Francesca Brooks

BA Photography  Ejournal - Year 3 - University of Westminster

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Wall Plan for Degree Show

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Synopsis - A Disposable Life

We are in a world that is full of chaos everywhere you look. With Brexit happening in this country and Trump happening in America, terrorist attacks in multiple countries and so many sexual harassment cases going on everywhere, people are either being ignorant or arrogant about something that is critically important right now for everyone’s survival, survival for all life on Earth. A Disposable Lifeis a body of work that highlights a current and extremely significant global issue. It points a finger at the use of plastic, especially single use plastic and highlights how aggressive and ugly this thing that we once thought of and saw as our savior in the past truly is.

Plastic is inevitably taking over the world and its oceans if we do not change our way of life. ‘There is no planet B’ is such a strong statement telling us that once we ruin this planet, there is no going back to saving it and there is no alternative home for us to escape to. Every single piece of plastic that has ever been made to this date, is still around now. A single use plastic bag takes one thousand years to decompose and is one of the main pieces of plastic that we throw away daily without a thought of where it ends up. It is estimated that 4 trillion plastic bags are used worldwide annually and only 1% of the bags are returned for recycling. One of the main and most current social and political movements today is the Extinction Rebellionand their motto is ‘Fight for life; Rebel for life’. This motto is something that we really need to pay attention to. We need to fight for life, fight for this life that we consider so disposable. We need to as a race concede how threatening the way we live our lives really is and act upon our mistakes.

It is time for individuals and businesses to open their eyes and see that we are slowly but surely destroying our home. Most companies have now banned plastic straws but they cannot just end their support there. Everyone needs to understand than we as a human race are also going to become extinct if we carry on the way we are going. Scientists have predicted that we have 12 years left before the point of no return. We are the first generation that knows that we are destroying this world and we are the last generation that can make a difference to ours and the Earths future.

This body of work shows three significant endings if plastic is the last thing left. The first image in the series is a portrait of a man being suffocated by plastic. This was to capture the viewers eye and make them relate themselves to the image. The second is showing that a vase of plastic has replaced a vase of flowers, meaning nature has been taken over. The last image of the three is what the first two eventually turn into, the whole entire world being taken over and suffocated by plastic. It will not only suffocate us and move us into extinction but also suffocate everything that makes and calls Earth a home. All that will survive is plastic.

The chosen medium for this project has helped with keeping the overall look simple and effective. Because I used the 120mm lens with the Phase One camera I was able to keep my subject minimal as the detail from the Phase One would create most of the subject within itself. It also meant that I could print to the size of A1 and even go bigger without losing any of the image and make a more substantial impact on the viewer.

Ahmad Shawkash and Ferdi Rizkiyanto have been two of the biggest influences behind the meaning of this work and creating an image in a controlled studio environment. Their work is mainly for campaigns creating awareness about global warming. Taryn Simon is also an influence but an influence more for the aesthetic of the images in terms of a coloured background with a still life piece as subject. The coloured backgrounds are an important part of this project alone as I wanted to be bold and eye capturing and create something memorable.

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Mounting of images and the final three.

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Printing of all three images.

I had to reprint the pink globe image because I re-edited the image and therefore needed to print the new one. I also had to print the other images twice as when printing the portrait image the printer stopped halfway through and a line was created on the print. As for the vase image, it was printed slightly too small for the dibond leaving no room when mounting. 

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The First Edit - The Second Edit - The Final Edit 

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Another Re-Edit of Globe Image

After looking at the first re-edit of this image I still wasn’t that happy with the fact there was still a big difference in lighting in both corners. 

Therefore, rather than layering the lighter version on top of the darker and removing the dark background as a whole, I decided to only focus on the bottom right corner and remove that. So I layered the two images on top of one another and with the top one I rubbed out all of the image that I didn’t want to retouch. I then could easily see how well it would all blend together and it was easier to get the correct brightness in the bottom right corner using the curves in Photoshop.

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Re-edit of Globe Image

One of the things that came up from the discussion in the presentation was that the bottom right of the background on the globe was a little too dark and needed retouching.

I started to play around with the curves in Photoshop, but whenever I made the background lighter and the bottom right corner a little brighter, I always lost detail and contrast within the detail of the globe which you can see from above. 

Therefore what I ended up doing was saving the lighter image version and layering the darker version over the top of the image and erasing the background. Therefore I could keep the details of the globe and also have a lighter background. The bottom right corner is still a little darker than the top left corner but it is a vast improvement from before. 

This is how the image ended up:

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The dibond is all ordered. It cost £88.33 for 3 A1 size boards and express delivery. As it’s expressed delivery it should take 1-3 working days to deliver, meaning I should be able to print and mount all my images by the end of next week.

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Today I was in the studios trying out a different image to replace the portrait one after the discussion had in the presentation about the portrait not working as well. I decided on seeing what a plastic bag would look like on its own, signifying that plastic is all that will be left in the end. 

I don’t personally like any of the images from the shoot or how a plastic bag looks on its own in an image. Therefore I am going to stick with the portrait one as I think it works well together and I wanted to have three different endings shown - meaning the suffocation of the world as a whole, the suffocation of us as a race and the suffocation of all the nature. 

It was worth trying out this image though otherwise I wouldn’t have known that it didn’t work well and that I actually really like the portrait image as part of the final project. 

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Thursday’s Presentation

On Thursday I presented what I have for my major project so far. I discussed the possible titles and images and their order. 

In terms of titles, the ones I suggested were ‘suffocation’, ‘a thousand years’ and ‘look what you have done’. The general consensus from the group was that I need to keep the title subtle rather than too abrupt and in your face. Even though I wanted to shock people and make them think about my project on a personal level, a more subtle title would work better as they would have to think a little harder about the point I am making. 

The second thing mentioned was how on the globe print, the bottom right corner is a slightly darker pink so I will need to adjust that and reprint the image. 

It was also brought up how the portrait may not fit in with the rest of the images. The globe already shows a human presence in the series so it was asked why there was another human presence. My idea was the show how plastic is suffocating and taking over the world (globe image), taking over all our nature (flower image) and then eventually will be taking over us more than it already has (portrait image). I also thought it was a good mix to have two still life images and one portrait to keep the balance, rather than three of still life. 

A suggestion was made to replace the portrait image with another still life image of just the plastic bag. Almost to show that that is what we will be left with after it’s taken over the world and nature. 

I also discussed that I was going to mount my prints on dibond which was stated that that is the best way of presentation for this project.

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Final Three

This project points a finger at plastic and highlights how life threatening it is. Plastic is indeed taking over the world and its oceans. Every single piece of plastic that has ever been made, is still around today.

I wanted to show the world physically being suffocated by plastic, how plastic is replacing our nature, and how in the end we will only be suffocating ourselves. 

These are all going to be printed A1 on Lustre paper. 

In terms of presentation, I would like to mount the prints on dibond cut to the perfect size. My first idea at the start was to frame my three images, however, now my project has developed and the more I look at them, the more I think they would look best mounted with no frame. 

After researching into dibond I found it will cost about £16.49 for each A1 piece, meaning it’ll cost me £49.47 for all three bits of dibond which I will need to order and then mount on to. 

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This is the image I chose for my final portrait image. I personally think it’s really effective and works a lot better than my pilot project portrait images because it’s simple. I used one white bag rather than bags that had text and graphics on them, and I also kept the model simple. As before I had the model’s hands in the image, clasping at his throat -- which looked a little too dramatic. Keeping the body language simple works a lot better. 

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Remake of portrait, shoot one, contact sheet:

This is the first remake of the shoots I took for my pilot project of the portrait and plastic bags. I saved this shoot to last and learned a lot from my other shoots for the other two images that helped with how this image was going to turn out. 

The background is a major part of my images as the images are extremely simple so the background takes up a lot of space of the image. My other image has a mid-tone pink and a vibrant yellow. I started this shoot with a pastel green and the images still look a bit off. Therefore because of the vibrant yellow and mid-tone pink, I decided to use a more vibrant green as my idea for pastel coloured backgrounds had cast aside. 

I think the more vibrant green works better, however, it is extremely vibrant so I would need to tone it down slightly in post-production. 

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This is the final image that I have chosen for my plastic flower image. My intention was to use a pastel colour yellow for the background, however, I really like how bold this yellow is, and I think it makes the simple white bag and clear glass vase stand out even more. The pastel yellow may have washed the image out and made it look dull. 

It was shot on the Phase One and everything is crisp and clear. I also edited out all the blemishes on the backdrop to keep the image looking flawless. 

The next step is to do some test prints with this image. 

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Remake flower shoot three contact sheet:

I am really happy with how this shoot turned out. I was starting to worry that I couldn’t get this image perfect but all I needed was the right background, which I decided to go with yellow. The right shape that the bag creates and the scrub in the vase to give it some substance. 

I started the shoot off with a pastel purple backdrop because there wasn’t a pastel yellow. I didn’t like how dull they were coming out and the colour didn’t really match the pink that the globe image has. I then thought I would try it with this vibrant yellow just to see and I really like the results I got from it. 

I also thought from my second flower shoot that I would need a ‘bunch of flowers’ so multiple bags, however, starting off with that I realised that it wouldn’t actually make sense to have more bags and specifically different coloured ones, when in my other images I will only be using one white bag. So to keep consistent, I stayed with one white bag, but I think it still looks effective if not more so. 

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Possible Final Title for Major Project

The End of the World

Suffocation

World Suffocation

A Thousand Years

The Great Human Race

Are You Proud?

Look What You Have Done

My favorites are ‘World Suffocation’ because I want to make a statement of it being global, and ‘Look What You Have Done’ because I want to make an impact on people and that is a very personal statement to say and to have the viewer think about their personal contributions to this plastic nightmare. 

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Test Printing & Final Printing

Today I was in the printing rooms to start test printing what paper I want to use for the final image of the globe. I didn’t want to use gloss because I don’t like the kind of shine it gives the image, and it’s not the aesthetic I wanted. 

I also wanted to stay away from matte because that can feel a little dull. Therefore, I decided to go with lustre. I test printed on A4 size and decided I liked the lustre coated paper for the image best. 

I then went on to print my final A1 image of the globe, and I’m extremely happy with how it came out, from the quality of shooting with the Phase One to the edit, to the paper chosen.