Major Project Evaluation

Major Project Evaluation

The major project began in October, spanning almost the entire year. Before it began, we were all sent on a mini project to discover what sort of image we would find on the front of a newspaper, without giving it an explanation as to why. I chose to photograph the decommissioned Battersea Power Station, and at the time there were many stories coming out about renovating it to become a shopping and hotel complex. But it soon kicked off a tangent of focus upon energy creation here in Britain. From here on I decided delve more into looking at coal power stations, the lack of green energy, and the damage that these facilities have on our environment.

I went on to do many photoshoots in Dungeness, Grain, Oxford, Derby, and many other places. My focus soon started to turn towards the nature that surrounded these commissioned and decommissioned energy facilities, as I thought it was a notable that the foliage within the area was overpowered by streams of smoke and visually distracting grey buildings. After this, I decided to name my project Energy vs Nature. This was something I concentrated on heavily, producing macro photos of delicate plants next to huge behemoth cooling towers and pylons. I feel that this became a comment of where we had come as a society, that these facilities were a distraction. The irony of their existence being that they create energy to sustain life, whilst being bad for the environment and killing life - or at least aiding the process of killing it.

This focus felt like the right path to take as it meant I could explore macro photography in comparison to longer landscape photography. This naturally developed into a project incorporating diptychs, as it was obvious to many that I should compare subject against another. Energy vs Nature focuses heavily on the comparison of these industrial energy facilities and their visual distractions towards the delicate and intricate beauty found within the nature surrounding them. It aims to make a salient consideration for the reckless effect these man-made structures have on the general environment around them. This project highlights the distinct differences and aesthetic similarities we have inadvertently created between these opposing subjects.

I feel that my time management and continuous photographic testing was very successful in the sense that I did shoot after shoot to get the right imagery that both I and my tutor agreed upon, and best represented the project idea at hand. I do however feel that I could have tried a few more locations even still, as I could have expanded it even further by visiting an even greater collection of places. If I had to do this again in the future, I would choose to shoot on a higher-grade professional camera, full frame rather than a camera with a crop sensor. Overall I am extremely happy with my project, and hope that it comes across as strong as I feel it is.