This is my favourite sort of picture as it incorporates the urban rubbish that I love snapping. I am so pleased that I can now use some of my pix for a new project, launched today by the DVJ (Documentary and Visual Journalism Group) or the Royal Photographic Society. We are photographing the ordinary and the everyday to create an archive for future historians. The DVJ will be setting themes and ideas to shoot, the images will be uploaded to a gallery and who knows who will be looking at them in years to come. The current theme is food, eating, how we obtain our food, our kitchens etc. I thought that the contents of the bin would be a good start to my virtual, living, time-capsule – although it is more to do with the disposal of food packaging.
If you’re reading this in 2013, ignore this paragraph. If, however, you are in 3013, read on … This is how we dispose of our rubbish – containers dotted around the home, the streets and, as in this case, a car park. The contents reflect several current trends. (1) There is no stopping world domination by companies like McDonalds and Starbucks. (2) Drinking take-away coffee out of polystyrene cups is now de rigueur. (3) We are not very good at re-cycling.