Saturday 17 March 2012

The Comission Unit - Idea & Research

Through doing some digging, I have found a photographer called Ken Graham, who takes photographs on behalf of National Geographic. When musing on the particular subject of Waste, or even more specifically Food Waste (which I've chosen as my subject of focus), Graham's photographs are extremely relevant, and live for a cause. This particular image of his was taken off the coast of Barrow, in Alaska. 


This food waste and general trash has made it's way into the waters of the sea due to simple carelessness. Some of it decomposes, some of it floats onto the coastlines littering the beaches polluting the land's sourced water. Worst of all, it all harms the marine creatures which mistaken the rubbish for acceptable food. This attitude towards our planet's health is intolerable and must be stopped. This is just a small impact of how our food waste can disturb the environment.

Pollution is a quite obviously a worldwide problem. This is a section within the area called Manila Bay located in the Philippines where it is full to the brim of discarded food and trash, it's almost possible for a person to walk across the trash as accumulated grounding. The sad thing is, this boy is there to see if he can fish out any trash that's worth selling, let alone the feeling of wading through it all. Seeing this just makes me shudder. This is just the tip of the Iceberg though, metaphorically speaking. There are many more places within India that have a similar problem and right now there doesn't seem to be a solution being put in place. 


As I reflect upon this subject, I aim to brings it's relevance towards my own project, I will attempt to source my own images of relevance on the subject within the Medway area. I shall either hunt down a place to make a journalistic photograph or construct my own image. The idea of leftover food and the packaging/trash that is left behind is my main focus of subject for this project. What I hope to achieve is similar in concept, but largely different in aesthetic. My initial ideas right now consist of scattered rubbish, lots or little, but having it as as the centre of the photograph, with the camera's small depth of field creating a blurring of unimportant objects around the food rubbish. I want it to be dark and empty around the main subject of food trash and packaging, as I find that it creates a metaphor for the attention this issue is largely getting from all people, that is to say, it's being ignored and people need to notice - therefore, I choose the high aperture to create a suggested focus of the subject, for the people.

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