( CNN ) -- Midway Atoll , a small stretch of sand and coral in the middle of the north Pacific , is home to one of the world 's largest populations of Laysan albatrosses . Until 1993 , U.S. Navy aircraft thundered down the runway of the military base on the island , but now ocean going birds nest and embark on their own epic cross-ocean journeys from the overgrown landing strip . Yet the impact of humans and increasing consumer waste from thousands of miles away continues to have a direct effect on the island 's wildlife , as photographic artist Chris Jordan discovered when he traveled there in September . The American photographed the remains of albatross chicks that had died from consuming plastic waste found in the surrounding oceans . According to the artist , not a single piece of plastic in any of the photographs was moved , placed or altered in any way . The nesting babies had been fed the plastic by their parents , who collected what looked to them like food to bring back to their young . From cigarette lighters to bottle caps , the plastic is found in what is now known as the great Pacific garbage patch that stretches across thousands of miles of the Pacific Ocean . Fed a diet of human trash , it is thought that every year tens of thousands of albatross chicks die on Midway from starvation , toxicity and choking . Jordan has examined the environmental effects of consumer society in his previous work . Pieces in his `` Running the Numbers '' exhibition , use digitally manipulated drinks cans and plastic waste from the Pacific gyre , respectively , to create copies of Hokusai 's `` Behind the Great Wave off Kanagawa '' and Seurat 's `` Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte '' .
Artist Chris Jordan photographed albatross remains on Midway Atoll in Pacific . Remains show that albatross chicks choke or are poisoned by being fed plastic . Plastic waste found across thousands of miles in North Pacific gyre .