For the first project, I had to produce 4 images surrounding the theme of ‘environment’. Initially, I started idea generation from mind-maps, mood-boards and research. This helped me form ideas for shoots, and shape my journey to producing my four photos. This project has developed my way of approaching photography, looking for key elements of the space around me. I wanted to produce something that reflected the environment and how it has change over time.

I’ve always photographed people in my photography, but with this project, I wanted to push my skills and try something different. Photographing objects or areas that once used to be used by people. This inspiration especially came from Marc Wilson, the ideology and simplicity of his work. But there are many landscape photographers with different styles, which made exploring landscape broader.

In all four photos, there’s an element of something that’s has been left behind. From what once used to be used by us, but now left behind for the environment to take over. It has a sense of abandonment. Most of the images have affected the environment in some ways or another. Humans are the ones that are contributing to destroying the natural beauty of the environment that surrounds the landscape. But it’s interesting how the environment can change, and what new objects can be found, which is what I tried to photograph — looking for different shapes, lines, patterns, but also the simplicity of some objects. I think that sometimes the barer a photograph is, the more powerful or effective it can be.

The issues for me was choosing which locations to go with and picking the four final images. As the two locations are so different, however, both had lots of potential in different ways. But looking at what I wanted to do at the start initially, this guided me to shoot at Pegwell Bay more than the other. Another issue for me was shoot 3, as I wanted to shoot at the other end of the reserve, I wanted both shoots to match up. So I could potentially use them in the final four images. So I had to think about the time of day and weather. Shoot 1 had a clear sky, and I went late in the afternoon, but as I was doing this project at this time of year. The weather and brightness are unpredictable, as the sun sets earlier. Unfortunately, as I left, the sky was clear, but once I got to the location, clouds were gathering. But in the end, I don’t think it affected the result as bad as I was expecting.

Overall I’m happy with my outcome, this was a challenging project for me as it was out of my regular photography comfort, but I enjoyed exploring the theme of the environment. I wanted to capture a different style of landscape, rather than the typical traditional landscape photography. I feel that because of this, my images are stronger.