A House Made of Wind

On Lanzarote, a small movement can become the centre of a photograph. A dress lifts, a shoulder turns, a figure pauses against the island’s spare forms. I would like us to have time to notice these things, and a house to return to while our ideas take shape.

For three days, Hotel Rural Finca La Florida will be our meeting place: six photographers, three models and the pleasure of working in a small group. We can begin with a close portrait, follow the light into another space and develop a more expansive image without having to turn every idea into an immediate result.

The models will be active companions in that process. We will talk about what a picture might become, try movements, adjust a position and leave room for something unexpected. Sometimes the useful decision is to simplify: move closer, remove a distracting edge, let the person before the camera hold the whole image.

I value the ease that develops when people spend several days together. By the second morning, the first introductions are behind us; we understand a little more of one another’s rhythm. That familiarity gives photography a different quality, and often the most personal pictures begin there.

Meet the Model is a social photographic production, not a workshop or a course. There is no prescribed programme of lessons. I will nevertheless be with you throughout and delighted to help if you need a technical suggestion, a discussion about light or a brief introduction to a particular piece of equipment. This informal support is entirely free of charge.

We reserve the property for our photographic production. Since the location is an expense we would incur whether or not the group stays overnight, accommodation within the property is offered without a supplement. You may stay with us or arrange your own lodging; the participation fee does not change.

Our time together will include the pleasures of the island’s cooking and meals around a shared table. It is a chance to exchange stories, rest our eyes and enjoy the company we have come to know through the cameras. Meals are included in the participation fee; drinks are paid for by each participant.

Hotel Rural Finca La Florida is in San Bartolomé, in central Lanzarote, on grounds planted with vineyards and fruit trees. Originally a private house, it retains the scale and character of a rural base within the island’s volcanic landscape.

For photography, I am interested in the relationship between that inhabited space and the land around it. The house offers shelter and a more intimate distance; the surrounding terrain suggests broader compositions and a different sense of scale.

We will have time to let these possibilities inform one another. An image conceived outdoors may lead to a quieter portrait back at the house. A detail noticed in a room may suggest a colour or a gesture to carry into the next photograph. Staying together allows the work to continue between one exposure and another.

Over many years of working as a photographer, and of running both a photographic studio and an equipment-hire service, I came to understand what photographers truly hope to find when they arrive on a set. Not simply more equipment, but the freedom to make an image without being stopped by the absence of the right tool.

This is what London Photographic Workshop places at your disposal: a rare, complete photographic production, brought together in one place and made available to you for the duration of the event. It is the kind of equipment most photographers encounter only in fragments, over many years, and which would cost a considerable sum to hire for a three-day production.

You will be able to work with HASSELBLAD X2D II cameras and a selection of HASSELBLAD lenses; SUNBOUNCE natural-light systems, including reflectors, screens, Sun-Swatter and Sun-Cage; PROFOTO, BRONCOLOR and BOWENS studio flash; professional battery-powered PROFOTO flash, with a complete selection of modifiers; LEE Filters and professional matte boxes; MANFROTTO photographic tripods; and MATTHEWS grip equipment.

This is not equipment assembled for display. It is a working set of serious tools: the cameras, light, modifiers and support systems that allow an idea to become a photograph when the moment arrives.

Respect is part of the photographic language, not an administrative footnote. All models and participants must be eighteen or older. The models determine their individual nudity and posing boundaries. Consent is specific, ongoing and may be withdrawn at any time. No participant may touch a model without explicit permission. No phones, spectators or behind-the-scenes recording on closed sets.

Images may not be published, exhibited, sold or submitted to competitions outside the agreed model-release terms. No generative-AI training or synthetic alteration of a model’s body or identity. A private changing and resting area must always be available. Models receive proper breaks, meals, accommodation and transport support.

Alcohol is served only after photography has finished for the day. Before each session, the artistic director holds a short consent check-in covering wardrobe, nudity level, location, participating photographers and intended images.