Interim Evaluation

Interim Evaluation

The theme of my project so far has been organic decay. I chose this topic as we waste large amounts of food each day that could have been given to people in poverty, as currently in the world we have enough food to feed everyone - everyone, but the distribution is skewed. Another reason I chose this topic was because decay is rarely seen as it usually happens underground, either in landfill sites or normal compost bins in people's gardens; I wanted to highlight the waste that we produce and also the beauty in decay. 

My work in this project at the moment has consisted of macro photography and close-up photography. I have investigated seasonal changes in natural forms: rotting vegetables, dried flowers, acorns leaves, berries, moss and mould. I chose to look into these things as nature is ever changing due to global warming caused by pollution or on a smaller scale the changing of seasons. Trees are being hacked down for the land they've grown on to build houses or pastures and habitats are being destroyed.

Shoot One

For my first shoot in this project I too photographs of dried flowers with different coloured filters in front of the light source which then casted a tint onto the flowers I was shooting. I like this idea as we, as a species, must massacre billions of flowers a year just for the aesthetic purpose of having them inside our houses. When these flowers inevitably die we throw them away as they are no longer conventionally beautiful. I wanted to shoot some flowers that would have been thrown in the bin for their appearance and photograph them showing that their beauty may be a little aged by still present. My influence for this shoot was Billy Kidd, normally a fashion/ portrait photographer he was taken by a vase of decaying flowers one day decided to photograph them. Here are some of his image from this shoot. 

I liked the fact that he had used so much negative space because it reflects the negative views that society has on decay, then along side all of this darkness he has captured their rich colours and details. Here are my images in response to my brief and my my photographers research. 

This shoot was successful as I was turing something unwanted into something beautiful, this is similar to pressing flowers but shan't degrade anymore than it already has. I would like to continue my theme of photographing something that is unconventional in it's aesthetics. 

Shoot Two

Another photographer that influenced my work was Joe Buglewicz. For a year he photographed everything that 'went off' in his fridge to show how consumerism has become a significant problem in Western culture and has extended to the food we eat.

Above are some of his images from the aforementioned shoot.

For this investigation I completed two shoots. I did this because the first shoot I completed was very sterile, the lighting stayed the same in all the images and so made it impossible for the viewer to make a connection with the images. These are the images from the first shoot: 

For the second shoot I used the same vegetables again and so they had 'fermented' a little more. Here are these images:

I think this shoot was successful as I accomplished what I set out to but the final outcome is considerably unpleasant to look at and so I failed in my respect of photographing it in such a way to make it seem beautiful. Despite having failed I think failure was inevitable with this specific subject matter as it is inherently ugly and I don't believe that it could be made appetising by even the most qualified photographers. Due to this I wanted to shift my attention from the decay of organic matter to subjects of a less repulsive variety while still keeping in line with my theme of nature and how it is ever-changing. I did this by looking into natural decay between the seasons. 

Shoot Three

For this shoot I was inspired by a photographer called Janek Sedlar - a Czech photographer that creates breath-taking landscapes in his work. 
EX. 

I completed this shoot in a place called Pishiobury Park. I wanted to focus on things that are only seen within a specific season, for example pine cones or mushrooms etc. 

Here are some of the images that I captured: 

I think this shoot was successful and so acted as a turning point in my project where I wanted to pursue different changes that occur in nature that often go unnoticed. To do this I wanted to shoot in a more heavily wooded area so that there would be a richer variant in subject matter. 

Shoot Four

Now that I had changed my theme slightly I wanted to investigate the different directions that I could take it. To do this I visited a Pine Forest in Tewin during Autumn, this would provide me with a plethora of different angles and subjects to take photographs of.

I mainly shot the trees and the warm sunshine in the forest to experiment with similar subject matter to my chosen photographer - Dimitriy Evdokimov. He is a Russian photographer that lives in Saint Petersburg and travels to different locations to take landscape and close-up shots, above are some examples of his images. I also shot multiple mushrooms that I found in the forest as they are a sign of bacterial decay underground and typically die off during winter and so combined my two areas that I'd investigated so far: seasonal changes and decay. Here are my final images:

I think this shoot was successful due to the fact that I am still developing my theme and this location allowed me to look into different subject matters without travelling long distances. This shoot also allowed me to take both landscape and close-up shots so that I can continue experimenting in both styles. 

Shoot Five

In my past shoots I had investigated decay and seasonal changes which have yielded some good images, however both of these subjects are the end result of a process that I have yet to document. For this shoot I wanted to experiment with looking at a decaying process sped up - rust and combustion. I looked at a photographer that uses matches and editing software in his work to create objects or animals. His name is Stanislav Aristov, another Russian national. Here are some of his images:

Both rust and combustion are the same chemical reaction at different speeds, so any bike left to rust also giving out heat just like a flame. To actively document this reaction I used matches which I ignited to produce a series of images that show the slow destruction of the matches. Here are my images:

I think this shoot was a success as it shows a physical progression that can be witnessed from image to image, instead of photographing mushrooms which are the passive aftermath of decay. This shoot feels like a turning point in my project as I am much more interested in physical reactions that can be seen as I believe they are more interesting to the viewer and the photographer alike. 

Shoot Six

For this shoot I wanted to investigate organic decay directly as I have only part-investigate this theme in previous shoots. To do this I wanted to take photographs of mouldy berries in a similar manner to my first shoot as they are similar themes - turning something ugly into something beautiful. 

The photographer I researched for this shoot was called John Berry; he is usually a sports or yearbook photographer by profession but has a passion for nature that he can further in America due to their diverse wildlife and nature reserves. 
Below is one of his impressive macro shots: 

Here are my images in response to his work:

I like this shoot as it shows the inevitability of decay and the beauty that is still present during the process. Despite thinking this shoot was successful I feel as thought I have taken a step backwards in my work, as I have moved from active destruction and decay back to the passive aftermath. I don't think I will be pursuing this route anymore as I wanted to keep the images as active as possible so that they capture the viewer. 

In conclusion I will be continuing my work into natural destruction rather than natural decay as I feel both topics have considerable overlap (decay is often a form of destruction), and destruction engages the viewer more. I will be further investigating fire and the damage it is able to inflict, and shall do this by completing physical experiments into burning images alongside the use of GIFs to document the movement of flames.