Major Project Shoot (Photoshoot #1)

This is my first open collection of images, slightly altered in colour to represent what I strive to show in my final set of images at Free Range at the end of the year. Comments are completely welcome, as long as they critically aid in improving my methods for the next time.

These photos taken represented my first attempt to scour the area for places I could visit further. Unfortunately, my stay was cut short by the appalling weather. I arrived at Grain, camera in hand, and an empty SD card. Isle of Grain was a great place to start off as it gave me somewhere to explore a widely varying cluster of facilities, all in the energy business. Much like Epstein, the comment is subtle, leaving the viewer to take in what is presented.

Many places were far away or simply out of reach due to their distance of security or deliberate placing of the facility. In a power-hungry world, we are greeted with those over-bearing electrical statues all interconnected, and fuelling the world with their wires showing to the world. It's amazing that we as a society are still burning rock-like materials as fuels for the modern generation of slim technology and snazzy gadgetry.

The appearance of the buildings are all so dull, and many taint the surrounding lakes, marshes, and plants. Personally, I believe they stick out like sore thumbs, and are unattractive. But there has to be a compromise for a world increasingly power-needy. Our country has many of these places dotted around the countryside, desperately trying to bodge in and blend their way into obscurity, without causing trouble. Yet, the damage is greater than just visual appearance.

Mitch Epstein: American Power

As my project focuses heavily on the observation of the energy industry but with a critical eye, it makes complete sense to look at somebody who has done it all already; Mitch Epstein. In his project aptly named American Power, he has essentially gone around as some sort of energy sightseer, touring America to find each power station facility far and wide in all their glory nakedness. He spent 5 years conducting his exposition of these places to help give clarity to their connected purposes, be it strengths, weaknesses or in some cases abandonment. It's worth bearing in mind, this project took place in the post-9/11 Bush era where everybody was on their toes about security and any endangering activity. According to The Guardian, he was regularly stopped, searched, followed, and even run out of town. (http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2009/oct/03/mitch-epstein-power-plants-photographs)

In the above image, you can see BP Carson Refinery in California. He took this in 2007, and published it in 2009 with Black River Productions. The aesthetic complexity of the facility provides a somewhat pleasing experience for onlookers, and the exposure Epstein has captured provides a warm yet somewhat overcast image of the place. In the image, the mechanical architecture is visually boxed in by the nature that surrounds it, almost a metaphor for the threatening ability that comes as an implication towards what these facilities are capable of doing to nature as a whole. These simple landscapes combine as something more, they have a certain silent comment attached about political and corporate power, which provides Epstein with freedom and ability to show the world what these places truly behold when they are seen bare from the public view. John Vidal says in a separate Guardian article "Epstein photographed coal mines, solar arrays, oilfields, half-empty dams, smokestacks, fuel cells, nuclear plants and pipelines, but also many of the things the most energy-profligate nation on earth does with all that power – such as build Las Vegas and golf courses in the desert, send tanks to Iraq, blow the tops off mountains to find coal, make nuclear bombs and electric chairs." All these photographs can be caption-free and still make a difference to viewers when the images are presented as one.

(http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2009/oct/03/mitch-epstein-power-plants-photographs)

This image is taken of Amos coal power plant, in Winfield, West Virginia, 2007. The Guardian claims that his pictures, he says, show the 'beauty and terror of early 21st-century America as it clings to past comforts and gropes for a more sensible future', a future with no current direction. This very tedious and exasperated method of energy creation has served its time for many decades, but the method has had little implication of bettering the world long-term whilst it does its job.

This image particular sticks out as a subtle way of showing where technology and nature blend in together fairly seamlessly. There is an argument to be had here as to whether this successfully merges the two or creates an imbalance of binary opposites. Taken in Altamont Pass wind farm, California, we can see the Wind Farm sits among nature with little more than a wave of some kind of blade placed out of harms way. With an exception to birds, this method does nothing to interrupt the nature surrounding it, aside from a visual disturbance for humans. Those who choose to complain about such facilities should reflect on the fact that there are truly worse things that could be seen, such as a very large chimney outputting harmful gas.

In this instance, my point is a little more obvious - this truly separates the foreground from the background. This image also shows Amos coal power plant, Raymond City, West ­Virginia, taken in 2004. The presence of greenery; trees and grass amongst the quaint little houses, all of it is interrupt by the gargantuan chimneys cascading in the background as towers. Aside from those who appreciate architecture, most people would believe this to be the true distraction, visually. Epstein has created a whole set of brilliantly captured photographs, with great composition, binary opposition, and comment. He will greatly influence my photography for this project.

A Look At Hydraulic Fracturing

Hydraulic Fracturing, which is also commonly referred to as Fracking, is the new kid on the block for energy creation. The name lends itself to the process of fracturing the rock deep under ground - this method is used in multiple ways for extraction purposes. The most common material being to release shale gas, tight oil, or any other valuable limited supply locked away in rocks that were previously unreachable. The water is usually mixed with sand or grit to help grind away at the available cracks hidden deep within the ground, these are known as fissures. These fissures can be as little as 1mm across before the grit gets to them, the grit then helps keep the fissures open for the extraction of sources that are deemed useful. The drill is usually sent downwards, then after a period of time, it's sent horizontal for miles at a time so that the whole rocky layer is exasperated of it's locked away resources.

The whole 'Fracking' process has come under a lot of fire with environmentalists as the sites where it takes place require transport of water in very large amounts, at a cost to the surrounding area. The process of which a drill has to gouge out huge holes within the rocks is a permanent thing, once the drilling is complete, that natural rock will always show gaping wells within the ground, and only for a limited benefit. The implications of destroying something permanently for a short fix (in the grand scheme of things) is a concern of many organisations, including Friends of the Earth. One spokesperson on behalf of this organisation, spoke for the BBC; "Shale gas is not the solution to the UK's energy challenges," said Tony Bosworth, Friends of the Earth energy campaigner. "We need a 21st century energy revolution based on efficiency and renewables, not more fossil fuels that will add to climate change."

Hydraulic Fracturing is just another way to avoid creating a modern energy solution for the growing problem of climate change, in a world with a limited number of years remaining before our worldly habitat becomes ever more dangerous for general living, and the resources we use are depleted to the point at which we would need to find another solution anyway. Fracking is only a diversion from the true problem that we face as a generation of people that need electricity for almost everything that we do, even the most mundane of tasks.

Temple of Power

The Temple of Power describes an energy facility that existed in 1940, but has since been decommissioned. Battersea Power Station, as it is formally known, actually only had 2 chimneys until around 1950, when the extra two were added. Needless to say, it was decommissioned within 1983, due to it's machinery wearing itself out, and the drifting of Coal as the industry leader for electricity creation. It was in 1980 that the boiler house roof was removed to help aid the process of removing a lot of the machinery.

The chimney's CO2 emissions can be seen lifting skywards as the industry's heavy reliance upon Coal had aided us in creating the next-generation of technology. Coal is still a fuel we choose to aid us in our creation, but as the environmental concerns creeped in, we have shifted a little ways towards wind-generated power sources, wave breaks, and some places choose to incorporate solar power - although this usually happens on a company by company basis. This monumental building truly showed us what capability we have in the coal industry, but also the potential destruction it can cause to our environment. The output of Carbon Dioxide into the atmosphere is slowly warming the planet, the very fact that this building isn't operational anymore is an initial step towards achieving a coal-free environment.

The remains of the building are now being renovated to create blocks of flats around it, and a shopping centre within the main building of Battersea Power Station. As you can see above, the building has already got mock-ups of its potential visual. The reuse of such a wonderful artefact will prolong its relevance within modern society, whilst also maintaining a hint towards its heroic past as a power house for energy creation. One step closer to a coal-free environment, one step closer to reducing CO2.