#theecologist

[georgedunneasphotography]

Brief:

‘The Ecologist’ magazine will be publishing an article in its Feb 2013 issue about the high levels of pollution in Britain’s, streams, rivers and lakes entitled: ‘The shocking truth about pollution in Britain’s waterways’. The magazine has commissioned you to take a set of photographs to accompany this story and the editor will be particularly interested in the overall visual qualities of your 3 final outcomes as submissions for publication in the magazine. The constraint of this brief is that the magazine do not want the final photographs to be just a literal interpretation of this subject i.e. a rusty oil can in a river, they want the photographs to be a bit more abstract in order to capture the viewers’ attention and to make them think a bit more about the issue.

[georgedunneasphotography]

Intention for Idea 1

For this idea, I am aiming to produce a set of symbolic photographs highlighting the damage caused by water pollution. I am interested in how people expect to keep pumping the water with harmful chemicals and for nothing bad to happen – so I essentially want to use a harmful substance that could be present in some kind of pollution. For this, I will use bleach to destroy a beautiful, scenic photo of water. This imagery ties in with the recurring problem mankind has with destroying ruining nature for its own needs. Hopefully, the impact of the photograph will show the viewer how a single substance can have so much of a damaging effect on a photograph; opening the possibilities of how much it could pollute a body of water.

[georgedunneasphotography]

Evaluation for Initial Photographs: Idea 1

My original intention for this set of initial photographs was to capture a scenic, aesthetically pleasing landscape image. Whilst it does not fit the brief completely as of yet, it is crucial for the first stage of the idea. After researching several landscape photographers, it was clear that in their photos they made use of a high aperture, the rule of thirds and an overall good composition. I believe that I achieved something similar by using these points; resulting in what could be considered as a ‘beautiful’ photograph.

Using the manual setting on my camera, I was able to control the shutter speed, aperture and ISO – allowing me to balance the amount of light hitting the camera’s sensor. Upon taking each photograph, I ensured that the lighting was correct so that I had good exposure on my images. As it was a bright sunny day, I was able to use a high f.stop to make the whole image sharp and in focus. Also, the brightness enabled me to use a high shutter speed so that I did not get any camera shake. I took the photos using RAW files instead of JPEG, meaning that I was able to edit them on Photoshop much more smoothly, making it easy to correct any visual errors.

Considering the formal elements of the photographs, I believe that I took the composition into a great amount of consideration before taking each photo. As it was a sunny day, the colours in the images are very vivid due to the sunlight reflecting off of either the water or the greenery. Also, I tried to use the rule of thirds to make sure that the water is seen as the main subject matter. As I was not using a tripod, I edited the photos slightly to make sure that the lines of the horizon, sky and water were all straight in the image if there were not already. Images 1 and 3 show my attempt of using shrubbery as a border to the rest of the image. I believe that this makes the entirety of the pictures more interesting instead of just having a continuous stretch of water and sky like in image 2.

The visual impact of the photos on the viewer I believe are highlighted in image 1, as it is a perfect example of what I was aiming to achieve in showing the beauty of natural lakes in a single picture. The huge variations in colours, from the green’s and gold’s of the shrubbery to the shades of blue between the lake and sky, make it an aesthetically pleasing picture. Also, as the bushes act as a border around the water, the lake is emphasized as the main subject matter. This also applies to image 4, where the still water of a pond reflects the trees behind it. I believe that this image has a strong visual impact as it shows how different parts of nature almost work together to form something more attractive, with the clean water reflecting its surroundings. The image shows that the natural state of the water allows for something beautiful to take place – which could easily be completely ruined by human pollution.

Through these photographs, I have attempted to symbolise the vulnerability of nature – specifically in water (in the forms of lakes and ponds) and how it can be so easily destroyed by man-made pollution. However, as the brief specified that the photos could not be too literal, I have decided to leave the symbolic destruction of the water until the developmental stages. This is because I wanted to show how pollution can ruin an aesthetically pleasing photo as easily as it can ruin a body of water. Looking at these initial photos alone, I do not believe that a viewer would be able to decipher the symbolism that will later be behind it. However, I do believe that I have achieved the first stage of the symbolism by producing a set of attractive landscape photographs – emphasising the natural beauty of lakes.

[georgedunneasphotography]

Evaluation for Developed Photographs: Idea 1

To link more to the theme of water pollution, I used the developmental stage to symbolically represent the effect of man-made products destroying natural lakes and ponds. For this, I painted bleach onto specific parts of Matte copies of my photos. This quickly made the colours run off of the paper, giving the effect of some sort of chemical spill in the water. I believe that I achieved the effect I was after, as I was able to use a physical liquid that could actually pollute water in reality to destroy a scenic, aesthetically pleasing photograph.

I think that the bleach worked well, as I wanted to use a man-made substance that could actually be present in cases of water pollution. Showing that the bleach can have that kind of effect on a photograph highlights the severity of the damage it can also have on water. Also, the bleach made many of the colours run, giving the bleached white areas a red border – which is often a colour related to danger. This aspect of the photo gives a symbolic gesture of how serious water pollution can be. Essentially – not only does it destroy water sources, it distorts it and makes it dangerous.

I believe that the visual impact of the photographs on the viewer is now much stronger than the initial images. This is because it simply now relates much more to the theme, and involves the crucial development that symbolises chemical pollution in water. Whilst the bleach visually represents a chemical spill in the water (which often produces unnatural colours), it also symbolises the destruction man-made substances can have on simple things like scenic photographs; emphasizing the drastic effects it can also have in bodies of water.

[georgedunneasphotography]

Intention for Idea 2

My second idea deals with the way in which we pollute in order to make our lives more comfortable. In specific, I want to take a set of dark, gloomy photographs that completely contrast idea 1 and then project them onto a wrecked man-made object that we use for our own comfort. I aim for this symbolic message to be explicitly shown through projections of a clean, undamaged photograph onto ripped, damaged sheets. Alongside this, I want the actual photographs to remind the viewer that there was once a time when nature was left to itself – clean and untouched. Giving the images a vintage composition will hopefully show the contrast between the past now being destroyed by the present.

[georgedunneasphotography]

Evaluation for Initial Photographs: Idea 2

With this set of initial photographs, I intended to cast a very opposite mood to the first idea – this time using a very dark, gloomy landscape. I wanted to use this to depict a much more ‘polluted’ feel to the photo, as if the photographs themselves are dirty and dreary. Whilst a few of the photographs do look fairly polluted, I do not believe that they have yet made the theme clear enough to a viewer. The idea will become much clearer in the developmental stage, but this initial stage has set up the foundations and the mood that will later be emphasized.

Due to the weather being extremely dark, wet and windy, I was not at first pleased with the composition of the images. Many of them were too dark and did not have many tones to them. However, as the images were taken on RAW, I was able to bring the brightness up and restore many of the photos. Also, once putting them through the Nik Software ‘Silver Efex Pro’, the different tones between the greys and the vignette borders allowed some contrast between the water and the surroundings. Additionally, the specific control points allowed me to brighten or darken certain parts of the picture.

I believe that the visual impact of the photos in this set will come across as much more moody and depressing – and certainly not as aesthetically appealing as Idea 1. The vintage black and white composition may make the viewer think to a time when water pollution was not such a common thing – and older photographs similar to mine would have mostly shown somewhat clean, untouched scenery. The main point that I am trying to get across in these photographs is the way that the modern age is slowly ruining nature through the constant demand for manufactured goods.

The initial photos in this idea get the theme across much better, not needing as much development on them to be understood compared to the first idea’s initial set.