Land and Nature - Presentation Script

With the event a couple of days away, Kat and I have volunteered to speak for our group during the presentation. We could both do with a bit of practice so this seemed like the perfect opportunity. To create our script we rewrote the bios that everyone had put up on google drive. By putting it into our own words it will be easier for us to read from.

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Our Presentation Script

KAT - INTRO

We choose to visualise ‘Land and Nature’ for this project. The principle was all about the protection and restoration of land for the benefit of people and wildlife. Murray Ballad was the photographer who given to us as inspiration. His work was based around capturing how humans have changed and shaped our landscape in a positive way. The alternative would be to photograph the negative effects we have on our landscape which some of us have opted for.

HANNAH

Ray’s images depict man's interaction with the landscape. Our 'natural’ landscape is often disturbered and abused by people. Ray decided to show the fallout of our activity. This often causes detrimental effects to the landscape due to objects polluting and seeping into the ground, water and atmosphere. These images were taken in Wiltshire showing an example of a country lane littered with man's capitalist waste.

KAT

Aaron’s wanted to document the human impact on Dartmoor National Park. It shows that even the most rural, hard to reach parts of Dartmoor, are still affected. Inspired by the works of Richard Moss, he wanted to replicate the effect of Colour Infrared Film to shift the green shades into a bold, eye catching magenta/red. Aaron chose to use the red, as a metaphor for the harm we are leaving behind us, polluting the water and the ground.

HANNAH

Kat and I chose to focus on plastic on our beaches. For our first shoot we were inspired by Andy Hughes who photographs for the Surfers Against Sewage campaign. In his images he tends to keep the horizon in the background so we opted to use this style for aesthetic purposes. We chose to isolate the pieces of plastic in order to make an impact on the viewer. By choosing to use a shallow depth of field it removes all distractions and directs the viewer's eye towards the plastic. By making a triptych from these images we hope to make a lasting impression.

HANNAH

For the second part we decided to capture the action of picking up the litter to create more of a personal connection between the viewer and the cause. To achieve this we decided to focus on people’s hands as this implies that anyone could be picking up the rubbish and shows that they too could lead their own hand to this cause. By photographing the process it imbeds the idea into their minds, so perhaps the next time they see litter on the beach they will be more inclined to pick it up and dispose of it.

KAT

Megan grew up in the countryside, so this topic was an easy choice for her. She has chosen to show both side of nature, life and death. Death, symbolised by the use of a skull has been paired with a photograph of the animal in its prime. She wanted to study the animals anatomy and lifestyle to acquire a better understanding of the way they live. Her Grandad helped her to find the objects and this relationship inspired her to do this project. The red represents the energy it took for her to take these images and the power of these animals, no matter how small. She chose this, the colour of blood and fire, as the background for her objects to create some contrast against the green in her other images. Green is often said to be the colour of life.

HANNAH

In contrast Astrids work looks at how nature is fighting back against the urbanisation of our countryside. The aim was to highlight the organisms that surround us everyday. Her images were captured with an almost forensic style as if it’s criminal for these plants to grow through the cracks to survive. She achieved this look by using flash and a high contrast to isolate the plants from their backdrops. The use of a macro lens keeps the focus sharp on the flowers.

KAT - OUTRO

As a collective I believe we have shown all sides of Land and Nature. On one side showing the detrimental effect we are having on our landscapes. Others have shown the beauty that can often go undiscovered.