Name: Oliver Offen

Independent portfolio

Project: LOCK

Part 5 of 6

1
 Planning a shoot

Before this shoot I have investigated the work of Andre Ruiter.

What I really liked about his work is that it sometimes takes photos of natural material like wood and mixed it with man-made
materials like barbed wire, I will incorporate this in my photos when I do my shoot.
From looking at his work I would like to incorporate in my shoot getting close ups of the barbed wire and focusing in on spe-
cific parts of the barbed wire.

For this shoot I would like to capture natural materials like wood, mixed with man-made materials like barbed wire, I would
also like to use a small depth of field to make sure the background of the photos are out of focus.
My idea behind this is that the barbed wire and the wood will be the main focus and the background won't be visible because
it is out of focus.

For my shoot I will need my phone which is charged to 100% so I can have enough battery to last me enough time to get as
many photos I want.
The locations I want to use for this shoot is the train station, the salts and a farm, I want these locations because I know that
there is barbed wire which I can capture that will suit the theme of the shoot.

I plan to take my photos in the evening after school because it won't be too dark to take photos at that time but it won't be too
bright either.
For this shoot I won't need any additional lighting for this shoot because it will be light enough to take photos with the natural
lighting.

For my shoot I will try using angles from below the subjects to capture a different point of view.
The reason I feel a shoot from below composition will work well is because it will give the photo a different feel instead of a
normal photo where you stand Infront of the subject and take a photo, this composition will make it feel unique and diverse.
 Evaluation
The final pieces I produced was a collection of edits from the shoots I have done, I have laid them out on a canvas using photoshop,
they have been edited in different ways, some I have edited using the tutorials from previous projects.

These photos link to LOCK because I have focused on barbed wire which physically locks you out of a place and you can't enter there,
or you can't escape it.

They work as a set because they all focus on the theme of barbed wire and wood, this is seen in the second shoot but with more added
onto it with the plastic bag, I chose the ones I did because they had the best camera angles, the best focus and I also chose some of the
close up photos as I wanted too really focus on the barbed wire and plastic bag rather than the background.

The viewer is supposed to realise the damage littering does to our planet and how rubbish like plastic bags ends up caught up in barbed
wire instead of being disposed the way they should be, the barbed wire and wood was to show both man-made materials (barbed wire)
and natural materials (wood) together side by side and how both are being used together.

The focus of the photos was the barbed wire, wood and plastic bag, meaning there was no need for the background to be in focus, the
lack of focus on the background makes the viewer not over stimulated and gives a clear subject to be focusing on.

I have researched artists like Andre Ruiter by studying what he has done in his photos to be successful, he did a project called 'Historic
Landscapes' which focus on similar materials like barbed wire and wood, his photos were dark and were in black and white, this is why
in some of my edits I have turned them black and white, I wanted to capture the same dark moody feeling that he did.

Overall, I feel like this project has my best photos and edits I have ever done, I feel like I have really allowed my mind to be creative in
ways I haven't before in photography, I have completed all that I wanted to with the different styles of editing that I have done, I think
my intentions of capturing a message and a main subject has been achieved to the best of my ability and I am delighted with the
outcomes.