The Environment: Critical Appraisal

‘The Environment’

I came up with my idea for The Environment project, simply by walking round the Chatham and Rochester area, trying to see if anything interested/inspired/annoyed me. Especially in the Chatham area, I noticed a lot of littering, especially the dumping of random items such as trolleys, sofa's and all sorts. I decided it would be interesting to maybe photograph objects in the environment, positioned in interesting ways. I thought the concept of 'human intervention on the landscape' could be something to work on. To look at, and experiment how humans can change the way the environment is perceived without really noticing. I plan on photographing dumped items exactly how they were left, that way the idea of human intervention is evident.

First of all I looked at the photographer Richard Wentworth:

Richard Wentworth creates a series of photographs, based on the litter he finds placed down Caledonian Road in London. When researching this series I was completely inspired by the way a random object placed in an interesting way can change completely what the environment. Usually, litters seen as something disgusting and accidental. Wentworth photographs the objects in a way that they are interesting for the viewer and are the main focus rather than the environment.

  In comparison to the work of Richard Wentworth, Roger Mears' photographs of litter in the environment are on a much larger scale, I believe he's trying to show in his photograph how litter can ruin a landscape, the human intervention turns something that’s stereotypically beautiful into something abstract. I find this concept fascinating, how something so ordinary like rubbish found on the street can look completely different when added to a beautiful landscape.

Development: Comparing these two photographers enabled me to develop my idea, the two photographs inspired me to create a final image including litter that had been placed in a landscape and to therefore create an interesting final image.