PHOTOGRAPHERS
EIAN KANTOR (FOUND SCULPTURES)
Eian Kantor's photo series 'found sculptures' shows a number different discarded items from cigarettes to clothes hangers. I think the images shown above really represent waste as there are multiple of the same thing shown in each photo, especially in the first two photos its obvious that some of the products will be wasted and discarded. Unlike most other waste photo series that I have looked at this series doesn't revolve strongly around plastic waste. I personally like this aspect of this photo series as I think that other waste is just as important as plastic waste for example food waste is equally as important due to all the starving people in the world and also how we discard our wasted food. Kantor's photo are also very eye catching as there is a lot going on in the photos and the audience will have a lot to look at and take in from the photos, unlike other photographers who have just photographed one item with a plain background, which I think puts across messages of discarded items more clearly, however I think the way Kantor has photographed his series puts across the message just as much but more suttely. As well as this the rest of the images in the series contain a vast majority of objects showing that anything can be discarded, which is another message that other photographers don't really put across.
anthony gerace (some cities and mountains)
Gerace's photo series is very different to all the other series that I have looked at, as it focuses more on places rather then object. At first when I saw the series I was confused at how it represented 'discarded' but then I thought that it could be discarded places where people no longer go, or maybe can't go as they're dangerous. Gerace's series is the first series that I've seen that represents discarded places and I think its very eyeopening as people may not necessarily think about discarded places at first when the word 'discarded' is mentioned, they would probably think of discarded items such as plastic or maybe food. The photos also largely revolve around nature, possibly showing how discarding items could have a huge effect on nature in the future as well as discarded places.
Morgan z schultz (dicarded)
Morgan Z Schultz's video 'discarded' showed discarded object left behind in houses by animation. The video was quite scary from the music to the dark lighting in the video, towards the end of the video there also seemed to be a bloody handprint on the mailbox adding to the creepy/scary side of the video. The items shown in the video also seemed to come across scary for example the smashed glass and grenades left behind. However, even harmless items such as teddy bears look scary in this video, Schultz possibly did this for effect to show the neglect in the items and possibly trying to show emotion of the items through the scariness of them. I really like Schultz's project as it shows similar ideas to the other projects that I have seen, but in a different way, as the project is not a photo series, but a video, having more effect on the audience in my opinion as the video flows really well, and also more can be shown in a short video rather then a long photo series.
Hong Hao's (5000 pieces of rubbish)
Much like Rosenthal's project I think Hao's is just as eye opening as it has the same idea as Rosenthal's project has but it is on a much larger scale. Hao's project also makes the rubbish in the picture look really pretty and unrecognisable and first glance, but then when looking at the photo in more depth you can start to recognise some of the items and see that the photo does in fact contain thousands of pieces of rubbish. I think that the rubbish being disguised also shows that we disguise the issue we have with rubbish and try to put them off as long as possible until we may not be able to do anything about the issue. The amount of discarded items also shows how there is smooch of it in our world and in actual fact the amount shown in the picture although looking like an enormous amount is actually a minuscule amount compared to the rest of the rubbish on our planet.
Barry Rosenthal's (found in nature)
Rosenthal collected waste he found along costal areas in New York and put them into categories based on what the items were and colours. All of his series are on a background making the items on top of the background really stand out. I think Rosenthal's project shows how much of an issue our world has with littering, as most of the items in the images above are plastic and the fact they were found on costal areas shows how they could go into the river and onto the sea and harm thousands of sea creatures. The fact that there are so many items shown in one photo really shows the audience of his photos how it is an issue more then if he was to photograph them individually. I also think that it would shock the audience into them hopefully thinking more about litter and what they can do to help and also will stop them littering as they will think back to these pictures and remember how much of an issue it is. The fact that the project is titled 'found in nature' also shows how these items are found within nature and effecting nature rather then the other way round, reminding the audience how much of an effect they can have on nature and how they don't have a right to interfere with nature. For these reason I think that Rosenthal's project is really eye opening to the audience and should be showed to more people.
LIAM FRANKLAND
Liam Frankland had a fascination with discarded items he may have found whether it was small thing such as a dummy or something quite large such as a television. He released patterns in items he would find, often finding gloves and shoes on the street that had been placed on fences or walls to make it easy for the owner of the item to find it if they were looking for it. He would take pictures of these items from multiple different angles often taking pictures all around the object from multiple different heights in order to find the angle and composition that worked best for that object.
I find Franklands work very interesting as when you're walking along a street you often don't take notice of all the discarded items along the way and how they're put in interesting locations in order for people to take notice of them and find them but when you look at franklands work you recognise all of them items even though you think that you don't really notice it when walking along the street.
I find Franklands work very interesting as when you're walking along a street you often don't take notice of all the discarded items along the way and how they're put in interesting locations in order for people to take notice of them and find them but when you look at franklands work you recognise all of them items even though you think that you don't really notice it when walking along the street.
peter fraser (everyday icons)
The photos above are taken by a photographer called Peter Fraser. I really liked his sequence of photographs as the focus in all the images are very bright and out of place and the background in most of them is very dark and what people would see in normal every day life. As well as this if the objects in the images were in a different background they wouldn't look at all discarded but against the backgrounds they are in they do look quite discarded and out of place. I think this shows how an item could be discarded to someone but then could be not discarded to another person depending on the situation.
David attenborough (blue planet)
The pictures above are from the well known show Blue planet by David Attenborough. The images in the series truly represent how plastic is having a devastating effect on seas, sea creatures, fish and birds, the crew of the series said that 'there was rarely a time when they were filming that they didn't come across plastic in the sea'. A crew member Sarah Conner also said "There would rarely be a dive where I wouldn't find some form of plastic from a thread of plastic fishing line, sweet wrappers or plastic bottles".I believe this truly puts in to perspective the issue that the whole world has with plastic waste as the sea in so vast and covers over 70% of the world and yet plastic is still found on nearly every dive. Another crew member also stated "strangely it's often the remotest islands that have the most plastics pollution" again showing that the plastic issue spreads in seas even to places where no one is living or contributing to the plastic waste around the area. While filming for Blue Planet the crew saw a huge number of incidents involving plastic and animals, a turtle getting tangled in a plastic sack, multiple dead birds with their legs tangled in plastic bags so drowned as they could'nt fly away and a humpback whale that was trailing almost a kilometre of fishing rope and was struggling to swim and multiple turtles tangled in fishing rope, and these were just the worst incidences seen while filming. As well as all these issues with large plastic items like straws and plastic bags, there are also now multiple issues with micro plastics. Micro plastics are minuscule pieces of plastic that cannot be seen, they are everywhere in the sea now due to the amount of plastic being discarded there. These micro plastics cause a high level of chemical contamination in large predators, this is just as bad as animals being caught in plastic as micro plastics can increase pollutants in the body and animals could also die that way. From all the disturbing images alone shown from the Blue Planet show should shock the audience into being more cautious around plastic pollution and all the people who actually watched the show should be even more cautious from all the shocking facts stated in the show.
Kevin Newark's (protoplasm)
Kevin Newarks series above focuses on the themes of space,time,anxiety and displacement. He did this by photographing discarded plastic carrier bags found in canals in East London. I really like Newark's series above as it is showing the problems with discarded items and plastic but in a less obvious way. Newark is also reusing/recycling the plastic bags by using them again his photo series and using them to bring more awareness to the issue that our society has with plastic. I also believe that Newark presenting some of his images to look as if they are in space is maybe showing some of his own personal ideas on what may happen to plastic in the future. I think Newark is trying to show how he might think that once we use up a vast distance of our planet by discarding our rubbish on it we might start to discard our rubbish into space as woman not be able to discard it on our own planet anymore due to not enough space and ruining our seas. Newark presenting the plastic bags as if to look like they are in space and making lots of his audience think the same thing about the rubbish being discarded into space highlights how its a bad idea to me and I think thats probably what Newark wanted his audience to think. Putting rubbish in space will just mean that we are damaging even more of our environment then we already have and the dirtiness around some of Newark's photo particularly shows this as it shows that if we do do this then space will be equally as dirty as some areas of our sea. I really like newark photos in his series as there is an aspect of mystery added to the photos as in some of them it takes you a while to work out what the main focus (the plastic bag) actually is in the photo. I also think the contrast of colour in his photos works really well as it less obviously puts the audiences attention on the main focus that Newark wants to put our attention on as an audience.
alan r jones' (orphaned objects)
Orphaned objects shows more small scale waste, the little things that no one really realises that they discard and could cause a problem. Jones' photos being in black and white rather then colour and having no background largely puts the focus on the objects and how they have large impacts on the world even though they are in fact vey small objects. The fact that the project is called 'orphaned objects' also shows how people probably just lost the objects and didn't necessarily mean to discard the objects, but since they have been lost they have been discarded. The objects are also not very recognisable to everyone, as they are not objects that everyone sees in day to day life, however people will still recognise them as discarded objects, most people not being able to recognise them will probably putter of a focus on the objects being discarded as some of the audience won't have any memories involving the objects being shown.
erik burg (found)
The photos above are from Erik Burgs photoshoots found. In this photoshoot Erik Burg found a variety of discarded items and rephotographed them, many in very unusual places, very much putting the audiences focus the discarded items in the photo but also adding further depth to the image as there is a very usual background and makes the audience have many different questions about why that particular background was chosen and the relation it has to the discarded object in the photo, that is supposed to be the main focus in the image. Income of Burgs photo it seem as if he's highlighting certain issues with discarded items, for example the balloons in the tree(the first image above) could highlight as us discarding items we are in fact ruining the environment and animals homes. Or in the last photo shown with the teddy bear on the bin could be highlighting how we throwaway perfectly good items when they could be reused or given to charity to be passed on to less fortunate children who would appreciate the item very much. I believe that Burgs photoshoot above very much reflects issues with discarded items and I think he's presented the items in a very clever way to show these issues to his audience, I think by him photographing the items in this way will make the audience think more about when and how they are discarding their items and do it in a more environmentally friendly way.
danny treacy (those)
Those is a seres by Danny Treacy, where he finds discarded item of clothes in underpasses and rive banks. Tracy believes that the clothes hold history in their present form Treacy arranges the clothing in such a way that it represents a common objects or thing that people will regonise and almost not even realise that the clothing is in actual fact clothing. The discarded clothing being disguise and turned into something else could possibly show how our society disguises issues that we have with discarded items, it also shows how easy discarded items are to reuse and could be showing us how we as a society should start reusing discarded items more often.
matt russel (waste)
Matt Russell is a photographer who normally revolves his work around food, travel, lifestyle and portraiture. The pictures above are from his waste series, each of the images could be connected with food and some people would probably say he's trying to capture aspects of food with these images above and not necessarily discarded items and their effects on the world. I believe that the photos in the waste series by Russell greatly shows waste, particularly how it comes in all different kinds as in each photo in the series Russell shows a different piece of rubbish. I also think Russell puts a great focus on the items as there is nothing in the background and the shot of each item is very close. This gives the audience no other choice but to look at the item in great detail. I also like how in Russell's series he has used a variety of different colours with no photos having the same colour item in them only the same background. Russell's work is some of the simplest work that I've seen while researching discarded items, however, I think it works the best as it puts more of a focus on the objects rather then whats in the background. I also believe this allows the audience make up their own minds on where the rubbish came from, and allows the audience to have more other own opinion on it and also use their imagination more then with other photographers work that I have seen.
waste around my school
litter in london
waste in a week
BBC NEWS 'TRASH GIRL'
In BBC news this week there has been an article about 'trash girl', a girl who was simply just doing more to help the environment by picking up litter that she saw to and from school. This simple helpful act had her violently bullied at her school by her peers and the teachers weren't even doing anything to help her. The young 13 year old girl was forced to change schools after the serious bullying from her peers who gave her the nickname 'trash girl' and receiving no help from her teachers, just before she moved schools the bullying got so bad, Nadia Sparks the young girl was punched and even shown a knife, the police then had to get involved, because of this Norwich (the area that this happened in) has received more attain around knife crime and also youth crime. Another incident at her old school Nadia had to sit through class covered in orange juice that had been thrown at her face.
Once leaving her old school Nadia Sparks has won international praise and awards and refused to let the bulling get to her in any way. She also decided to embrace the name she was given by the bullies at her school 'trash girl' as she said it made her "feel like a superhero". Nadia has also gained a huge following since she left her previous school and joined her new one, having over 4,000 followers on social media and the number only expecting to grow.
When I first read Nadia's story I found it truly heartbreaking how a girl can be so violently bullied to a point where she would be in fear of her own life, in a place children are supposed to feel the most safe, at their schools. i couldn't understand how she was being bullied for simply helping all of the people around her and the rest of the world by picking up litter, probably including litter of her peers who were bullying her. I also think Nadia is a very inspiring person who more people should look up to, as she easily could have stopped what she believed in when the bullying started, but she persisted because she knew it was the right thing to do and would help out many more people and herself in the future. Nadia story shows how everyone can do a little to help even if it's just picking up one piece of rubbish a day, as she did it on such a large scale even with the daily battle of being bullied through it.
Once leaving her old school Nadia Sparks has won international praise and awards and refused to let the bulling get to her in any way. She also decided to embrace the name she was given by the bullies at her school 'trash girl' as she said it made her "feel like a superhero". Nadia has also gained a huge following since she left her previous school and joined her new one, having over 4,000 followers on social media and the number only expecting to grow.
When I first read Nadia's story I found it truly heartbreaking how a girl can be so violently bullied to a point where she would be in fear of her own life, in a place children are supposed to feel the most safe, at their schools. i couldn't understand how she was being bullied for simply helping all of the people around her and the rest of the world by picking up litter, probably including litter of her peers who were bullying her. I also think Nadia is a very inspiring person who more people should look up to, as she easily could have stopped what she believed in when the bullying started, but she persisted because she knew it was the right thing to do and would help out many more people and herself in the future. Nadia story shows how everyone can do a little to help even if it's just picking up one piece of rubbish a day, as she did it on such a large scale even with the daily battle of being bullied through it.
Exam plan (waste in a week)
I want to focus my final exam piece on discarded food rather then other discarded items such as plastic. This is because I believe that discarded food isn't seen as, as much of a problem as discarded plastics when in my opinion they are equally as damaging to our world and I wanted to put more focus on the waste of food. Waste of food is a very big issue in our world and effect many people in it on a daily basis. The food waste that fortunate people produce could feed millions of less fortunate people and people in the world who are starving, further more grain used to feed live stock such as cattle could solve world hunger, and I think this needs to be looked at in more detail as millions are suffering when the issue could easily be solved. Food waste also produces a large amount of greenhouse gasses, from making food that in the end doesn't get eaten and the transport of food waste to a dump. As well as this food also uses plastic in the making of almost all products and I believe the plastic use in the food industry could greatly decrease and solve further issues that the world has with discarded items.
At first I did think of putting the focus on discarded plastic in my final exam piece by using empty plastic bottles and sticking photos of plastic bottles and other plastic waste on them and have them hanging over a recycling bin to show how easy it is to throw plastic away. However in the end I thought that I would focus on food waste instead as I think its as equally important as plastic waste but doesn't have anywhere near as much coverage on the issue in the news and I don't think people realise how much of an effect their food waste has on the environment as they don't have to see the issues it causes after they throw the food away, as the issue isn't shown in the news as much as plastic waste.
In my exam I want to photograph the food waste in my house for a week and show the amount of waste my family produces. I want to do this so myself and the audience of my final piece can see just how much waste one family of three can produce in a week, I hope to the audience seeing the final piece or any of my images will be shocked to see all the waste of one week at one time and see the issue I'm trying to point out around food waste and try to change the amount of waste they produce.
Once I have collected all the images I will upload them to a memory stick and then in the exam I will bring in paper plates and stick the images to the paper plates, I hope to use all the images so I can show the waste of a week and it will be true and representative. I will then put the images into a bowl in the sink as if the plates are going to be washed up and then put an empty fairy liquid bottle on the side of the sink where my photos are being shown to also reflect a little bit of the plastic waste in my final piece. I will then photograph this in all different angles and different lighting and then pick my favourite photos from the ones that I have taken and the ones that I believe show the issue the best and then print them out in different sizes and experiment with them on a mount board and see what layout I like best. I will finally stick my favourite images onto the mount board and present the mount board as my final piece.
At first I did think of putting the focus on discarded plastic in my final exam piece by using empty plastic bottles and sticking photos of plastic bottles and other plastic waste on them and have them hanging over a recycling bin to show how easy it is to throw plastic away. However in the end I thought that I would focus on food waste instead as I think its as equally important as plastic waste but doesn't have anywhere near as much coverage on the issue in the news and I don't think people realise how much of an effect their food waste has on the environment as they don't have to see the issues it causes after they throw the food away, as the issue isn't shown in the news as much as plastic waste.
In my exam I want to photograph the food waste in my house for a week and show the amount of waste my family produces. I want to do this so myself and the audience of my final piece can see just how much waste one family of three can produce in a week, I hope to the audience seeing the final piece or any of my images will be shocked to see all the waste of one week at one time and see the issue I'm trying to point out around food waste and try to change the amount of waste they produce.
Once I have collected all the images I will upload them to a memory stick and then in the exam I will bring in paper plates and stick the images to the paper plates, I hope to use all the images so I can show the waste of a week and it will be true and representative. I will then put the images into a bowl in the sink as if the plates are going to be washed up and then put an empty fairy liquid bottle on the side of the sink where my photos are being shown to also reflect a little bit of the plastic waste in my final piece. I will then photograph this in all different angles and different lighting and then pick my favourite photos from the ones that I have taken and the ones that I believe show the issue the best and then print them out in different sizes and experiment with them on a mount board and see what layout I like best. I will finally stick my favourite images onto the mount board and present the mount board as my final piece.