A Room with a View

I was faced with many challenges in achieving this shooting session with Arianna. The first challenge was to find a model that would meet my critical aesthetic requirements, which Arianna easily met and indeed surpassed. Yes, I have been told many times that I am tough on aesthetics. I don’t really think that I am. I have my preferences and as it happens, my preferences do tend to please most viewers of my glamor photographic work. But at the same time my range of preferences is rather wide. Anyone looking at my work would see that. But getting back to my challenges of shooting Ariana… We (my wife Mary and I) had just driven in to Rapallo, Italy from Chamonix, France, arriving one hour before the agreed upon time to start the session. We had to check into our hotel, unpack and set-up our equipment, do some test shots and be ready for Ariana’s arrival. It all had to be fast, flawless like clock-work. This was not what I am used to. My work is rarely on-location. I do most of my work in a more leisurely fashion, in my home studio, where I have all my lighting equipment and, apparently, unlimited shooting locations around the house. In Rapallo, at the hotel, I was limited to our room and the requested balcony facing the Mediterranean with Portofino to one side and the Rapallo Marina on the other. A pretty nice setting. The only lighting equipment I brought was a single strobe head mounted on a stand with a reflector umbrella. After setting-up, I tested the strobe and it worked just fine, but then I heard a “pop” sound that came from the head and, just as I thought, it was no longer functioning.   Arianna, who came from Milan, arrived twenty minutes early. Very unusual for a model. Most of my models call an hour late asking for directions. This was a refreshing change. I could see that great things were going to come of it. And so the session began.

I will be adding images from these sessions as I process them. Come back often to see how this set will evolve and grow.

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There will be several videos showing behind the scenes of the Arianna sessions.

This image can be purchased as a signed, limited edition print, by contacting me either here on Flickr or by email sol@sollang.com