Summary: This article talks about farmers harvesting crops but intellectually it won’t be part of their property. The meaning of this, is that they are able to eat the crops or sell, but there genes would be the property of Monsanto. If the author, were to save a spud to plant the following year he would be breaking the law. Michael Pollan talks about the modern farmer is now industrial. They can’t grow so much food without having large portions of chemical fertilizers, which has negative side effects to his health, his soil, and pollution of the ground water. He discusses that now individuals are using the genes of food plants as software, making it no longer an organic plant. It is being replaced with genetic engineering and the use of expensive toxic chemicals.

Communication Problem: The crops have become part of an operating system and genetically engineer which has negative impacts on the environment and the health of the farmer itself.

Image Ideas: Using a darker lighting, close-up, with shadows to demonstrate, the not so innocence of farming. Including props that have an industrial feeling and maybe dirt to show the correlation with a natural substance and hand-made elements.

Result: This shoot came out better than I expected, my team thought of really interesting and diverse ideas which we got to practice in each station. We were able to communicate effectively the article and it was really fun using different light effects to create a horizon or a even a vignette sort-of-feel.

Summary: The evolution of potato has gone through a revolutionary change from an organic process where farmers use seeds, large quantities of fertilizers, pesticides, machinery and fuel to produce potatoes to the modern method of genetically engineer potato. The organic way is refer as “inputs” and is said to saddle the farmer with debt, jeopardizes his health, erodes his soil and ruins its fertility, pollutes the ground water and compromises the safety of the food we eat. The article states that this argument has always been from environmentalist or organic farmers. But, more recently this same argument has come from government officials and the agribusiness companies that sold farmers on all those expensive “inputs” in the first place. So, what would rescue the American food chain states the article- a new kind of plant of which genetically engineering will be at the fore- front. The article went on to say that genetically engineer food will replace expensive and toxic chemicals and the produce will be able to protect themselves from insects and disease without the help of pesticides. For example the bacterium Bacillius thuringiensis found in soil will give the potato plant cells information they need to manufacture a toxin lethal to the Colorado potato beetle. It is interesting to note that the article makes it very clear that this new technological way of engineering food is the property of one man.

Communication Problem: Should man tamper with the way in which food is grown? And is it right for the genetically engineer way of producing food be monopolized by one person?

Image Ideas: Potato shoot with warm light close up with a needle or potato peeler to show tampering.

Result: I am very happy with the outcome of the shoot and believe that what I had in mind was capture. Five station was set up, with various levels of lighting and filters that allow light to bounce of the potato from different angles. We were able different props and shoot at close up range.

Michael Pollany writes about potatoes he grew for a year that he won’t be able to replant and grow again the following year. He explains how expensive and dangerous to our health farm grown products are. According to Poland, farm grown products take longer and feed less people than his and even though growing his crop is expensive as well, it will produce more to feed more and it will be safer to ingest. To portray the look of engineered foods it may be best to have the potato look as if it is in a science lab or make it look a little abnormal.

When I think of Idaho potatoes I think of fresh food, rich soils and green fields. So, for this picture I would like to bring as much of that forward as possible.

Taking the pictures of the Potatoes was fun. It was interesting to see the different ways you can position or manipulate the potato for the photos. Figuring out which background and surrounding for the look we wanted was difficult but learning there could be so many options made the process worth it.

Summary: This article states that a farmer on average is able to only grow enough food each year to feed 100 people. They’re unable to grow more food without large quantities of chemical fertalizers, pesticides, etc. That is when the genetic engineering comes in. A potato is no longer a potato. They are chemically infested to last longer.  Unfortunately. there is a new generation of plants ran by genetic engineering.

Communication Problem: Try to make people understand that potatoes are genetically engineered and are not all natural like many of us think.

Image Idea: Im thinking a bright image, and I will be using a needle that I have that may help convey the image.

Results: I was satisfied eith my results. I was able to use the needle i described in my image idea. The image turned out to be bright red, which I feel goes well with the story.

Summary: The article brings to the discussion one of the most important topics of modern agriculture. Genetic engineering became a main tool of getting good harvests and good profit for main agriculture companies such Monsanto. Potato which programmed to protect itself from a bacteria and registered like a pesticide itself is not the best option for anyone except monopolistic companies which control the nature process from “the seed to the dinner”. The author doesn’t give any solution but rather questioning the whole current agricultural technology.

Communication problem: Contrast between expectations and the real life. The well-known potato can be not what we see and taste but something artificial and technological. Idaho potato: using the same potato in positive way, showing the good side of it.

Image ideas: Potato like a part of technological world. I think it can be powerful if I will place some facts from the article on my final image. My main idea is to show potato like part of something different that we know. For  Idaho ad:  lower light contrast, using a lot of light.

Results: For the Botany of Desire image I used dark background and high light ratio. The reflection from the back complements the image. The medical glove and zip lock bag gives feeling of something artificial and not natural. For the headline I used font with floral elements and it has contrast with the image. For the Idaho Ad I chose lighter image with soft background gradient. I did some manipulation in the Photoshop: such changing the color of my watch from red to green, added transparent image of a green leaf and changing the color of hart on the potato.  The Idaho Ad looks green, healthy and natural.

Summary:

The article provides the commonly private cycles of how American potatoes are manufactured and planted in factories today. The millions of potatoes that are cropped everyday are now being more reproduced through the process of genetic engineering, which the manufacturing companies use to ” protect themselves from insects and diseases without the help of pesticides”. The new growing potatoes in the farms are being put through toxic chemicals procedures to keep the potatoes lasting longer, but with the side effect using the information on the potatoes plant cells to keep a cycle of enhanced potatoes in the right procedures. The making of our plants, or even agriculture itself is being portrayed as a “software”, “robotic, acomputer-like system in the farms and factories and how we crop our plants.

Communication Problem:

The communication problem would be in which way can we portray that the toxins being put on our potatoes detrimental to our healthy. It should be a message that the chemicals that’s being put in our food is basically as putting drugs in your stomach, how genetic engineering is risking our health and putting poison in our potatoes.

Image Ideas:

The image idea should be something not too graphic, but a simple, clever way of sending a message. Here some examples I found (Pic 1)(Pic 2) to inspire some ideas for the shooting.