The Commission: prints and contact sheets

These are the first few images I took for my series. I knew what I wanted from my images; drawing on my inspirations, but I wasn't sure how to achieve it and only realised I hadn't until I looked at my negatives.

The angles aren't quite right and in some images there are too many other distractions. In the images of my subject on the sofa I wanted a much more symmetrical look like that of my subject on the left who I made my first print of.

However, I then realised the photograph did not focus enough on my concept - the second hand market. I realised I needed to change my subjects position in relation to the furniture and put more emphasis on this.

I re-shot the subject on the right and my third with a good outcome.

This is the second contact sheet of images I took; focussing again on the second subject as in my other. It was hard to photograph my subject - my dad, because he works away and I had two opportunities over a period of a couple of months to take my images.

I also photographed the subject I hadn't made a portrait of yet in my second shoot; trying to keep the aesthetics the same for both portraits.

I worked on what I decided was the fault of my last shoot, and perfected the pose and symmetry of my subjects.

Upon looking at my contact sheet it became clear that my focus was not perfect on every image but I needed to choose the ones I did for the composition of my subjects within the frame and the significant similarity between the two I ended up printing for my series.

Something quite frustrating about the two images I took of my new subject which I couldn't print is the fact that the only location I could have taken the image to fit the series would have meant cropping the top of the head in order to remove distracting features. I feel the photograph marked with the X has the right aesthetics to match my visual references, but not to how I have ended up photographing my subjects.

This is the last contact sheet I produced in preparation for my final print.

I experimented with the use of including other small second hand items in my photographs but felt this only caused a distraction and I wanted to achieve the simplicity and the clean look of my influences.

My aim of this shoot was to fit in my last image with the rest of my series which is why I experimented with pose and distance so much to try and recreate the previous.

I tried very much to match the position and distance of this subject to my previously photographed subjects so that it would fit in properly.

I also wanted to correct my last mistake of not including enough of the furniture in the photograph and not drawing enough emphasis upon it. This is why I angled the chair and changed the pose leading it slightly away from directly front on to the camera. I still wanted it to fit in with my other chosen images so I tried to make this change subtle. I then chose to place this print in the middle of my series as it had a slightly different look to my other two prints.

Looking at my contact sheets, I can see images that I feel may have worked better together but at the time of shooting and printing, I did not have all of my negatives together to compile my series at once. This is something I would like to definitely do for future projects.

My Series

Large 3 seat leather reclining sofa: £57
Average price new: £1500

Solid wood table: £60
Average price new: £500

Large solid wood chair: £35
Average price new: £100

'BC Rich' electric guitar: £147
Average price new: £600

'Marshall' amp: £30
Average price new: £200

The Commission - My Research: Anne Hardy

Anne Hardy's photographs of constructed sets of unusual interiors is what she is primarily known for. This work of hers consists of items and furniture which she has collected from places like markets and jumble sales or skips - second hand, and arranged within her studio and then photographed. In this sense, she relates very well to the subjects within my series because there are links evident (in both her photographic choices and with my series) with the population and the second hand market.

Cipher

Aspects in some of Hardy's work such as in Cipher, provide a painterly and atmospheric aesthetic. This is achieved by the hazy glow being produced by the fluorescent lights; the " faux grotto" walls; and the differing levels of the hanging ropes having an effect spatially upon the room. These aren't just objects found carelessly on the street and thrown into a room together to produce something that could look kind of cool. They are carefully considered objects being places appropriately with each other to create a style which is then complimented with the decoration and technical choices Hardy makes. They are works of art. Hardy often admits to reshooting her images, even if the changes made is moving an object by centimetres.

*** 

Prime

This second image including the skylights relates well to my choice of using natural lighting because of how the source of light in her work is intended to, and does a very good job of looking like natural daylight. It further evokes the feeling of the set being a regular but just unusually adorned room, which in reality, it is not.

***

Untitled VI

In an article on 'The Guardian' called "Anne Hardy's best shot", she speaks about an image of hers she particularly likes from 2005. Her sets built in her studio are centred around the camera so it is more photography related than an installation. She used a medium format camera, like I chose to do, and a wide angle lens which makes sense to photograph a whole "room". I used a standard lens however, as I was only photographing certain scenes in a room.

***

A major similarity between mine and Anne Hardy's work, is that  it somewhat showcases the second hand market. Although Hardy uses a lot of small objects and waste in her images to fill up the room, she also uses furniture and larger objects - this is where the second hand market comes into it and more specifically; it's availability.

Through her printing method Hardy gives the viewer of the image a sense of looking into the room. This is aided by the inclusion of so much of the space and objects in her photograph - namely, her choice of a wide angle lens.

References:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2007/jan/11/photography.architecture
http://www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk/artists/anne_hardy.htm

The Commission - My Research: Alex Soth

"I fell in love with the process of taking pictures, with wandering around finding things. To me it feels like a kind of performance. The picture is a document of that performance".

Alex Soth expresses the need to tell a story through his photography and express the narrative but admits he struggles to do so. "Photographs often leave me feeling like something is missing". This is almost like what I wanted to do with my photographs - tell a personal story.

It is an opinion that the best photographs inspire curiosity rather than satisfy it and I believe I may have achieved this is my series with the simplistic framing and the subtle use of money that will make people wonder what the significance of it is. Hopefully people will look at my series and want to know what the significance of the people in their locations are too and their link with them, and in turn, understand the context. I think this is also a similar element in Soth's work. For example, his photograph below, of an older male next to what looks like a cabin holding a model aeroplane in each hand.

Soth talks about how the house caught his eye. He went and enquired and met the man's wife who told him that he had in fact build the house. She also explained how Charles and his daughter built model planes in the room he called his 'cockpit' on the 4th floor entered via a ladder. The room was small and lined with windows; too small to photograph in. The photograph is taken on the roof.

 'Charles, Vasa, Minnesota 2002'

This image provokes my interest (just as Alec Soth talks about this house and the people provoking his) and there also seems to be some juxtaposition between the apparent age of the man and the fact that his hobby is often also shared by children.

The isolation of the subject relates to how I have chosen to frame my subjects with a shallow depth of field. Although the second hand items are important in my series and to my concept, the concentration on the subjects is to give it context and I chose to do this to make it personal.

***

This image of Soth's would have been a perfect visual reference for my concept had I pursued my first idea about photographing a constructed set in a random location.

***

Two visual references of Alec Soth's which I found inspired my photographic choices are the portraits below of the women in what seems like their homes. They seem to suit the colour tones in the rooms. It is their posture and their relationship to the camera which I have recreated in my own series as well as their natural expressions and contexts within the photographs.

References:
http://www.seesawmagazine.com/soth_pages/soth_interview.html

Critical Appraisal: The Commission (300 words)

My series is about the availability of the second hand market and the advantage of having it in our current economy as well as the anonymity behind is context. My series is based around perfectly good furniture and objects which have become waste to one person but are appreciated by others; one mans trash is another mans treasure. I feel my work would sit best in an exhibition.

My understanding of the issues of waste is that it is generally a negative thing but has many different definitions. Waste can be positive: recycling; compost; the second hand market. I wanted to demonstrate a positive outcome of the issue.

To begin with I wanted to photograph a constructed set after being inspired by Anne Hardy’s work (my research here) but abandoned this idea because I felt it lacked depth. Then I decided I wanted to make portraits with a more personal touch. I looked at Alec Soth’s work (my research here) and aspired to recreate the subtle tones, square aesthetic and precise framing in my own series. I also spent some time researching the second hand market’s advantages and popularity found here. 

I chose to utilise natural lighting giving a more personal feel to my images. I used ISO 160 film for clarity and used a shallow depth of field to focus on either the faces of my subjects or the significant object and to demonstrate the personal essence in my series.

I managed my studies by taking two photographs and printing these, then re-shooting the other I took at an earlier stage - having already discarded the print. This way I worked well with two images and then concentrated on matching my last to fit the series (contacts and prints here) Time management is the most challenging aspect and to overcome this I need to plan each movement for future projects.

The Commission: Contextual 'Waste' project research and developments

I decided to do some more contextual research into the benefits of the second hand market and discovered another very important layer to my concept. Recycling furniture through the second hand market benefits not only the people involved but the environment. This is because the use of resources in manufacturing new furniture is reduced and therefore less "waste" is produced. So not only are people finding a home for second hand furniture considered waste to some, but they are stopping the necessity for the disposal, recycling and process of it becoming technical waste.

A also looked more into the links between the second hand market and our current economic status as I want to make a comment about this. Freecycle is a website devoted to allowing the exchange of second hand items.

"The worldwide Freecycle Network is made up of many individual groups across the globe. It's a grassroots movement of people who are giving (and getting) stuff for free in their own towns. Freecycle groups match people who have things they want to get rid of with people who can use them. Our goal is to keep usable items out of landfills. By using what we already have on this earth, we reduce consumerism, manufacture fewer goods, and lessen the impact on the earth. Another benefit of using Freecycle is that it encourages us to get rid of junk that we no longer need and promote community involvement in the process."

By October of 2008, the number of internet searches in the UK consisting of the words 'second hand' had increased by 22% in a year. Cars, books and furniture are among the top listed. People realise that they can save money and help the environment by purchasing second hand items and this is what I want to display in my series.

***

• My selection of the furniture in my images will hopefully lead viewers to realise the nature of them because they won't look like the new, perfect, modern products selling now - they are not newly bought or made.

• The way in which I frame and compose my portraits will also hopefully draw emphasis to the furniture, and therefore their appearance and showcase it well. My subtle use of money (present in the image but not in sharp focus) will emphasis the economic benefit.

References:

• http://www.kimberlymichaudinteriors.com/kami-online-design-services-0
• http://uk.freecycle.org/
• http://weblogs.hitwise.com/robin-goad/2008/10/second_hand_goods_classifieds_freecycle.html

'Waste' Concept Update

Thought Management

Having received research from my partner from the Commission seminar task, it made me think a lot more about my idea. Anne Hardy, Mario Caicedo Langer, Matt Wain and Katie Thompson are among the artists related to my initial concept of the lack of recession for second hand buyers and how second hand products which are waste to one person are useful and loved by another.

I looked at Anne Hardy's constructed sets in relation to my very first original idea of photographing a living set up of second hand furniture placed in a random location. However, I felt this concept lacked depth because despite the location representing it's purpose in one place when it has been discarded from somewhere else, it still seemed much too random and not considerate enough. This idea would also lead to with difficulties of finding location and transport, and most importantly, the whole room of second hand furniture.

Then I considered the idea of making something useful from waste products - recyclable materials and scrap metal etc. This is exactly what Mario Caicedo Langer does; constructing ornaments or furniture and turning the theory of 'waste' around into a more positive subject along with Katie Thompson who transforms objects. I would have liked to experiment with this idea but didn't want to risk choosing it solidly for my concept in the danger that I would not be able to produce something of value to photograph and especially in enough time.

Conclusion

Then I really decided I wanted to focus on second hand furniture because I have a tie to it and wanted to portray a personal message through my photographs. My family have always purchased second hand furniture because it has been the best and most cost effective choice for our lifestyle. I want to portray the advantage of buying second hand and in a sense, how there is no recession for second hand buyers because the economy does not affect them in the same way it does others.

So a summary of my concept would be the availability of the second hand market and the advantage of having it in our current economy and the anonymity behind it's context; one mans trash is another mans treasure.

Visual choices

I am still playing around with a few visual ideas for my series - the composition and framing mainly and how each image in my series will work together because I want them to flow really well. This is something I failed to achieve in my last two series I presented for the Environment projects. 

My new idea is to take a set of portraits of second hand buyers with their furniture. For example, I visualise each person to be sitting and looking straight towards the camera. I have decided I will use medium format colour on my Hasselblad 500 c/m and isolate my subjects with their objects with a very shallow DOF.

I am also considering involving the subtle presence of money. For example, a small pile of notes sitting on the lap of each of my subjects. This brings in the economical advantage to buying second hand and brings a new level to my concept. I feel there would be something lacking without the presence of this, especially as the idea of second hand furniture in itself is strongly linked to money in general. I have also thought about somehow labelling the furniture with it's price which will be low and therefore give some indication to it's context and how it was not brought new. I need to go about this very carefully though as to keep the image subtle, natural and classy.

I also want to experiment with including my dog in my series who we rescued from a dog home (and in that sense is second hand) but I do not know if I want to take it that far yet.

I like Alec Soth's almost minimal style and the muted tones. The posture and pose of these subjects as well as the context of them is something I'd like to incorporate into my own series although the lighting in my images will hopefully be slightly warmer.

Planning

I would have liked to visually explore my previous ideas more, but instead I allowed myself a lot of time simply for thought and working out how they would work in my mind which is how I work comfortably. As well as this, my previous ideas are not something I could have easily and quickly have explored because they would have taken time and organisation to photograph and all to possibly just discard the idea which I would not have had time to do.

I intend to shoot at least one roll of film this weekend to experiment with how each of the elements I want to include will look. What I can make work. What I need to leave out of my series. One of the images I want to include will be taken in my own home where we have an abundance of second hand subjects and very beautiful natural light every now and again which I want to really take advantage of.

Images to come...

Research Task: Laura Dack's research for my project

Concept: the lack of a recession for the second hand market and the availability of hand-me-down products

ANNE HARDY

Hardy’s work is constructed within empty spaces, repopulated with sourced second hand furnishings and objects that reanimate the ‘room’ into discombobulated, dystopian environments. The lack of displayed human interaction leaves us to create how the rooms came to be how they appear, rendering their disorientating appearance ‘dreamscapes’. Her images appear painterly, as they are constructed to be viewed purely from the camera’s vantage point, producing a purely two-dimensional environment. The images will always appear unreal or fabricated, yet the scenes depicted still ‘possess’ the space.

In looking at her work, the concept of using an object from someone else’s life to create a new pictorial one springs to mind. Second hand objects carry with them a story of their past ‘life’ and in creating new images with them it carries on both their legacy and their function. Reusing furniture reduces waste that has been created by fly-tippers, but can be used to a similar visual effect, as if they have been dropped into the scenes.

Detatched, 2009

Cell, 2004

Untitled VI, 2005

MARIO CAICEDO LANGER
Langer works with broken gadgets, scrap metal and other unwanted waste to create a series of cyborg-style sculptural creations. He reuses a common waste product due to the vast increase in electrical consumerism and consumption in the past thirty years. The forms he creates take items that would otherwise take a lot of energy to melt down into bi-products and reform, and creates new products that can be reused in their reincarnations.

Langer’s art inspires ideas of using found, ‘unneeded’ or refused objects to create something functional once more, such as ornaments as he did, or other items such as furniture. 

Tin Man, 2009

Robo-Planter, 2011

MATT WAIN

I came across this commercial photographer when researching photographers who shoot portraits of people in their personal environments. I was drawn to using his work as an example in this research as in these shots the use of the environment expresses the idea that people have a relationship with furniture and visa versa. This made me think about the change that occurs to cast-off or second hand furniture that is bought or collected; does it lose its story/surface memory when passed from one person to another, and how does it reincorporate itself into a new environment.

Obviously the furniture in his images doesn’t suggest they are second hand but it is relevant to the portraiture theme of the project to see the relationship between subject and environment. From this I personally would be inspired to photograph the homes of those who collect second hand furniture but, unlike the work of Anne Hardy, I would have the subject in the image to draw parallels between the furniture and the owner, suggesting the personal relationship between them.

KATIE THOMPSON

Thompson is a South African designer who fashions furniture from recycled objects, such as old suitcases, buckets and umbrellas. The pieces she creates have a vintage finish to them, showing that recycled goods can seem upmarket and need a second glance to notice why they have a quirky edge to them, rather than old rusty objects cluttering up gutters. The concept of recycling objects before they decompose or lay waste in a rubbish dump is a fast growing concept and many boutiques offer these kinds of products.

My research has inspired me to come up with an idea to collect objects from people I know and from fly tipping that are no longer wanted or needed to craft a new environment in a studio. Although overly ambitious, this is what my visual concept would start out as:

I would use these objects to reconstruct either a 360˚/270˚ scene of a room, or multiple single vantage point scenes of a room, and photograph various parts of the scene to create various narratives about the suggested inhabitant of the scene. I would construct furniture in the style of Katie Thompson, by using bits of furniture and other objects. I would be tempted to pastiche the dystopian backdrops of Anne Hardy’s work and also her use of hanging objects to fill the room so that no part of the image(s) is empty.  

If I were to create just one scene, I would shoot it from various angles with a shallow depth of field focusing on the key item in each image, which I would intend on basing a story around.

If three separate scenes were created, I would shoot with a large depth of field to emphasise the sheer amount of objects, as I would aim to cram a lot into one area, creating jumble heaps, much like scenes in the movie Labyrinth in the junk yard where children’s forgotten things end up.

I would light it with the studio’s own continuous overhead tungsten lighting and use a softbox flash, to recreate interior lighting and a natural light source like a window to highlight some objects, possibly coming through a fake window.

Research Task: My research for Laura Dack's project

My research for Laura Dack's project.

Basic concept: the rate of decay and consumption concerning waste.

Who
 would 
you 
look 
at 
and 
what 
ideas 
can
 you 
take
 from
 those 
photographers/artists
 in 
order
 
to 
structure 
the 
project?


David Maisel
David Maisel is a perfect visual reference for the aspect of decay in this concept in terms of both still life and landscapes and he would definitely be an influence of mine. Popular work of his comes in the form of the still life images he has produced from photographing copper canisters originally kept at the Oregon State Insane Asylum (where 'One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest' was filmed in 1975). 


Having looked into these photographs, I discovered that the copper of the containers reacted with water when they were kept in an underground archive at the asylum which flooded numerous times over a number of decades. This is what caused the different formations and colours on the cans during their time in the depository where they were left. The canisters contain ashes of patients who were never claimed by anyone. Each can is individual and unique, just like we are. Metaphorically these cans become almost like portraits of the people who's ashes reside inside.

"These deformations sometimes evoke the celestial - the northern lights, the moons of some alien planet, or constellations in the night sky. Sublimely beautiful, yet disquieting, the enigmatic photographs in Library of Dust are meditations on issues of matter and spirit."

As is evident from the above photograph, Maisel uses a very shallow depth of field which highlights detail in the formations; similarly to how a portrait photographer may use a very shallow DOF to focus on the eyes of their subject to highlight their importance. Maybe Maisel is trying to say something about these people through representing the cans in this way specifically.

Despite the nature of the objects and the negative connotations linked to them through their origin, the subjects in their present form are strangely beautiful. The shallow DOF aids this but it is predominantly the colour and detail in the photographs that makes them so.

Maisel’s 'Library of Dust' monograph was called “a fevered meditation on memory, loss, and the uncanny monuments we sometimes recover about what has gone before" by The New York Times.

***

From looking at the interior images of the Asylum taken by Maisel, vibrant colour and either natural light or light coming specifically from lightbulbs seems to run through all of his images in this body of work. To me this makes them striking just like his photographs of the canisters.

There is something strange about the beautiful natural light coming in from the windows and the brightly painted walls when perceiving this in context - this is a stark juxtaposition with the nature of the location and it's history although this is displayed visually also through the peeling paint and random rubble carpeting these same rooms. I personally really like these photographs. Both elements photographed of the Asylum - the canisters and interiors and part of Maisel's body of work 'Library of Dust'.

The DOF used for the photographs of the interiors is larger than that of the canisters. This allows the details of the peeling walls and the dirt lining the edges of the room to retain their detail as these are important aspects of the photos visual elements and meaning. The natural aesthetics that both sets of these photographs take on are something that can be used in your own project to help structure it. It makes them more relatable in the sense of their realism and also how we often strive for beauty.

References:
http://lookintomyowl.com/david-maisel-library-of-dust.html
http://davidmaisel.com/works/lod.asp
http://davidmaisel.com/




Robert Polidori
Robert Polidori has created photographs of destroyed interiors after the New Orleans flood, the aftermath of hurricane Katrina and photographed buildings greatly affected by the Chernobyl disaster. The visual approach to his images are similar in a way to Maisel's. The buildings are adorned with bright colours despite the negative context they are in.

It is said that "Polidori transcends the limits of photography and captures traces of the human condition — paradoxically, in places that have usually been abandoned and are devoid of human presence. Each photograph amounts to a social portrait, revealing the soul of its various subjects, and layering both past and present in poignant works steeped in sorrow and beauty."

The theme of decay is as much evident in these images as Maisel's asylum work. I get the impression more from Maisel's series that these places have been abandoned for a long time which supports the concept of the rate of decay specifically. However, Polidori's seem more like it is simply documenting the stare of these interiors.

Other similarities between the two interior works which I feel work very well are:

• the large depth of field displaying the detail of the decay and allowing all aspects of the images to become equal in importance (and for the scenes to be viewed as a whole).
• The seemingly natural light providing some beauty to the devastating scenes.

References:

http://arttattler.com/archiverobertpolidori.html

Andreas Gursky

A good photographer to look at in terms of consumption which his project particularly his 99-cent work. He photographs things on a large scale, which would relate to a theme of a fast rate of consumption.

References:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/99_Cent_II_Diptychon

***

How 
would 
you 
choose 
to 
portray 
the 
concept?

I would chose to portray this concept though landscape or the interiors of decaying buildings because these can look very effective when the decay is displayed through a large scale. However, a smaller still life could be very intimate and more personal just as Maisel's canisters are.

Specifically photographing buildings after certain events when the times of the event and the time of the photograph being taken are known, relates to the 'rate' of the decay. As well as decay, the theme of consumption could be portrayed through photographs of commercial interiors such as shops and supermarkets. Utilising a long exposure time and therefore blurring movement of people could represent the rate of consumption also.

***

What 
visual 
tools 
would
 you
 use 
to 
represent 
the 
concept
 (what
 would
 the viewer
 encounter
 in 
your 
image)?

I would personally use a large DOF to include all the detail of the scenes and to equalise it; just as Maisel and Polidori to avoid isolating importance to certain parts of the focus. I would most likely use a large format camera with a wide-angle lens for optimum detail.

***

What 
would 
the 
visual 
elements 
of 
your 
image 
be (composition, objects/subjects 
within
 the
 pictorial 
frame)?

This would depend mainly on whether the theme of decay or consumption is chosen. I feel taking a similar approach to Gursky and photographing consumer related interiors relates well to the specific rate of things occurring (such as consumption). In this case I would try to include as many materialistic objects like food and general shopping items into my photographs as possible.

However, I think the rate of decay is even more interesting. The rate specifically of decay may be hard to represent. Possibly just the theory of decay due to certain circumstances would also work. These circumstances being things like natural disasters that Polidori works with.

***

What 
would 
be 
your 
visual 
choices 
in 
the 
images
 (focus, 
distance, 
lighting, camera
 position
 etc.)? 

• I would choose to use a large DOF as I’ve already mentioned and have the whole photograph in focus.
• I would take the photographs from a medium distance if working with decay to involve much of the scene. It is not a macro image but in the case of the rate of consumerism, a further distance away would work a lot better to include as much repetitiveness of objects (and possibly people) as possible in the images.
• I love the look of the natural looking light if taking the route of the abandoned and decaying urban buildings – it contrasts so greatly. Artificial lighting seems to relate very well to the concept of consumerism.

'Waste' Brainstorming and Initial Ideas

Brainstorming ideas for our current 'Waste' project

After our lecture about our new project in which I took down general notes about waste, names of photographers linked to photographing waste and some definitions of the word, I put these together in a diagram along with some random ideas I could use for the project.

Through writing down all my notes and additional research I did in one place I was able to look at it all together and draw links between things which I have highlighted in yellow. I also highlighted the photographers who's work I admired the most.

How I came to my idea...

I considered waste more metaphorically like 'a waste of space' or a 'waste of time' and considered finding uncultivated land to take a series of landscapes of which could be given more purpose; it being a waste of space just as it is.

While also planning on going to my local tip and photographing the organisation of waste and recycling I suddenly imagined an empty field accompanied by a living set up - an old sofa and chair, old television and rug etc., some things which you might find in a tip that people have got rid of for whatever reason. They will be arranged as if they are in a real room and they are in use but there will be no physical room (no walls, roof or floor). A set made up of things people discard because they don't want them anymore despite the fact they can still serve a purpose. I want the significance of them being out of place - in a field - to represent how things can be put to use somewhere else if they are unwanted in one place, no matter where. Taking the objects out of context highlights how their purpose is versatile. "One man's trash is another man's treasure" after all. This also links well with the fact that waste is directly linked to human development.

Visual references and inspiration

I wrote down the names of the photographers we had been advised to look at concerning waste as a theme when I first started brainstorming. I particularly liked Anne Hardy's constructed rooms of things she had collected; deemed 'waste' by others. However, I thought recreating something similar would take too long and for this reason would not be a wise path to take. Her photographs are a particular visual reference as I aim to do a similar thing but outside a room and with more solid objects but less collectable things.

Other concepts I was interested in

I thought about using recyclable objects or general scrap to build something useful - something like a dog kennel, and photograph this. This would show the versatile aspect of things people throw away.

I also liked the idea of 'waste' being defined as a noun, particularly: "to wear down or reduce in bodily substance, health or strength" which considers the idea of waste more metaphorically.