As always my projects always try to relate to an idea or something that is current and affecting is all at the moment. The reason for doing this is because I feel photography should be used as a tool to educate or show people what something is like through visual information.
This project was no different from this and after taking a while to decide my idea, I ended up making it about our consumption and wasteful nature. I then proceeding to take the viewer on a photographic journey of the waste ( in particular the scrapyards) that you could find in the city of Coventry. While discussing the work of other photographers who have also covered and represented out 21st century waste problem in their work I took the viewer to three different sized scrapyards in the coventry area. While going to each scrapyard I developed my photographic practise and idea to try and show the viewer an increasing scale of waste that they probably haven't seen before.
My final development was using the inspiration of Chris Jordan and his unnatural landscapes. The final shoot I completed used a tripod and me setting my camera to f/22 which would allow me to capture every detail that could be seen of this landscape and thus allow the viewer to fully appreciate its scale. I also made sure that I captured in these landscapes, household items which would make the viewer re-connect themselves with these mountains of waste that everyone is so quick to forget about as soon as they throw something away. By showing these household items in the huge piles of waste that are a blot on our landscape, it makes the viewer realise that they and everyone around them are partially responsible for creating it. Hopefully I have made the viewer realise the kind of landscapes we are creating from our consumption and waste problem is heavily affecting our natural environment.
I also have decided on how I am going to display my work in the exhibition that we are holding even though at this point we haven't actually held it yet. I am going to show one a2 image that I am printing out, mounting and cutting the boarders off. And I'm going to suspend this image inside a fridge. The reason for doing this is, I decided that producing an installation piece as a way to show my work would be most affective at getting my point across to the viewer. Because its all about getting the viewer to re-connect with the items that they are throwing away and make them understand that they are going to end up somewhere like the places I have photographed. The best way I thought of doing this was by showing them an item that they are very familiar with and can connect to easily, and then make them connect to it further by getting them to open the fridge. When they open the fridge they will see the image inside of it, which shows a potential place where that fridge may end up if they were to throw it away.
Hopefully this image I am going to show the audience and technique of displaying it will make them realise that everything they throw out will end up in places like this which we all have to be accountable for. Hopefully through my project and exhibition it will make people think about how everything they throw out does impact the environment in a negative way.
I have also shown how the thinking behind what photography is can be represented in the idea behind the project. I have shown that some people believe photography is a way of showing information in a visual way which impacts the viewer a lot quicker than a written format. I believe that I have also represented the thinking behind photography which represents how the photographer can get their individual point across on a certain subject through their photographic technique. This is because the photographer chooses what the viewer see's, and thus can show what they want them to see. I think this is a fundamental point about photography, and is one that is very strong in my work- the ability to make the viewer think about a deeper meaning that impacts their life through the format of showing them pictures that create these thoughts.
I think the skills that I have most improved on this project is how take a photograph and meaning behind it, and figuring out the best way to represent that meaning in an affective visual way which hopefully make them contemplate the idea behind your project and have an affective/lasting impact on them. I have also really enjoyed producing work to help benefit the environment and a massive cause that is so important to us as the human race.