“Reality” is a surreal fine art photography piece displaying the reality of global pollutants. I titled it “Reality” because the globe in the middle is a literal depiction of the effect on our Earth from pollution, and there is a juxtaposition overall because the image is not a real scene from our Earth but a surreal depiction of Earth’s relationship with pollution. I took some pictures in Marina Del Rey as well as El Segundo and Anaheim of different factories and refineries. I then realized that I could use myself as Mother Nature, and subtly represent all things living that are affected by pollution. Once I got back to San Diego, I went down to Sunset Cliffs and hiked to the tide pools an hour before sunset. I had my twin sister use the tripod as I directed her where to shoot the pictures of me. I stood on the tide pools for a while and got a variety of pictures that were all a slightly different motion, because I knew I wanted myself to not be in a static position, but have more of a free flowing, organic feel.
After editing the pictures, I began with warping the background with the factories and refineries, and stacking them on each other to symbolize pollution going into the atmosphere and oceans. I then put the tide pools fading into the ocean in the foreground, I did this in three different sections lowering the opacity and blending them together. Then for my body I decided to create two so that I can create negative space in the center where I put the globe blending into gray. I wanted to represent on a global scale, the reality of pollution. I spherized a piece of one of my paintings in order to add a brighter element to the Earth to symbolize hope in restoration preservation on Earth. During the editing of the figures I used a lot of clone stamping and puppet tool warping in order to get the dress to extend into the ocean. I then added a gradient blend mode to the dress to the ocean. I wanted to create this essence that I was a part of the ocean as well as the sky, because the destruction from pollutants is a huge damage to the ocean and bodies of water, as well as our atmosphere.
