Task Two - Researching

It has taken me a while to create my idea's for my second task but finally after a walk up the woods it came to me. I want to focus my second task on Deforestation as it is effetcing my local area. The place i have chosen to photograpgh is Cobham woods, its a wild wood, not really cared for but known for its freedom in its tracks. The paths have been created by dog walkers and others making it feel a more relaxed area. Recently, i have come across parts of the wood which is now being flattened and changed for 'public enjoyment' causing more trees to be cut down as well as the natural enviroment disturbed. Cobham woods has always been a well known place to walk through for many years untouched. Only the occasional cutting back of overgrown thistle bushes and nettles. Not far from cobham is Shourn country park, a wood which was created into a nicer environment for the public, flattened, paths created, trees cut and re-planted, cycle routes, cafes etc all put in place. It seems now that cobham is slowly changing into a similar state. I want to try and capture this use of deforestation, this change on film.

After my tutorial I was able to think clearer about my idea's. With the help from Steffi' i am now able to research further into artists with the similar theme of Deforestation like one photographer, known as Edgar Martins.
Martins grew up in china and moved to the UK in 1997 where he completed a BA in Photography and Social Sciences at the London Institute, followed by an MA in Photography and Fine art at the Royal College of Art. Famous for his creative photography and composition i find his work can relate to my project. Looking at the book 'Edgar Martins TOPOLOGIES' by the Aperture foundation, i have found a set of beautiful images that can relate to the work i am trying to portray.

Untitled, from the series The Rehearsal of Space 2005

Looking at this photo i really love the colour and distance between the camera. I really like how the raw ground is spaced with less tree's causing the bland colours to help give  a sadness to the photo.

Untitled, from the series The Rehearsal of Space 2005

I actually love this photo, the road worn by cars, the trees seem distant and unimportant. What i like most about this photo is the fog that falls upon the road and hides the path. If i could get my images a similar mood would be a great achievement. It being colour photography too is one i haven't yet properly expermimented with, but the use of coulour in both of these images is used well. It isnt over bearing or too contrasted but has the perfect tones to create such a dark sorrowful mood.

Also fitting in with my project would be his series called 'The diminishing Present' which is another series of photographs all consistent to landscapes of uncertainty transistion and opposition. The photos in this series are captured all with purpose which gives the impression of a fragmented and dispersed meaning. Our human perceptions differ when we look at these photographs, we search for a meaning, from all the different societys in the world; the way people live and interact with their surrounding environment. Martins has tried and succeeded to present this. 

'At times my work seems to question whether space as a totality escapes the perception of the individual; whether our experience of place, as a whole, has become an incipient forum of disruptive experiences and expression; whether the movement of information and people and the commodification of cultural forms outlines a unique body of flow and false consciousness.' Edgar Martins

The Diminishing Present is a journey of recognition: the city and space, as an object of understanding is changing and because of this we need to find a new critical language that supports it, a new system of knowledge. This work shows the failure and promise of success.

Below are a few images from his series 'The Diminishing Present':

I have noticed throughout the series all of the photos are dark and all have a consistent simpleness to them. I really like the last photo, i think the soft glow of the street lamp really captures a distant feel, especially as its surroundings are bare and empty. Saying that though the other two photographs also seem bare and empty, i see the top image is as if it has been mirrored. 

I'm not too keen on this series of photographs, i definitely prefer the previous series as i feel it relates well with my current project.

Robert Adams - 'Turning back'

This is a photographic journal of Re-Exploration, it contains a story that begins at the Pacific Ocean and moves Eastward through what was once and known for being one of the worlds great rain forests. Not being able to look at the book personally makes it harder to give a better understanding of what the journal contains. However towards the middle of the book photos report on the destruction of the forest. 

Robert Adams was inspired by a Lewis and Clarks expedition and their research, discoveries which led him to create 'Turning Back'.

On his journey he recorded how the land had been use, for example the new tourist attractions, how the land had been cut and new farms created. The pictures offer a reflection on the promise described by Lewis and Clark, a meditation on what was lost and what is retained, what we value regionally and as people with a common history.

A few photos from this journal are below: 

 

Looking at these photos they really link in with my theme of my project. The pictures portray the environment in a way in which we can see our faults to it. For example the tree stump with the road behind it, man made things are battling and changing the environment leaving it an ugly state. 

The second photo is a felid of chopped down tree's also left. The photos are shocking as we never see such photos  t eh press or media. We hear of it but never think strongly about it. 

Inspired by these photos i could really use this technique of combining the natural environment with the manmade detruction. This could really help in my final photos.