Reading Edd's research papers I am happy to see that his research confirms a lot of my findings so far and enjoy seeing his alternative methods of photography.
This one is a somber read, it categorises the rise of gelatine as a resource and the environment in which it is gathered as well as the decline of our environment. Beef of course is the leading contributor to deforestation and at the time of writing the paper Edd states its at 2.71 million hectares of land in the tropical rainforests each year, its is of course also the leading contributor to greenhouse gas emissions in the food industry. Beef also uses huge amounts of water and is highly inefficient, the bovine gelation industry also uses a lot of water and causes water issues with chemical run off. On top of this the animals are treated horribly for their whole life. Of course, many see gelatine then as a byproduct of another industry and don't think too much about the impact of such a material as it would be wasted anyway. Right?
Looking at the footprint of the bovine gelatine used in the film industry these two pages really resonated.
This paper is the one that really reinforces my personal beliefs and research around recent trends in film photography as well as my understanding of what other film photographers think.
The paper suggest 4 ways of starting a new sustainable future for analogue.
1. Rework -
"Internalising the impact of film on ecosystems, including development to make it a regenerative process. For example, the use of hyperaccumulating plants to absorb silver from wastewater."
2. Repurpose
"The constant upkeep and management of old cameras, whilst advocating alternative ways of photographic image making such as anthotypes, and pinhole cameras made from waste products."
3. Remove
"The removal of harmful elements within photographic development, and in future production. For example, the use of plant-based chemicals, saltwater for fixative, or finding plant-based alternatives to animal gelatin."
4. Recycle
"Recycling elements of the photographic process to be given new life, such as the use of collected silver to be used in other metallurgic applications."
There were also ideas on bringing film into the classroom which I thought would be really cool to teach kids about being creative, science and nature and teach them to look for possibilities all around.
Circular systems are also discussed that bring me back to the future of foods topic and some of the hydroponic systems we saw there. The idea is that the topic waste water from film cleaning is used to flush your toilet and then water plants that naturally thrive from these chemicals.
The idea I get from both papers is that we really need to rethink film photography if we care about the environemnt and the beautiful world around us. I think the two go hand in hand as without a beautiful world with beautiful people what would we photograph? As mentioned in the last blog the ideas shown get me really excited and I'd be interested to go further with this project in the future.
Edd's Self Portrait, 2020
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