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 However, the outdated apartments and hotels tent to attract young tourists that want an affordable place to stay, this does not positively impact the environment due to the large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:

I have made a mind map in order to create ideas. I incorporated different factors including the different causes, effects, human causes and the different gases that are produced. These consist of the different causes and their caused effects such as:

• Greenhouse gases
• War
• Transportation

This mind map helps me to plan ahead for my photoshoots, and what different factors I can focus on whilst photographing my Anthropocene related images. for example:

After researching about rising sea levels and ice caps melting, I am able to further understand human’s contribution to Anthropocene and global warming.

Idea 1.

I would like to photograph Jersey from a high angle to represent how urbanisation has taken over the natural landscapes and resulted in a world, full of cars and buildings. I think these photos will also show. I am going to create images in densely populated areas, where there is lots of people, technology and buildings, next to areas that look similar, which are deserted, filled with natural elements and demonstrate humans impact. My locations for my urban areas will be based on areas such as St Helier, Town, St Aubin. And my locations for my natural landscape will be St Ouen, St John, St Mary and places that are mostly untouched by humans. Having two photos side by side with a similar shape e.g.

• A straight path
• A winding road
• An upwards view
• A low angle view

This with help the viewer to get a direct view of what the earth would be like if it was untouched by humans compared to the destruction we have already caused. This conveys a powerful message bout Anthropocene with relating to technology and human activity.

PERSPECTIVES-

Play on words by discovering multiple angles and perspectives, whilst also discussing the different perspectives on views when it comes to global warming and Anthropocene, e.g. disbelief and conspiracy theorists.

These images are some examples of work I would like to replicate in my photoshoot.

Photoshoot Idea 2

For this photoshoot, I would like to photograph simple emissions into the atmosphere, that affect the earth more than we realize. I feel these side by side comparisons (diptych) with create a meaningful message on how the earth is meant to be and how it has been transformed. One side filled with trees, plants and natural landscapes, compared to urban buildings and light will create an impactful picture which will make further meaning come across.

Earth warming main contributors:

Burning petrol when we drive.

Burning oil or gas for home heating.

Incorrectly disposing of rubbish.

Food waste.

Deforestation.

Using electricity generated from coal, natural gas, and oil.

Travelling via boat or plane.

There are many household objects that are bad for the environment such as:

• Tea Bags – Wet Wipes

• Plastic straws – Suncream

• Chopsticks – Laundry Detergent

• Microbeads – Toothpaste

• Razors – Cigarettes

• Coffee – Exfoliating face wash

• Glue – Hairspray

• Light bulbs – Mattresses

• Sandwich Bags – Bleach

• Hand Gel – Cleaning sprays

I would like to photograph these items and edit them in photoshop to create an array of images of simple waste item which build up into long-term issues.

Photoshop Idea.

I would also like to work in Photoshop, to display images similar to these. By using different lines, shapes and icons, I want to to represent the waves, radiation and air pollution caused from technology. To replicate this, I need to find a high up area for an angle what is looking down from above, this area would also have to be densely populated with lots of houses, buildings and roads. I think this would be a good idea to be able to convey the invisible elements of Anthropocene caused by technology and explore its effects. For this I will use generative fill and Ai on Adobe Photoshop to achieve this effect. I want my images to represent all the waves and radiation that are being used constantly through the world and especially in highly populated areas with lots of roads, cars, workplaces and leisure locations.

Experimentation with Ai.

Here is a mood board I created on how I see Anthropocene through images. This demonstrates what I think are the biggest contributors, effects and components of this topic. I included explosions, ice, fossils, buildings, humans helping out, waste dump sites and oil spills.

The word Anthropocene describes a geological period of time, where human activity has actively began to create a negative impact on the environment.

Different causes of Anthropocene consist of:

• Agriculture

• Urbanisation

• Deforestation

• Pollution

Anthropocene has been huge contributor to the development of Earth that an organisation named The International Commission on Stratigraphy is in need of identifying the ‘Golden Spike’ which would be a direct point in fossil records where the transition from Holocene from the Anthropocene can be located. It is said that this direct shift will have to be so significant that it would be detectable in rock layers thousands or millions of years into the future.

Some believe that Anthropocene began in the 1800s, which was a huge period of time for human activity to affect the planet. These large-scale productions that took place, were due to the making/growth of mines, factories and mills. However, some also say that it began earlier, during the period where farming and agriculture dominated the land. In the 1950’s, nuclear weapons cast radioactive elements across Earth. The debris and remains from these weapons, made its way and was absorbed into rocks, trees and the atmosphere. This absorbance would be a direct indicator of when the ‘Golden Spike’ took place.

The  long-term shifts in temperatures and weather patterns of climate change results in a difference in that snow and rainfall patterns, it also affects average temperatures increase and extreme weather events such as heat waves or floods to occur more frequently.

Biodiversity.

Biological Diversity is a word to describe the the variety of life on Earth, this range varies from humans to small organisms. People on Earth need biodiversity to live, this means that all different elements in the large natural system, enables everyone to survive. Nature also plays an important part as components such as fresh air, clean water and animals and plants around us for breathing and food. However, throughout Earth, biodiversity is struggling, extinction and deforestation, are resulting in the world facing a dangerous future and even things like species becoming extinct can be fatal. Biodiversity loss is predominately down to human activity, and interrupting of the balance of biodiversity with the take over of farms, factories, roads, cities, buildings and homes are replacing natural habitats.

Anthropocene definition according to The United Nations of Photography- The Anthropocene is a 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. 

Mitch Epstein.

Mitch Epstein is an American photographer who approaches his subjects with a subtle and contemplative approach to photography which questions what it means to be American. He has been photographing since the 70s and 80s.

American Power (2003–2007)

investigate specific places. Epstein’s project American Power (2003–2007), critically documents society’s relationship to the industrial landscape. “I would say the culture of the built environment is always something that has engaged my attention.”

I fid Mitch Epstein’s work particularly interesting because he photographs meaningful pictures which captivate the audience and displays the world within the industrial landscape and how the world is changing. This is very meaningful and shows a true perspective on the world and how it change and continues to change due to human’s contribution to the world.

 Naoya Hatakeyama’s work portrays human intervention with landscapes of the world with and natural materials e.g. the life of cities and the built environment. His work mostly encircles the topics of nature, the city and photography.

His first proper piece of work was Lime Hills- which was a collection of images of limestone quarries throughout Japan. He described the experience as “my appreciation of its cityscapes underwent a subtle change.” due to the fact he came to realisation that Japan was a land of limestones. These are some photos of his limestone photographs from 1986-1990

My Favourites and Why.

I particularly like this photo of Yonesakisho-Donomae which was taken in 2011, this captures the havoc that was caused by The Great East Japan earthquake, and was recorded as the largest ever earthquake in the country. This earthquake killed 20,000 people and causes 10,000 people to be homeless, I feel this is particularly inspiring as Hatakeyama’s photograph captures a completely submerged home, surrounded by waste and wood, this shows the severity of the situation and shows a direct approach on how it affected the residents lives. There is also a boat of people (4), who are seen to be travelling across the wreckage, they could possibly be looking for people, transporting or seeing the damage that has been caused.

URBAN LANDSCAPES PHOTOSHOOT.

Potential Locations to Photograph.

• Front doors on the street
• Cracks in the pavement
• Puddles with bright reflections
• Fences and walls
• Stairs
• Colours of all the cars in the supermarket car park
• Telegraph poles viewed from below
• Cars driving on the road in the rain
• Industrial structures
• Tall lit up structures and buildings

My Naoya Hatakeyama Inspired Photoshoot.

“The question ‘is this a work of art or not?’ is not very interesting for us.” – BERND AND HILLA BECHER

Bernd And Hilla Becher are a husband and wife duo from Germany who decided to photograph architectural forms which they named “anonymous sculptures”. They photographs many structures such as:

• Water towers

• Coal silos

• Blast furnaces

• Lime kilns

• Grain elevators

• Preparation plants

• Oil refineries

• Coal bunkers

• Winding towers

• Breakers (ore, coal, stone)

• Steel mills

• Factory facades

They named their works ‘typologies’ which represented their collections of grouped images in small symmetrical squares. They categorized these photos by the buildings functions. An example of their signature image of smaller photographs which have been grouped together:

Their work can be seen as conceptual art, and took place over course of 40 years. Their chapters all contributed to different structures and were all organised due to typologies and are laid out into 12 images into a uniform arrangement. There is over 1500 different images,, and they have received many famous awards such as:

• The Golden Lion
• -The 1990 Venice Biennal
• The 2002 Erasmus Award

I find Bernd and Hilla Becher’s particularly interesting because their work is most definitely minimal and conceptual, which sets their work aside from other artists, as they focus on one main object taking up the majority of the picture, rather than multiple objects being the subject of a photo.