Mood Board

Henri Cartier-Bresson was a French photographer whose humane, spontaneous photographs helped establish photojournalism as an art form. He highly contributed to the formation of street photography and is most famous for capturing the ‘decisive moment‘. He first began with painting and art, especially Surrealism. However, his passion for photography grew in 1932. He then also went on to filmmaking. His style can be described as a ‘poetic documentary style’ and his photographs capture meaningful, mysterious and humorous moments which are hard to replicate but very inspirational for aspiring photographers.

The ‘decisive moment‘ results in the magical instant when the world falls into apparent order and meaning, this may be apprehended by a gifted photographer.

In the current day Henri Cartier Bresson’s work is held in multiple locations such as:

• The Museum of Modern Art in New York
• the Tel Aviv Museum of Art
• The National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa
• The Los Angeles County Museum of Art

How does Henri Cartier-Bresson view the activity of photography?

• Combine your head (intellectual abilities), your eye (vision), and heart (emotions) on the “same axis”
•  A photograph without emotion, meaning, or a message is a dead photograph

HE SAID TO ASK YOURSELF 3 QUESTIONS…

– What am I trying to say with this?

– What does this photograph mean to me?

– What emotions come forth in this image?

These three questions help to pre-plan and control the image you are going to take. By asking yourself what you are going to say and what emotions it is going to cause prevents it from being a ‘dead‘ photographs and provides it with meaning and depth, which is what Henri Cartier Bresson’s’ photos always consisted of.

My Favourite Quotes.

“For me the camera is a sketch book, an instrument of intuition and spontaneity, the master of the instant which, in visual terms, questions and decides simultaneously… It is by economy of means that one arrives at simplicity of expression.”

‘Street photography has helped me become more empathetic’

‘Street photography has helped me become more attuned to life’

‘Street photography forces me outside of my comfort zone’

‘Street photography has helped me appreciate the small things of everyday life’

These quotes help me to see Henri’s perspective of how he portrayed his work and how he truly felt when it came to street photography and how it helped him develop and eventually become a full-time career.

Photo Analysis.

Martine Frank-

This photo captures an unusual and interesting angle of Martine Frank. She was a Belgian photographer who was also a member of the Magnum Photos association alongside Cartier Bresson. Her work consisted of capturing the lives of children, women and elderly in their daily lives, and stayed clear of war photography and focused on the love and curiosity of the world and the people living in it. Bresson refused to crop or edit any of his photos as he believed his version was ‘enough‘. He said that photography was the question and also the answer, which is shown in the viewfinder of the camera. He also insisted that the camera is also just an extension of the photographers eye, hand and senses.

The photo consists of Cartier Bresson’s wife Martine poised on a smart couch whilst reading a book. This photo perfectly reflects the style of photography Martine specialised in as it romanticises the life of a woman in a glamourous and mysterious way.

In similarity..

These two images are highly similar and almost portray the relationship between Henri Cartier Bresson and Martine Franck. The two talented photographers were ‘keen observers of the world’. For example, Martine tended to photograph more community based portraits of people whereas Henri focused on vibrant and lively street photography.

In the first photo, Martine Franck is positioned elegantly whilst supposedly waiting for a train whilst majestically sipping a cup of tea and looking into the distance. In the second photo Cartier Bresson is positioned on a railing in Switzerland whilst dressed smartly and looking on into the distance. These two photos show similarities within each other and portray the different styles but equally talented approaches to photography and almost signify the pair as a couple through their work.

Moodboard:

Here is my mood board for my street photography in St Malo. This is my inspiration as I hope to capture people in their ‘own world’ with off guard photos of people not looking directly into the camera. I also incorporated both black and white photos, with colourful photos.

Whilst taking a trip to St Malo, I photographed many different people living their everyday lives in inspiration of Henri Cartier- Bresson. My approach was to photograph my subjects as soon as I see there is a photograph opportunity. This is in order to capture a perfect angle, moment and shot. I chose my favourite photos I took below, which I edited in Adobe Lightroom.

I took an array of photos both capturing photos in the style of Henri- Cartier Bresson in the idea of ‘candid photography’. This is by the subjects not knowing they are being photographed or not knowing when the camera is going to take a photo. Whilst exploring St Malo, I came across many different citizens and tourists which I could photograph. I attempted to use many different camera angles such as ‘hip- shots‘ where the photo is taken with the camera at the same level as my hip to capture a lower angle of the subject. I also used a ‘deadpan‘ angle which is a straight-on a style of photography which I used to capture subjects in a straightforward, unexpressive manner. This attempt and style of photography was challenging for me however, due to the fact I was walking and my subjects were also walking so many images came across as blurry.

Examples of Low Quality images I took using ‘hip-shots’ technique. That are not effective.

Black and White.

I like this photo as it shows the man crouching down on the street corner counting money. This is a raw image which I think is made meaningful in black and white. This man may have been pleading for money or busking to make money from passers by on the street.

I like these two photos I think that they look good side by side as it shows a typical tourist or citizen roaming the streets of France. I think the bright colours of her outfit and her black expression make the photo interesting and eye-catching.

Henri Cartier-Bresson Comparisons.

I like this photo because it is similar to Henri Cartier-Bresson’s as it is a man peering out the window with his hands out the window. I attempted to match the shades of black and white whilst editing on Lightroom. To improve on this image I would prefer to take this photo at a higher angle. I would also have liked if the person was holding a camera, or if the window was open.

This photo shows a person holding a camera and not looking directly at the camera and instead looking behind past the person who is taking the photo. The most direct contrast between these two photos is that it is a older male and a younger female

These photos are similar because there is people in the background of the image who are walking. However, the people are more clear in my image than in Henri Cartier-Bresson’s. The street also looks a lot more gloomy and mysterious in his photo with the buildings looking more scarce and the space looking more empty and morbid.

Further Analysis.

This comparison I find particularly meaningful because this shows the difference in outfit, expression and atmosphere from the 1900s- the present day. For example, the left image the man :

• Wearing skinny ripped jeans
• Shoulder bag
• Trainers
• Hoodie
• Holding a phone
• Earphones in

Whereas in the right image:

• A hat
• A long coat
• Umbrella

Naomi White is an feminist, artist, and educator and focuses on creating a message and addresses issues about political, gender and environmental matters. This photography component of her work explores the way plastic responds to touch. In extension to this, Nicki explored it weight, its surface and how every bag reacts and contracts differently.

I would like to replicate some of these images in the studio for an Anthropocene and Naomi White inspired photoshoot, I think these photos are very moving and display how plastics float in the sea, I also really like the blank background and how it contrasts and brings out the bright colours of the plastic bags. I think these photos may also be misconceived, this is because the object looks similar to a flower or something of beauty, whereas in real life the object is pollutive, dangerous and a killer. This factor gives these photos an edge and explores the beauty in something negative.

I think these photos are similar to photos of singular flowers such as roses, which also symbolize beauty. I find this particularly interesting because Naomi White is taking something basic and insignificant, and turning it into something beautiful.

I hope to replicate this photography style in the photography studio soon. For this I will need:

• Multiple plastic bags of different colours, weights and densities.
• A white background
• Blue tack or something sticky
• A camera

Plastic Bag Photoshoot.

To take these photos, I first set up a black piece of card, a black background and had a flash- head facing a stand, where I attached my plastic bags and then photographed it using a canon camera.

My Camera Settings.

This is my contact sheet of all the photos I have taken.

This is my favourite image I took as I think it looks very high quality image and I like the blue colour against the black background. I also removed all dust particles and small objects from the background which makes it looks like the bag is floating in the air which Is the idea is was aiming for.

For this photoshoot, I went into the studio and photographed various plastic bags that I found on the beach. These bags ranged from large, to small and old, to new. They also came in a range of colours. I used a camera, a light, and a stand to hold up my bags and photograph them with a black background to have solo shots of each one individually. I think this photoshoot went well, however to improve I would like to have a white background to match my photographer inspiration ‘Naomi White‘.

Comparisons:

I have created a virtual gallery edit on Photoshop of my Anthropocene photoshoot in the lighting studio. I chose these 3 images as they all have a black background and have 3 different colours of green, white and blue which shows the variety of plastics that can be found on Jersey’s beaches.

I edited these photos and chose this specific empty gallery image so that two of the photos are facing in and the main, larger images to be facing forwards so that It is the first main picture the eyes will look at.

I also created a virtual gallery on Photoshop of my AI adapted images on Photoshop. I wanted the two similar images to be the main focal point as it is the same image adapted in different ways to show two different perspectives and possibilities. I also included a direct comparison of a a waste filled beach which is a negative view of humans effects of the planet. This image then faces an image that is a green, improved road which is a positive view of humans effects on the planet.

I then have made another virtual gallery of three similar images from a photoshoot. These photos all incorporate bright colours so I decided to arrange them into 3 separate images in a line with the two single objects with a black background on the left and right, I then have put the colourful one filled with objects into the middle of the two.

I then have arranged my photos into an arrangement of all 3 in a row at different heights. This is due to the fact they are all slightly different sizes and will not fit in a uniform row on the gallery wall. I think these photos compliment each other very well as they are all slightly different but still very similar, this creates an interesting effect and looks strong.

My final virtual gallery captures two images I have already displayed in a virtual gallery but in a different arrangement and a different photo. I think this gallery as not as strong as the previous as the colourful photo on the left is not in the middle to balance out the picture. However, I wanted to experiment with different galleries for these particular images.

These images are the photos I have decided to put into the print folder and will mount onto black or white board for display.

A3 IMAGES.

I chose this image from my studio photoshoot of plastic bags I had collected from the beach. I think this image was my strongest photograph because the effect of the bag floating with no background apart from a plain black background creates a very vivid effect of how the bag would look floating in the sea. I also like how clear the image is and you can see the detail of the bag.

This photo was taken from my romanticism and the sublime section of this landscape project. I particularly think this image this into the sublime as the two people sat on the rock, from a high angle look very insignificant compared to the vast beautiful landscape behind them. I like the bright colours and think it would suit a white background to help bring out the colour even more.

A4 IMAGES.

These two image are some of the AI edits I made on Photoshop, this displays the possible effects of urbanisation, overpopulation and Anthropocene in Jersey and how it could affect the planet. I chose these two as they are some of the more realistic looking and stronger images I edited. I like these photos as I think they are effective in conveying the idea of human takeover becoming extremely transformative and dangerous for the earth.

This photo was from my Storm Ciaran photoshoot where I capture a fallen tree due to the storm. I really like the bright background and how the blues and yellows, and whites contrast with the dark browns and blacks of the tree, the roots are also an interesting component as it shows the age and time the tree was there for before being destroyed.

These three images are also part of the AI edits I have done on Photoshop. These photos will be arranged in the triptych order of ‘in a row’ in the order above and display Jersey in a more positive way.

1- Currently

2- Without cars and machinery

3- The road is replaced with a field and greenery

A5 IMAGES.

These photos I took on my Harve Des Pas photoshoot, where I captured images of the machinery in the relation to urbanised locations and new topographic. These photos I think would look strong in a triptych arrangement as they all tie in with a blue cloudy sky, grey machinery and a landscape camera shot.

Tourism has a huge affect on the environment and planet. Components consist of:

• Air Emissions
• Noise
• Solid waste and littering
• Releases of sewage, oil and chemicals,
• Architectural/visual pollution
• Heating
• Car use

According to sustainabletravel.org tourism is responsible for around 8% of the world’s carbon emissions. transportation is tourism’s main source of greenhouse gas emissions. Planes and cars generate the most CO2 per passenger mile, with tour buses, ferries, and trains following, this means that every individual that ravels, is contributing to Anthropocene around the world.

45 arrivals every second

There are over 1.4 billion tourists arriving at their destination every year. That’s 45 arrivals every single second.

Having people visiting a different place in the world, causes the depletion of local natural resources, pollution and waste problems. Tourism also adds on huge stress onto local land use, this can lead to the erosion of soil and therefore increase pollution. There are also habitats lost and the likelihood of poaching increased, which affects non endangered and endangered species.

Spanish Mass Tourism.

Mass tourism to the Spanish costa’s has been occurring for a long time. Millions of tourists have been coming to Spain every year since the 1960s. Due to the constant restoration, construction and replenishment of new hotels and resorts, many destinations along the Spanish coast are beginning to be affected by horizon pollution. Due to the fact, there are rows and rows of apartments resorts and hotels that are packed on these coastlines, front accommodations have a sea view. However, the outdated apartments and hotels tent to attract young tourists that want an affordable place to stay, this does not positively impact the environment due to the large and high scale amount of young travellers.

Impacts.

Throughout Mallorca, there is a higher amount of water that is extracted from underground to provide for tourism, than there is generated by rainfall. Also, due to the proximity of the ocean there is a large amount of salt water that makes its way into the soil ad therefore ends up in this groundwater. There is also a substantial amount of plastic being produced in these areas, due to suitable drinking water for tourists being constantly produced. There is also a huge scale of disposable and one time use plastics, constantly being imported from other countries in order to cater for tourist needs, which affects the environment by not recycling these products, and the transport it takes to arrive to their destination. A tourist produces 50% more waste than a local resident. According to the internet a Spanish citizen uses around 250 litres of water per day, however, tourists use an average of 900 litres of water per day due to activities such as swimming, drinking water and hygiene reasons. This is a substantial difference as these areas are already suffering from the scarcity of water. The waste water from hotels and other tourist facilities is also not handled well: this is dumped into the sea a few kilometres from the coast.

To prevent this, businesses and companies must focus on building their accommodations along clear environmental lines, water purification, prioritizing positive waste disposal, environmentally friendly public transport.

In a coastal town in Mallorca, named Calviá their is around 11 million overnight stays per year. This huge tourism rate deems them a mass scale tourism hotspot. Due to this huge populatiry, Calviá must stay attractive and interesting to tourists, the government must take extra measures and care to ensure of this. For example as Calviá is so highly attended, the government have ensured there are 5 different water treatment plans so that their seawater stays as clean as possible. There is also blue flags along beaches which represents that it is environmentally friendly. Older, traditional and less popular hotels are no longer being demolished to be replaced by expensive and luxurious resorts, only to attract more tourists. This means that an effort is being made to restore nature and the Balearic Islands are striving for a more environmentally friendly approach to tourism to prevent Anthropocene.

Photoshoot Mood board.

This mood board represents what I would like to display in my photoshoot. Whilst visiting Spain I intend to do 1 or 2 photoshoots, on tourism in the country and how it affects the wellbeing of people and the planet. I hope to visit locations such as streets, beaches, hotels, shopping areas and other densely populated areas in order to capture a raw, authentic visual representation of what goes on throughout the year and the waste, overcrowding and increasing carbon footprints that take place. These photos will display both people and landscapes on how they have been altered from human activity and tourists. I hope these will create an effect on how large of a difference is made from ‘seemingly meaningless’ everyday habits such as throwing litter on the floor, wasting water and travelling in a convenient but not helpful way.

Underwater Photos.

I also hope to get some underwater photos using a waterproof case in order to capture the overpopulation, decrease in coral reefs, rising sea levels and floating waste in the ocean.

For this project, I learnt a lot and gained lots of knowledge on what Anthropocene ‘actually is’ and the true deeper meaning beyond the definition. I think the most interesting and informative part was the artist research I did and also going out to take my own photos to see Anthropocene actually taking place in the Island I live on. Overall I created 5 photoshoots of different sizes during this project From visiting beaches, in the studio and in the parish I live in. I think my most successful photoshoot I completed was the school trip to Havre des Pas where I could take around 220 photos capturing multiple elements of Anthropocene in the natural and urban landscapes Jersey. I also created a successful photoshoot in the lighting studio at school and photographed single items of rubbish I had collected at the beach. I liked this photoshoot a lot because the fully black background make the object look like it was floating which looks especially effective.

Another photoshoot I did was of the rubbish I found around the area I live in. I set myself a task of walking around for 15 minute and attempting to photograph every piece of rubbish I came across, this was time consuming and a lot of effort as there was a huge amount of rubbish. However, I really think I could’ve succeeded more with this photoshoot as many of the photos were low quality and blurry, which I was unable to use. To improve on this next time, I need to take more time to take a photo and have a steady hand in order to have higher quality image.

My favourite part of this entire topic in Photography was using Ai and generative fill on Photoshop. I found it really interesting to analyse my images and decide what I wanted to add into my image to make it overly dramatic or do the opposite and strip back all urbanisation and industrialisation in the photos I had created. I enjoyed particularly adding buildings and hotels etc into my images to show a realistic and possible way the Island could be contributing to Anthropocene in the future as it is a tourist orientated destination and may soon struggle with overpopulation, resulting in more accommodation spots needing to be built in order to house them.

My favourite artist/ photographer to learn about and research through this project was Naomi White. This is because I found these images would be challenging but manageable to attempt to replicate. Nicki’s work explored the different weights, materials and thickness of plastic bags she would find and how every bag reacts and contracts differently. I found that although this idea seems basic and uninteresting, if photographed the correct way, these images can become beautiful, vibrant and almost angelic as the white background makes them look even more minimal and simplistic. To improve on my take on her would, I would choose o next time use a white background, although black was the only one available. This would have brightened up my images and made them look more similar to hers.

I displayed all my final images using foam boards and window mounts to arrange them into collections of either one, two or three photo arrangements. I also produced and printed images in either A3, A4 or A5 to have a variation of different sizes and shapes to all be slightly different. I struggled with creating a realistic and high quality window mount but eventually succeeded. I attempted to take special care when choosing which images I wanted to group or pair together and which arrangement to put them in as I think this is an essential element when pre-planning my mounting up.

Chris Jordan’s main focus on mass consumption is extremely intriguing when it comes to the population and its consumptions, and how they negatively affect the earth. He also created a piece of work called “Intolerable Beauty: Portraits of American Mass Consumption,” this work includes different landfills and recycling points and how all different disposed items are placed. He also then placed these objects into different structures and arrangements in order to create beautiful abstractions. This creates a satisfying and oddly amusing images with the shocking reality of waste plants and the disposal of rubbish and waste. These unusual images display huge amounts of large items such as car tyres, cars and landfill sites on a huge scale. Another piece of work named “Running the Numbers,” is particularly disturbing, heart-breaking where Chris Jordan includes waste statistics into multiple images. This also included photographs which are particularly ‘disturbing’ but also necessary to help spread awareness for the issues and dangers which are created just from human contribution to the world. These images will be extremely challenging and difficult to make however, I will attempt to replicate a similar image whilst

“Midway”

“Camel Gastrolith”

These two projects are particularly meaningful and touching as they display the victims of our actions. In Midway, the carcasses of baby albatross’ are scattered with their insides polluted with plastics such as bottle caps, lighters, and other single use plastics. This is extremely graphic to see and shows the severity and ferocity of human actions.

that show the affects of projects that draw our attention to the innocent victims of our excess. We see the carcass of a baby albatross, its gut filled with plastic caps, lighters and other lethal plastic objects. We see the stomach contents of a dead camel, comprised of over 500 plastic bags, along with plastic, glass and metal debris. Throughout his work, Jordan reveals the harrowing consequences of our daily choices and the urgent need to make a change.

Chris Jones Inspired Experimentation.

I did a very quick photoshoot to display and experiment with how I could display all objects I find whilst looking for stray rubbish on the floor. I used a black piece of paper in the background and I used objects such as calculators, brushes, glue sticks and pens in a separated arrangement which I could use for the litter I come across.

For this mini photoshoot I focused on photographing singular objects on the ground. This was to practice further with Chris Jordan inspired work. I decided to photograph these objects individually and not all pieced together, next time I would like to photograph all these objects arranged in a similar arrangement to what I practiced.

Photoshop.

I created this in Photoshop using the quick selection tool and this took a lot of layers to create. I cut the images out using the tool and then reordered created a layer copy to erase the background image and keep the selected area, I then arranged them into a variation of images to create this picture.

I attempted to use the AI function on Photoshop to generate images that replicate a world, before, during and after the affects humans have had on earth. I found this project particularly interesting using the ‘generative fill’ setting. I found this component of the topic particularly interesting and fun to do as I was bale to use my creativity and imagination to generate anything I wanted onto an image using photoshop. This was a very useful tool for me to learn how to further use Photoshop and expand my editing skills. I focused on adding things such as trees, buildings, people and rubbish into photos to create both negative and positive approaches.

To do this, I first of all entered an image I took at Harve Des Pas beach.

I selected a part of the image I wanted editing, I did this using the rectangular marquee tool.

I then pressed generative ill and typed ‘smoke’ this was to make the building look like there is smoke and pollution coming out and leaking into the clouds.

I also then added some hotels around It to show the development of overpopulation and the building of urban areas around natural landscapes.

I also then added some scattered rubbish onto the beach, as I believe the takeover of plastics will massively increase.

BEFORE: AFTER:

Here is my side by side before and after of my image edited and unedited. Although this is a far-fetched image of the affects of Anthropocene, I believe this could be the negative effects on Earth if humans were to continue with their contribution to the danger of anthropocene etc.

In this image I decided to darken the mountain and rock slightly to show how the air has been affected due to gases and pollution in the air. I also then added 3 wind turbines using Photoshop and also then added some rubbish and plastic looking waste into the ocean, however, I think that this image would’ve looked stronger and more realistic without it.

BEFORE: AFTER:

I also used AI to make this original image on the (left photo) to make it look like it is on fire. This I think worked well and signifies global warming and forest fires taking place. I think this quite a high quality image as it looks quite realistic.

BEFORE: AFTER:

Here is another AI image I generated to display deforestation and forest fires due to human activity. I like this image apart from a section that could be improved.

This section I think brings down the quality of my image and makes it look unrealistic. However, In future this could be prevented by choosing another of the options that Photoshop provides.

I also had this image which I added hotels, houses and buildings to. I did not want to go too overboard with my edits and lower the quality of the image by making it look unrealistic.

I also then added a road to this identical image, I think this road adds another extra element to the picture as there was originally a dirt path which has been modernised by a road for cars.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

I decided to just add a few more buildings to this image to make it even more urbanised than it currently is. I also then added some litter and plastic to look like its been washed up from the sea, this incorporates both extra buildings and rubbish washed up on the beach. This image then signifies pollution as well as urbanisation, which are two top contributors to Anthropocene.

This image is of Beauport bay and I decided to add some more people in and add lots of very far fetched large hotels and houses to show a beautiful beach that has been very urbanised. I think this image looks semi-realistic but not overly realistic as the hotels look very AI generated.

BEFORE:

I took this photo of the road at Havre Des Pas in order to show the Island in its current element and how there is a balance of industrialisation with natural landscapes.

AFTER:

For this photo I decided to remove most urbanised parts, aside from the road, all cars, buses, fences and industrial machines to show a more minimal landscape without humans and show what ‘could be’ in an idealised world. This photo demonstrates positive effects of Anthropocene and how tranquil and healthy the Island could become again.

I then also decided to take a step further and remove the road, and include a field, this is to show an even more idealised area that would be environmentally positive and ideal. The greenery and natural landscape I have added into the photo shows a perfect Jersey. However, to further improve this photo I would like to have removed the houses and buildings in the back of the photo, this would have made it even more realistic.

These are images I took on a short walk along St John’s. This is the rubbish I came along on a 15 minute walk, this signifies the amount of plastics and waste that is discarded along the way. I found this photoshoot particularly meaningful because it established how much waste and litter is easily discarded throughout the world. And although the island is seen as predominantly tranquil and clean, such ease to find rubbish and discarded single use plastics

Allotments In Jersey.

Allotments are small parcels of land rented to grow fruits, vegetables and plants. These small areas are a cost effective way for families and citizens to produce fruit and vegetables for their household. these allotments, with the proper care, have the ability to produce enough fruit and veg throughout the whole year. Another use for these patches of land include beekeeping and the inhabitancy of rabbits and hens. However, when these allotments disappear or are removed, the wildlife loses their precious habitats, this poses as a threat for the wildlife. Although, many different forms of plants thrive in allotments, which creates a positive impact and creates a habitat to different species. Different waste materials also pollute the soil and can cause the contamination of the crop growing soil.

I think this photoshoot, shows the importance of humans’ contribution to the helping of the planet and positively benefiting the planet. To improve on this photoshoot, I could go into more detail and get closer to the components of each allotment in order to show the small efforts people are willing to go to.

• You can grow and eat your own food

• Allotments encourage exercise and benefit mental health

• Allotments create a sense of community

• Allotments improve the environment

• Allotments are beneficial to wildlife

I found this area specifically interesting because it displays humans attempting to make a difference and provide for themselves whilst being environmentally friendly and avoiding purchasing ground grown goods from supermarkets.

These photos are also a contribution to my Anthropocene project, these are templates for my AI images where I will create fake realities with the hills, beaches and seas filled with buildings, pollution and urbanisation. These were taken in St John and overlook the beaches below. These are currently very plain landscape which has been untouched by humans apart from aspects such as: