Work Diary - Auschwitz

Although the idea of Fantasy is not associated with Auschwitz - a WWII Concentration Camp -  the ideas of death, fear and entrapment are all associated with the Auschwitz and these are the ideas I picked up on my trip and hope I captured with my photographs. What I think makes this shoot different to others I have done/will do is that everything captured is real, and not made up for the sake of a photo which emphasizes the strong feelings and ideas that are put forward in the photos. This shoot relates to the idea of fantasy as it is the opposite of it, horror, fear and death.
I did edit a lot of images from this, and kept it fairly simple just enhancing the colour and straightening out any wonky images. This is because the intended purpose of these images are to educate and show people the reality of the situation, rather than be perfect works of art which would take away the true meaning of the images, and in my opinion be insensitive.

This image of the famous gates into Auschwitz reads "Work Makes Free" which contradicts and gives off false propaganda to all that entered the camp. This image I think captures and shows the dark, gloomy nature of this gate due to how dark the image is, and how empty the camps are. When editing this image I just used levels and curves and straighted the image up.

This image from one of the barbed wire fences shows some of the brutality of what happened and how people were imprisoned there. I really like how this image came out, showing an example of depth of field photography to focus on the rust and detail of the barbed wire. I also really like how the barbed wire cuts right across the centre of the image.

This was the view just after the entrance to Auschwitz II Birkenau along the train tracks that run along the centre of the camp and right to the far back. This is where the new prisoners would arrive and either be sent to their death unknowingly or sent to work. I really like this image as it shows how isolated and empty the camp was and how it must have felt for the prisoners, being trapped, yet the camp appears to go on forever.