3D Analysis

Chris Jordan - Message From The Gyre

Chris Jordan has been working on this project since 2009 and it is still going on with shocking/worse findings than previous years. It's a project where he travels to Midway Atoll (a group of islands far away from any land other than themselves) and studies the large amounts of birds found dead around the islands. Thousands of albatrosses are found dead by plastic poisoning - parents of these chicks find them food but often find plastic instead which to them looks the same. The Pacific Ocean is extremely polluted so when the tide comes in, it washes up plenty of harmful plastic. The photographer has written a few words about this project on his website - 'For me kneeling over their carcasses is like looking into a macabre mirror. These birds reflect back an appallingly emblematic result of the collective trance of our consumerism and runaway industrial growth. Like the albatross, we first-world humans find ourselves lacking the ability to discern anymore what is nourishing from what is toxic to our lives and our spirits. Choked to death on our waste, the mythical albatross calls upon us to recognize that our greatest challenge lies not out there, but in here.' He pulls apart carcasses and captures the contents inside. It tends to include a variety of plastics such as bottle tops, bits of lego and plastic wire. The two photographs below both manage to capture the shaping of the bird once the animal has been opened as well as the contents from inside. The project is a very interesting one as it really opens up your eyes about what is going on and what happens when you through that plastic bottle on the ground. Everything eventually ends up in the sea so we need to be more cautious with what we're putting on the ground as when animals consume these items it kills them and can also harm us in the long run.

Information/images from http://www.chrisjordan.com/gallery/midway/#about

Andy Hughes

Andy Hughes is a photographer who often works with large organisations and companies such as National Geographic, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. He explores the pollution within our oceans and works a lot on our coastlines and beaches. In 2013 he was invited to take part in a project called Gyre: The Plastic Ocean which was a large project which a lot of scientists, researchers and creators took part in. He has a book called Dominant Wave Theory which is very popular and well-known. It includes essays by great professionals and documents the things found on beaches. In this book he documents the beauty of the beaches when they're conserved and cleaned (example below).

The image below was taken in Cornwall in 2003 and shows the purity and beauty we can have if we stop polluting our lands and oceans. I really like this piece as there is a clear divide between the 3 elements - sky, sea and land. I like how the colourings are all bright enough but also clear and not largely contrasting.

As well as showing the beaches in all their glory, he also shows them at their worst. He documents the rubbish people leave around as well as the rubbish which gets washed up. All of these style pieces are taken quite low down on the ground so that it still captures as much of the sand, sky and sea as possible. The pieces of rubbish are always bright and colourful which makes the pieces very dynamic and eye-catching. As I'm a fan of still life anyway, these pictures are very inspiring and stand out as good pieces of work. I really admire his work in this book.