Plastic Pollution

Another Photographer I found on lens culture was Kris Hodson Moore. Kris similarly to Claire looked at plastic within portraiture and using plastic as a prop within her work. She uses the same technique as Claire in the style of the plastic suffocating the subject in the same way plastic suffocates birds and fish.

‘ Plastic is useful, but it ends up in the ocean and kills birds and fish and marine mammals. It can settle like a caul or become a suffocating threat’ (Moore 

© The Photographer’s Eye: A Creative Collective

I really like the style of photography that Moore uses, the pictures are stunning but also convey such a powerful message that I think go hand in hand perfectly. I like the way that the plastic bag is suffocating the subject to symbolise animal suffocating on plastic bags, although the subject isn’t actually suffocating, the way the images are shot make it seem like they are but in a very visually pleasing way. It sends a powerful message but in a more beautiful representation and I particularly like the images that in corporates the shots of the birds next to the portrait. I also think the background of the ocean where a lot of the plastic bags end up adds to the over all message of the image. The backdrop of the landscapes really add to the image, making the subject the centre of the image and making them stand out. The lighting and composition i these images also work very well for the tone, using natural light and showing off the beautiful colours of nature in the background, making the image seem more natural and realistic. The composition is different in each image, the more close up images of the model and the bag gives the image a more life like feel, as if you can almost see the oxygen being sucked out of the bag as well as the different angle in the last image of the woman standing to the side.

I decided to experiment by taking my own images in the style of Moore, using another of my housemates to have a bag over her head while I took her portrait. I like the use of the opaque bag so that you can see the facial features of the subject but also not as clearly and you would if it was just a natural portrait. The lighting and background however aren’t as exotic and if I were to re do these images I would like the explore more with using landscape backgrounds and natural light instead of the studio light. The images I took aren’t as pleasing as the one taken by Moore and I feel like this is a lot down to the backdrop. There is also a question of ethics as it isn’t pleasing having a plastic bag over your head and could be quite dangerous if not done correctly. I had full permission from my house mate to let me photograph her in this way however if I were to develop this idea further I would have to make sure that I make sure all the models I used were fully comfortable with this style and that the images were taken safely.