This portrait of a man hiding in the woods is part of a photo session inspired by Hunger Games. The photo production took place in the Schinkelbuurt neighborhood in Amsterdam. It was organized by the Real Shoot Experience photography workshop series. I participated in this production both as a photography instructor, teaching fellow photographers portrait photography and photographic lighting concepts and, as a photographer with my own artistic vision and agenda. The man hiding in the woods is model Sebasteaan van Arnhem. In the photo session he portrayed Hunger Games’ character and tribute Finnick Odair.
For this portrait of a man hiding in the woods I drew inspiration from initial melee scenes of the first movie. In the scenes the tributes hide in the forest trying to survive the first day of the games. A few days before the photo session I scouted the location and noticed it offered a few wooded areas. I thought these would be perfect for setting up scenes similar to those in the movie.
This portrait of Sebasteaan as Finnick, the man hiding in the forest, was made using natural light only. I setup the scene in one of the wooded areas near an old train repair workshop. The foliage from the nearby trees diffused the light enough to cast soft shadows on the model’s face. To setup the scene I asked the model to hide in the bushes next to a steel wall from the train repair shop. To set the mood of the scene I asked Sebasteaan to posed as if he were hiding and ready to attack his opponent. To focus the attention on his face I used a rather wide aperture on my 85mm lens and composed the photo as a headshot. Finally, I included some of the green leaves in the composition to provide context and color variation and create the illusion of a fight in the woods.
Other photos in the series include: An Archer and her Bow and Hunger Games Katniss Everdeen
Model: Sebasteaan van Arnhem