I completed two shoots with inspiration from Burtynsky, at my second location which was a medium sized scrapyard in Coventry. Because of restrictions on where I could go on this site it meant that I could only get two shoots our of it because there wasn't anything else to photograph, so I decided to move onto my next place which is one of Coventry's largest waste management sites located inside the city centre.
Unlike the second scrapyard, this site gave me a hard hat and a high visibility jacket and just told me to be careful but I was allowed to walk around and photograph whatever I like, which was perfect for what I need for my project. I also took all these images on F/16 because it was really bright so I could get away with using a slower shutter speed, this allows the images to have a large depth of field, meaning the viewer can see all the details. I think this is important in my work because most of the photographers I have researched so far have done this to improve their work.
This first shoot I did was just documenting the area to see what it was like and what potential images I could get out of it before eventually developing my images through another artist.
This first image shows that unlike the first two scrapyards I documented, one cant see anything else apart from scrap all around when makes the viewer feel like its just never ending.
I think this image works quite well because the object in the middle is very big which gives it a really impacting look to the photograph, making the object look powerful.
Like the second scrapyard I photographed, this place also uses the same grabbing machines which are used to move the metal around the site and into big lorries. Although there is many more mountains for waste in this sight compared to the second.
These huge containers line the whole site so the public cannot see in. This use of the containers make the place feel like its surrounded by waste in its own little bubble, cut off from the rest of the world.
These containers are also constructed in a way so they can contain one of the huge mountains of metal without it spilling all over the site.
I really like this image firstly because of its composition with it being split up into three different sections with the main focus being the three different cars. But I also really like the strong red colour in the image, I think it has a nice empowering affect on the image.
This image has a more landscape/still life feel to it due to its timeless feeling, also the oil splashes on the path give it a nice tonal affect.
Again this image shows the different piles of scrap metal that this place has been organised into. Also you can see the tire marks on the road which gives the viewer a sense of it being alive and working.
This image shows a grabber with a pile of metal in its grasp capturing while its moving it from one area on the site to another, this also suggests that the scrapyard is very alive with action and movement. Also the grabber towers over the cars which gives the viewer a large sense of scale.
The images above and below, show a huge grabber picking up cars with very little effort and moving them onto the huge car piles. To capture everything in the image I had to move further back because I was only using a 50mm lens, this meant that I have captured more of the sky than I wanted to which results in then scale looking smaller. But when you actually look at the size of the cars in comparison to the huge pile of metal the viewer can see how big it actually is.
The driver in this machine noticed that I was taking photographs of the pile and him moving the cars, so he decided to start picking up and throwing the cars threw the air instead which was really exciting to see. It was difficult to get the composition right so that the car was flying through the air on its own without being blocked by the blue object in the background. Even though I couldn't capture and image I was happy of with this moment it was still good to see.
This image was taken at the front of the site and shows the general width of the site but not how far it actually goes back, which is very far. I like the tire imprints on the road as they add a nice pattern affect to the image.
This site due to its scale and busyness was easily made the shoot the best one I have done so far in this project. Because its so large it means that I should definitely be able to capture images that show how big the problem we have with waste actually is. I'm still happy with not capturing any people in my images as much as I can avoid to because I want the images to be completely about our affect and waste in the world without actually showing a human present. Because all the waste itself shows the human aspect of these images, this affect is also seen in Edward Burtynsky's work.