Ideas
Idea No.1
My first idea for this project was based around the biodiversity of the natural planet and how the presence of mankind decreases the diversity of nature. The inspiration behind this idea came from watching a documentary about the Galapagos islands, where they talked about how the recent presence of a tourist attraction had stopped certain species from evolving, namely finches. This was because, with humans being present the difficulty of finding and sourcing food decreased, as they could get what they needed from what had been dropped on the floor, therefore the evolutionary chain had been stopped.
Additionally, I was concerned about the negative impact that the human race have wielded on the planet since
Additionally, I was concerned about the negative impact that the human race have wielded on the planet since
Another reason why I wanted to base my project on this was because in previous centuries the world was a much more diverse and beautiful place, but because of the increase in population of humans, nature has suffered extremely from: over-fishing, over-farming, pollution and the vast expanses of land controlled by mankind. Nevertheless, I felt that the images I could produce with the places I had to offer would not have been as strong as I would have wanted. As a repercussion of this realisation, I have decided not to follow this idea throughout my project. However, I will endeavour to find a way to interlink it with my final idea.
Idea No.2
Another idea I had was how the human race has demolished beautiful landscapes by building vile factories, cities and buildings within them, as well as taking down vast forests, to make way for other building developments. I was inspired by this idea from how the natural beauty of the world is being destroyed by people wanting to make money at any cost and not caring what suffers in the long term. Like my other idea, I was not overly sure that the images I could produce with the places I had at my disposal would create truly strong images, as this is not a big problem in the south west of England, due to the fact that a large part of the county is protected as a national park.
I feel that this idea will be a lot more achievable than my previous ideas, as, not only is it a current issue, it is also easier for me to find places near to me that are affected by large amounts of waste and pollution. For example, the stretch of coast where the sea birds were washed up (the south west) is easily accessible to me, not to mention the fact that I am passionate about the increase of waste and how nature is suffering at the hands of the human race. I also believe that I could interlink this idea with my other two ideas, due to this being such a widespread problem that affects so many different things.
However, I had another idea as to how to capture and present my work. I felt that one of the reasons that people don't care enough about what is going on around them is because they don't realise the beauty that surrounds them. Therefore, instead of just showing harrowing pictures I wanted to show a complete contrast between the beauty and the waste. On one hand I would have the dark, sharp pictures of waste and pollution and on the other, photographs of beautiful scenery and landscapes.
In doing this I hoped to portray what beauty there is in the world, both landscapes and wildlife and how waste and pollution is destroying this beauty. I hope that people do not get distracted from the point I am trying to make by simply comparing them as some nice pictures and some disgusting pictures. Another idea regarding the layout of my photographs, that is still in keeping with showing the waste and beautiful landscapes as separate pictures, is, instead of having the images separate, to combine them. By having the waste within the shots of the beautiful landscapes, this conveys more convincingly that waste and pollution are destroying these places of beauty. For example, if one of my shoots was on a beach I would collect as much rubbish as I possibly could and arrange it so that it is blocking and/or dominating the photograph, thus detracting from the real beauty within the photograph and focusing more heavily on the waste.
What I hoped to convey in these images was a sense of waste enveloping the surroundings, to give a feeling that the waste was taking over. I wanted to try out both HDR and Fuji 120 colour transparency film. The reason behind this was that I wanted to see the effect given by the Fuji colour transparency film, as the images produced are usually full of colour, which will help to emphasise the point I am making.
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The reason for me wanting to use film over HDR is because I believe that HDR is the easy way to create a strong, punchy photograph. Whereas film, on the other hand, allows you to create something that is different and experimental. I believe this is the best way to grab someone's attention by showing them something they have never seen before.
After reading into this it inspired me to go there as it is a prime example of waste and pollution problems that are near me. I also wanted to capture an industrial landscape to show the true disgusting nature of these highly polluted societies. I wanted to make sure that my images were as bleak and grungy as possible, because I am not aiming to create images that are glorifying what is there, like Andy Hughes' work. Andy Hughes' work on rubbish on the beaches, as seen in my example to the left, really takes the issue of waste out of context and adds a sort of beauty to it.
I feel this work is counter-productive as it takes a serious disgusting issue that is affecting the world and dumbs it down to make it look like art work.
The photographer whose work I would like to emulate is that of Edward Burtynsky. The reason for this is because he captures the scale and impact of industrialisation and removes any beauty from it, focussing entirely on the destruction and how it is slowly taking over.
I hoped to incorporate parts of his style into my own work by making sure my images were solely focused around the industrial element and the sheer size of it.
Because I wanted to make my images void of any beauty I needed to think of what time of day the shoot would take place. Looking at Burtynsky's work I noticed that the majority of his shots looked as if they were shot on overcast days. However, it is hard to be sure of this, due to the fact that the sky does not play much of a role in his photographs, as his main point of focus is the span of the industrial landscape. This is one of the ways that my images will differ from his, as I intend to use the sky to add to the mood created within my photos.
For this shoot I chose an overcast, rainy day because the rain is associated with sad feelings, which is what I hoped my images would evoke. I had concerns as I would be using digital equipment that was not weather sealed. Nonetheless, I believed that by using an umbrella to shield the camera whilst I took the pictures would allow me to get through the shoot without damaging any equipment.
When shooting I wanted to capture the expanse of this industrialisation right on the edge of the sea. To ensure that I had a wider focal length to capture the span of this industrialised landscape, I chose a 10-20mm wide angle lens, as well as the standard 18-55mm, in case I needed to home in on a few minor details that were too distant to capture with the other lens. I also planned to bring a 180mm Macro lens in case there was visible pollution in the water that would require a lens capable of getting a close-up shot without me having to hang over the edge of the harbour. A tripod was key for this shoot, as I wanted to capture as much detail in the landscape as possible by shooting on a small aperture and a low ISO to avoid the increase of noise during the post-production stage of converting it to HDR. Because of the rain I chose not to bracket my images there and instead do that in Camera RAW to shorten the time spent in the rain with the equipment. I did not feel the need to use any filters because it was raining and this would simply add to likelihood of the equipment being damaged.
Shoreham
Another place I chose to visit was Shoreham, because it is home to a 3.1km sewage pipe that stretches all the way out into the English Channel. It also has a large array of industrial complexes situated alongside a stretch of coastline, that have resulted in the demise of a once habitable beach. Yet again I knew about Shoreham from when I lived in Brighton. Shoreham is well known in the south east for its poor sewage treatment and highly polluted waters. After deciding to visit Shoreham to photograph how this beach has suffered at the hands of these industries placed right behind it, I looked further into the extent of Shoreham's sewage problem. I came across a few news articles about a couple of incidents resulting in around forty million litres of raw sewage being discharged into the English Channel. I found out that when this happened other beaches had warning signs telling people about the fact that water was not safe. However, at Shoreham there were no warning signs, meaning that people were bathing in heavily polluted water without a clue. During my research I also came across reports by Surfers Against Sewage (SAS), who are trying to ensure the proper treatment of sewage in each and every place like Shoreham.
This photograph demonstrates how I want to layout my image. Even though it was not shot by a professional photographer, I still feel it bears a strong impact and similarity to what I am hoping to depict with my photographs. For example, I wish to show how the industries of Shoreham are imposing on the coastline and adding to the pollution of the sea. Like this image, I hope to make the industry and sewage pipe the focus within the photos and the beach just background around them. In doing this I aim to show people that these industries and the precariousness of where they are situated is not only an eye-sore but ruining one of the main beauties in the world.
Unlike my Newhaven shoot I wanted to capture some beauty in the picture, yet still keep the industries and the sewage pipe prominent as they were my main focus. I framed the pictures so that the sewage pipe or the power station was in the middle of the photograph and took up the majority of the frame, so that all attention was on them. I also wanted to give the impression that they were overcrowding the beach and suffocating the beauty. In order to ensure that there was still some beauty within the photograph I decided to plan a shoot at sunrise on a sunny day to capture the colours of the sky, not to mention that the texture is greater than when the sun is higher in the sky. Due to the positioning of Shoreham and the time of year when the sun rises, it was shining on the storm drain so it created a stronger tonal range. The equipment that I used was the same as the Newhaven shoot, eg, 10-20mm wide angle lens, 18-55mm and a 180mm Macro for close-up shots of visibly polluted water. However, as it was not raining and the weather was nice and sunny I decided to use graduated neutral density filters to give the images a perfect exposure in both the sky and the foreground. Obviously, I also used a tripod as I intend to do for every other shoot I do for this project.
Like this picture, I want to keep my image looking bleak, dark and grim. To ensure that my image is in keeping with this, I plan on shooting in the early morning on an overcast day when there is little light and a melancholic sky.
The beach I intend to visit is Bantham, because it was one of the beaches that failed its water safety inspection and is close to where I live. Another reason why I wanted to shoot in the early morning was because the tide will be out so more rubbish will be on the beach, having been freshly washed up.
I was also inspired by Chris Jordan's work on dead sea birds that have begun to rot. with the plastic that they have ingested still remaining. I was inspired by this shoot as it covers the same topic as my work, even though his is not staged and mine will be.
This body of work really got me thinking about what I could do for my final piece and gave me many ideas, one of them being this.
Just like all of my other shoots, I used a 10-20mm wide-angle lens to get all of the fish in the shot, a 18-55mm for getting a little bit closer and finally a 105/180mm Macro lens for close-up shots of each fish. I did not use a tripod for the majority of the shots as the fish were placed on the floor. For these shots I needed to take them hand-held while I was positioned on the floor. Nonetheless, I was able to find some flat rocks that I used to rest the camera on to keep it stable, thus maximising the amount of detail in the photograph. For the close-up shots using the Macro lens I used a tripod, as places lacking detail are more noticeable. A remote shutter release came in handy for the macro shots as they further reduced camera shake.
Idea No.3
My third and final idea is one focusing on a very current problem in the environment that affects every single part of the world, namely the increase in waste and pollution and how it is affecting both wildlife and the climate. What inspired me to go down this route was the recent disastrous event where hundreds of dead sea birds were washed up a long a two-hundered mile stretch of coast, coated in a substance called polyisobutene (PIB), which is usually used to make ships' engines work more efficiently. After I had heard about this, I wanted to base my project around how waste and pollution is destroying the world and everything in it.
I feel that this idea will be a lot more achievable than my previous ideas, as, not only is it a current issue, it is also easier for me to find places near to me that are affected by large amounts of waste and pollution. For example, the stretch of coast where the sea birds were washed up (the south west) is easily accessible to me, not to mention the fact that I am passionate about the increase of waste and how nature is suffering at the hands of the human race. I also believe that I could interlink this idea with my other two ideas, due to this being such a widespread problem that affects so many different things.
Overall Decision
I have concluded that for my project I am going to use my third idea, as I believe it to be far more suitable. When choosing this idea, I had to be cognisant of the limitations imposed by the inaccessibility to more appropriate geographical locations, together with the obvious time constraints, necessarily limiting myself to working within what I could realistically achieve. To this end, I identified certain factors such as locations and themes that would be practical for my project, one of these being what story would I be telling through my photographs and what would they be showing. Firstly, I thought to go down the route of using shock and awe to my advantage, by taking very dark images focusing on vast amounts of waste and/or dead wildlife that are covered in waste, making them extremely sharp, detailed and grotesque, so that I can show how disgusting and harmful waste truly is.However, I had another idea as to how to capture and present my work. I felt that one of the reasons that people don't care enough about what is going on around them is because they don't realise the beauty that surrounds them. Therefore, instead of just showing harrowing pictures I wanted to show a complete contrast between the beauty and the waste. On one hand I would have the dark, sharp pictures of waste and pollution and on the other, photographs of beautiful scenery and landscapes.
In doing this I hoped to portray what beauty there is in the world, both landscapes and wildlife and how waste and pollution is destroying this beauty. I hope that people do not get distracted from the point I am trying to make by simply comparing them as some nice pictures and some disgusting pictures. Another idea regarding the layout of my photographs, that is still in keeping with showing the waste and beautiful landscapes as separate pictures, is, instead of having the images separate, to combine them. By having the waste within the shots of the beautiful landscapes, this conveys more convincingly that waste and pollution are destroying these places of beauty. For example, if one of my shoots was on a beach I would collect as much rubbish as I possibly could and arrange it so that it is blocking and/or dominating the photograph, thus detracting from the real beauty within the photograph and focusing more heavily on the waste.
What I hoped to convey in these images was a sense of waste enveloping the surroundings, to give a feeling that the waste was taking over. I wanted to try out both HDR and Fuji 120 colour transparency film. The reason behind this was that I wanted to see the effect given by the Fuji colour transparency film, as the images produced are usually full of colour, which will help to emphasise the point I am making.
.
The reason for me wanting to use film over HDR is because I believe that HDR is the easy way to create a strong, punchy photograph. Whereas film, on the other hand, allows you to create something that is different and experimental. I believe this is the best way to grab someone's attention by showing them something they have never seen before.
Idea Development
After rethinking my idea for my photographs of capturing the beautiful landscape being destroyed by the waste, I decided to make my images as hard hitting as I possibly could. The reason for this is because it is summer time and therefore most beaches will not be coated in rubbish as they will have been cleaned in preparation for the summer season. Instead I planned on documenting the issue, stretching all the way from the south east industrial coast, to the south west's highly polluted coast. I planned on capturing both of these differently, yet still keeping the same message. For the south east I wanted to capture the vast industrialised landscapes and demonstrate how they are marring the natural beauty of the coastline. With the south west, on the other hand, I wanted to set the scene instead of photographing what was actually there. For instance, one shoot I had thought about doing was to get hold of a bunch of fish heads from a local fishmonger and take them to the beach and then cover them in rubbish that I found washed up on the shore. In doing this I hoped to highlight how this vast amount of waste is causing extensive suffering to the wildlife.
Shoot Planning
Newhaven
I decided to use Newhaven as a destination for one of my shoots, because it is home to a large industrial landscape, filled with sewage plants, power stations, scrap heaps and many other construction or dump sites. I knew of Newhaven as I remembered it from when I used to live in Brighton. I came across an article that jogged my memory of what Newhaven was like. The news article reported in 'The Argus' was on the worrying levels of air pollution that have been found in Newhaven. The upsurge in pollution in the air was being blamed on the increase of cars and congested roads around and in Newhaven. The article stated that, "Nearly, 70,000 vehicles a day travel through Newhaven's gyratory. Levels of nitrogen oxide found there, ..., are higher than safe". A rise like this in pollution can be associated with a large amount of deaths. People with breathing problems or illnesses can be badly affected due to the exposure. In a long-term exposure to such polluted air, life expectancy can be reduced.
Andy Hughes
After reading into this it inspired me to go there as it is a prime example of waste and pollution problems that are near me. I also wanted to capture an industrial landscape to show the true disgusting nature of these highly polluted societies. I wanted to make sure that my images were as bleak and grungy as possible, because I am not aiming to create images that are glorifying what is there, like Andy Hughes' work. Andy Hughes' work on rubbish on the beaches, as seen in my example to the left, really takes the issue of waste out of context and adds a sort of beauty to it.I feel this work is counter-productive as it takes a serious disgusting issue that is affecting the world and dumbs it down to make it look like art work.
Edward Burtynsky
The photographer whose work I would like to emulate is that of Edward Burtynsky. The reason for this is because he captures the scale and impact of industrialisation and removes any beauty from it, focussing entirely on the destruction and how it is slowly taking over.
I hoped to incorporate parts of his style into my own work by making sure my images were solely focused around the industrial element and the sheer size of it.
Because I wanted to make my images void of any beauty I needed to think of what time of day the shoot would take place. Looking at Burtynsky's work I noticed that the majority of his shots looked as if they were shot on overcast days. However, it is hard to be sure of this, due to the fact that the sky does not play much of a role in his photographs, as his main point of focus is the span of the industrial landscape. This is one of the ways that my images will differ from his, as I intend to use the sky to add to the mood created within my photos.
For this shoot I chose an overcast, rainy day because the rain is associated with sad feelings, which is what I hoped my images would evoke. I had concerns as I would be using digital equipment that was not weather sealed. Nonetheless, I believed that by using an umbrella to shield the camera whilst I took the pictures would allow me to get through the shoot without damaging any equipment.
When shooting I wanted to capture the expanse of this industrialisation right on the edge of the sea. To ensure that I had a wider focal length to capture the span of this industrialised landscape, I chose a 10-20mm wide angle lens, as well as the standard 18-55mm, in case I needed to home in on a few minor details that were too distant to capture with the other lens. I also planned to bring a 180mm Macro lens in case there was visible pollution in the water that would require a lens capable of getting a close-up shot without me having to hang over the edge of the harbour. A tripod was key for this shoot, as I wanted to capture as much detail in the landscape as possible by shooting on a small aperture and a low ISO to avoid the increase of noise during the post-production stage of converting it to HDR. Because of the rain I chose not to bracket my images there and instead do that in Camera RAW to shorten the time spent in the rain with the equipment. I did not feel the need to use any filters because it was raining and this would simply add to likelihood of the equipment being damaged.
Shoreham
Another place I chose to visit was Shoreham, because it is home to a 3.1km sewage pipe that stretches all the way out into the English Channel. It also has a large array of industrial complexes situated alongside a stretch of coastline, that have resulted in the demise of a once habitable beach. Yet again I knew about Shoreham from when I lived in Brighton. Shoreham is well known in the south east for its poor sewage treatment and highly polluted waters. After deciding to visit Shoreham to photograph how this beach has suffered at the hands of these industries placed right behind it, I looked further into the extent of Shoreham's sewage problem. I came across a few news articles about a couple of incidents resulting in around forty million litres of raw sewage being discharged into the English Channel. I found out that when this happened other beaches had warning signs telling people about the fact that water was not safe. However, at Shoreham there were no warning signs, meaning that people were bathing in heavily polluted water without a clue. During my research I also came across reports by Surfers Against Sewage (SAS), who are trying to ensure the proper treatment of sewage in each and every place like Shoreham.
Unlike my Newhaven shoot I wanted to capture some beauty in the picture, yet still keep the industries and the sewage pipe prominent as they were my main focus. I framed the pictures so that the sewage pipe or the power station was in the middle of the photograph and took up the majority of the frame, so that all attention was on them. I also wanted to give the impression that they were overcrowding the beach and suffocating the beauty. In order to ensure that there was still some beauty within the photograph I decided to plan a shoot at sunrise on a sunny day to capture the colours of the sky, not to mention that the texture is greater than when the sun is higher in the sky. Due to the positioning of Shoreham and the time of year when the sun rises, it was shining on the storm drain so it created a stronger tonal range. The equipment that I used was the same as the Newhaven shoot, eg, 10-20mm wide angle lens, 18-55mm and a 180mm Macro for close-up shots of visibly polluted water. However, as it was not raining and the weather was nice and sunny I decided to use graduated neutral density filters to give the images a perfect exposure in both the sky and the foreground. Obviously, I also used a tripod as I intend to do for every other shoot I do for this project.
Bantham: Fish
For the part of my project involving the state of the beaches in the south west and the impact it has on the marine life, I decided to go to a few of the beaches that had failed their water safety inspections and create scenes of marine life suffering at the hands of waste. My first idea for this shoot was to go down to the beaches and try to find the dead sea birds that had been washed up and set a scene to add more depth to the photograph and to highlight that waste and pollution is to blame. However, by the time I had planned this out most of the sea birds had already been washed up and removed from the beach. In total, therefore, I only found one bird during my search, which was on the college trip to Wembury.
The other idea I had was to get hold of some fish heads from a fishmonger and line them up like gravestones and cover them in rubbish that I found on the beach. One of my inspirations for this idea was from the Surfers Against Sewage photograph of the surfboards stuck in the sand like gravestones.
What I liked about this photograph is the way they have used the medium of death to symbolise how current issues can cause beaches to be lost forever. I wanted to recreate this in my work but obviously based on the issue I am focusing on. I feel that by using this it will add a stronger message to my image and my project, by showing that if the current state of pollution continues we may not have a marine life anymore. I also wanted to show that the disregard of proper waste disposal is having a detrimental effect on other living creatures.
Like this picture, I want to keep my image looking bleak, dark and grim. To ensure that my image is in keeping with this, I plan on shooting in the early morning on an overcast day when there is little light and a melancholic sky.
The beach I intend to visit is Bantham, because it was one of the beaches that failed its water safety inspection and is close to where I live. Another reason why I wanted to shoot in the early morning was because the tide will be out so more rubbish will be on the beach, having been freshly washed up.
Chris Jordan
This body of work really got me thinking about what I could do for my final piece and gave me many ideas, one of them being this.
Just like all of my other shoots, I used a 10-20mm wide-angle lens to get all of the fish in the shot, a 18-55mm for getting a little bit closer and finally a 105/180mm Macro lens for close-up shots of each fish. I did not use a tripod for the majority of the shots as the fish were placed on the floor. For these shots I needed to take them hand-held while I was positioned on the floor. Nonetheless, I was able to find some flat rocks that I used to rest the camera on to keep it stable, thus maximising the amount of detail in the photograph. For the close-up shots using the Macro lens I used a tripod, as places lacking detail are more noticeable. A remote shutter release came in handy for the macro shots as they further reduced camera shake.
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