worms eye view). I used a high f-stop to get more detail in every photo (foreground and background with be in focus). It was a cloudy day so I wouldn’t need to worry about the dynamic range of the photo, so I didn’t use the HDR method. I also used a low ISO level, but not too low as I did not have a tripod. I used the aperture priory setting in my camera so I can change the focal length, I kept it quite high for this to allow more focus in a larger range.

Above is the route I took, I went down a few more robust areas with less people and 60-90s architecture. Here are a few of my strongest photos, with the editing process.

photos 1

I didn’t edit this photo too much, only adding a B&W setting, with increased contrast, decreased highlights and whites, and increased texture. This was done to add a bit more depth to the image without making it too exciting as many of Robert Adams photos where ‘dead pan’, with little interest to most of them with a first look. The 3 main building’s in this image have very different architecture, making the final image look more ‘ugly’ and less pleasing to the eye. The building in the back especially draws the viewers eyes as its been built with little care and inspiration, only being made for its purpose.

Here is a picture of the power station, with leading lines from the pebbled road towards it. For editing these 2 photos, I didn’t do much except increase the contrast and decreased the whites , to make the clouds more visible. Since I was getting a lot of my reference from Robert Adams, who has a deadpan effect on lots of his images to show the ‘truth’, I didn’t want to make the image too dramatic.

Photo 2

Above I was inspired by Bernd and Hilla Becher’s photos, like the one below. They where well known for there topology photos and creating a form of photography arranged by type that, through repetition, encourages viewers to engage deeply with the formal qualities of the subject matter. Bernd and Hilla Becher aspired to direct the audience’s attention away from the photograph, emphasizing the content rather than light, perspective, or other artistic choices. So for these photos, I repeatedly took photos of a large tank, at different angles.

Other strong photos: