Fay Godwin

Fay Godwin was most known for her photographs of landscapes, the main point that she was trying to get across to people with these photographs is the beauty of the landscape and the natural yet also man made creations. She wanted people to conserve and look after what they had, appreciating it more for what it is.

There is a direct link with her work to my project as that is kind of what my work is all about, i want people to appreciate what they have more, rather than just dismissing it and not seeing it for what it is.

Stephen Gill

Stephen Gill created very interesting photographic pieces. He goes to different locations and he simply uses his camera and the materials around his to create some very interesting and different photographs that have never been created before.

He will look around the area where he is and pick up different waste things from the area, maybe things like pieces of plastic, dead flowers or bits of plants - anything that he has access to. He then opens up his camera and places it inside so that he creates like a photo-montage over time image he is taking, the images appear like a double exposure piece but everything is taken in one shot. Because he has placed these objects within his camera the layering effect has been created.

This is a really interesting and different way of creating photographic pieces. it's also interesting how he is photographing the environment but not simply just photographing it. Not only can you see what is obvious in front of the camera but you have that direct link to things that may be surrounding him but what has created that first layer of the image. The objects that he has placed there make that connection and give a better feel for the items that are around that area.

The environment - the good.

It is a proven fact that the environment, the areas in which we live in and the air we breathe do affect or health and our way of living. The better the environment and the cleaner it is, the better quality of life you will have.

Nature is a connection to a healthy lifestyle, if people got our more and appreciated what was surrounding them, rather than sitting at home doing nothing they would be more active by getting out and appreciating the environment and what they have surrounding them.

I think this is again something that annoys me about people, we have all these problems with health arising everyday, and there is a simple way to solve certain problems, being more active. There is a perfectly beautiful world out there that is waiting for people to go and explore it.

The thing that attracts me most to nature and landscape is the beauty and the peace that is within them, i think it also links back the the colours and boldness - this may have something to do with how I've always been quite abstract and been intrigued by colours and change - something that is continuous within the environment.

Images

A change?

The other day I went out and started taking photographs of the streets and areas surrounding my house, I went out with the intention of photographing the things that annoy me about the environment, such as the rubbish and over grown areas, to me I can't see when the areas in which we live and spend a lot of our time can't be properly looked after, especially places like parks which children spend a lot of their time in. So I started taking some photographs where I was focusing on the annoying side of the environment, and I constantly found myself getting distracted from what I was doing and started to take photos of the better things within the area, focusing of the beauty of nature and the landscape. Like I have said previously, my passion within the photographic field lies with landscape and nature photography and I guess this is its way of showing through, the fact that I am always drawn to the natural beauty of areas is quite interesting. Even though certain things annoy me like the littering and vandalism, I see past all of that and look for what is good and nice, this is something that I wish happened with all people, why find the need to vandalize, why not appreciate.

I am going to go through all of the images that I took the other day and I will post them above, there is a combination of both looking at the bad and the good within the environment.

ideas...

At the moment the idea that I have for this video is to base it around the environment - focusing on the negative side of things and the way the people are mistreating and not caring for the things that are surrounding them on an everyday basis.

As far as a debate is concerned is see this involves one because some people just don't care about the environment - i.e the people who are mistreating and vandalizing and littering everywhere. But the natural environment is fundamental to us, it is the base to everything and keeps us going. It is the reason for out food chain and helps us to live.  A lot of people don't see what is surrounding them in the way, but in actual fact that is reality and we should be taking care and appreciating the environment around us rather than treating it like a bin dustbin.


"Why Is the Environment Important to US?

Answer:

The environment is important to us as they support the ecosystem which is where we live, get our food from and get the air we breathe. It is the natural source of beauty which is an important factor to the well being of human beings"

"Why is Our Environment is Important?

The simplest explanation about why the environment matters is that, as humans, the environment-the Earth-is our home. It is where we live, breathe, eat, raise our children, etc. Our entire life support system is dependent on the well-being of all of the species living on earth. This is commonly referred to as the biosphere, a term created by Vladimir Vernadsky, a Russian scientist in the 1920s.The biosphere refers to one global ecological system in which all living things are interdependent."

"Another reason why the environment is so important is because it is a source of natural beauty. According to Healthy nature healthy people: contact with nature as an upstream health promotion intervention for populations,"

- http://greenliving.lovetoknow.com/Why_is_Our_Environment_Important

This is just a little bit of research surrounding the idea that is in my head at the moment, I am going to look into it more and get a better understanding for the different debates  surrounding it and also go out and take some photographs of the area surrounding me and try to show the way it is being mistreated and how it is affecting people.

Brain storming ideas

I know the area that I specialize in withing photography, that being nature and landscape based work. This is the main thing that I want to take into this time based piece. Using the theme of nature and landscape (probably more landscape and environment based more than anything) I need to come up with an idea that is influenced by a debate - it needs to be something that is meaningful to me.

At the moment I am a little bit stuck for ideas on what my video can consist of, I have started brain storming by creating a very basic mind map with a few different ideas on it;

There are two different directions withing this mind map, it could either be taken in the direction of showing the good side of the environment like the natural beauty of the landscapes with trees, field and flowers or showing the negative side, being the vandalism and the littering and the general pollution of the environment.

Even though I have this mind map I am still a little bit stuck on which direction to go in, so I need to do a bit of research to help inform me.

I think I am going to base this piece around the local area where I live, purely because it is something that I am very familiar with and I see what changes on a daily basis, there are both positive and negative things that happen so I can take it in either direction.