DIY Photography

Your one stop shop for everything photo-video

  • News
  • Inspiration
  • Reviews
  • Tutorials
  • DIY
  • Gear
Search

Submit A Story

Photographer shows the real impact of the clothing industry on the environment

Apr 24, 2018 by Dunja Djudjic Add Comment

  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Flipboard
  • WhatsApp

In his work, photographer Benjamin Von Wong often points out issues present in our society. In his latest impressive project, he shows the true impact of the clothing industry on the environment. This industry is one of the biggest polluters on the planet, and through his photos, Ben wants to show you “where your clothes were really born.”

For this project, Ben teamed up with Laura Francois. They met on the TedX stage in Penang and he offered to help with her mission to fight against fast fashion. In return, she found raw materials for him to work with in a huge abandoned garment factory in Cambodia. The place has been abandoned since 2009. It was filled with tons of rat-infested clothes, lying there on the dusty ground. But it was a place to start.

Ben and Laura reached out to the local community and gathered a group of volunteers to help them with the photo shoot. As Ben writes, some of them came all the way from Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore to be a part of the project. The idea was to create a waterfall, a tree, and a tornado and show where our clothes were really born. A waterfall, because it takes 27,000 liters of water to produce a single cotton T-shirt. A tree, because 70 million trees are cut down every year to create the fibers for our clothing. And a tornado, because the clothing industry is polluting our air too. It’s expected to produce 2.8 billion tons of CO2 per year by 2030.

The idea was born, the lifetime supply of clothes was there, and it was time to get to work. The project didn’t have a corporate sponsor, so the team had to work with what they had and with a minimal budget. They used the basic tools like fishnet, bamboo, and rope to build the structures, climbing on some “sketchy scaffolding,” as Ben describes it. With lots of improvisation and solving problems on the go, the installations were made ready for the photo shoot.

Ben added some practical effects and lighting to the scenes, making them look kinda magical. His volunteers were the models, showing a human connection with the installations they all built together. Through these photos, Ben wanted to show just how much fast fashion and the clothing industry affect the environment. And he reminds us that each one of us has the power to simply buy and wear fewer clothes.

If you’d like to read more about the project, you can visit on Ben’s blog. And if you want to learn more about how to get involved, make sure to visit this link. Here are the final results of the project:

FIND THIS INTERESTING? SHARE IT WITH YOUR FRIENDS!

  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Flipboard
  • WhatsApp

Related posts:

Real-Time Digital Make Up Alters Real Faces In… Real-Time Infographic shows how much time, money and environment rechargeable batteries save compared to alkaline Clothing company shuts down after a copyright dispute with photographer This video shows the impact of frame rate on bottle shots

Filed Under: Inspiration Tagged With: Benjamin Von Wong, environmental photography, von wong

Dunja Djudjic: from diyphotography.net

About Dunja Djudjic

Dunja Djudjic is a multi-talented artist based in Novi Sad, Serbia. With 15 years of experience as a photographer, she specializes in capturing the beauty of nature, travel, and fine art. In addition to her photography, Dunja also expresses her creativity through writing, embroidery, and jewelry making.

« Court finally rules in the ‘monkey selfie’ case: no, monkeys can’t be copyright owners
Nvidia’s “content-aware” cloning tools use deep learning AI for incredibly realistic results »

Submit A Story

Get our FREE Lighting Book

DIYP lighting book cover

* download requires newsletter signup
DIYPhotography

Recent Comments

Free Resources

Advanced lighting book

Recent Posts

  • Here’s a bullet time video booth you can build yourself
  • Ricoh has discontinued the HD PENTAX-DA 21mm F3.2AL Limited silver lens
  • This “stellar flower” unravels the twilight’s evolution in 360 degrees
  • Strobes vs Continuous LEDs – Which is right for you?
  • Wave goodbye to Apple’s My Photo Stream next month

Udi Tirosh: from diyphotography.netUdi Tirosh is an entrepreneur, photography inventor, journalist, educator, and writer based in Israel. With over 25 years of experience in the photo-video industry, Udi has built and sold several photography-related brands. Udi has a double degree in mass media communications and computer science.

Alex Baker: from diyphotography.netAlex Baker is a portrait and lifestyle driven photographer based in Valencia, Spain. She works on a range of projects from commercial to fine art and has had work featured in publications such as The Daily Mail, Conde Nast Traveller and El Mundo, and has exhibited work across Europe

David Williams: from diyphotography.netDave Williams is an accomplished travel photographer, writer, and best-selling author from the UK. He is also a photography educator and published Aurora expert. Dave has traveled extensively in recent years, capturing stunning images from around the world in a modified van. His work has been featured in various publications and he has worked with notable brands such as Skoda, EE, Boeing, Huawei, Microsoft, BMW, Conde Nast, Electronic Arts, Discovery, BBC, The Guardian, ESPN, NBC, and many others.

John Aldred: from diyphotography.netJohn Aldred is a photographer with over 20 years of experience in the portrait and commercial worlds. He is based in Scotland and has been an early adopter - and occasional beta tester - of almost every digital imaging technology in that time. As well as his creative visual work, John uses 3D printing, electronics and programming to create his own photography and filmmaking tools and consults for a number of brands across the industry.

Dunja Djudjic: from diyphotography.netDunja Djudjic is a multi-talented artist based in Novi Sad, Serbia. With 15 years of experience as a photographer, she specializes in capturing the beauty of nature, travel, and fine art. In addition to her photography, Dunja also expresses her creativity through writing, embroidery, and jewelry making.

Copyright © DIYPhotography 2006 - 2023 | About | Contact | Advertise | Write for DIYP | Full Disclosure | Privacy Policy