The Valley of Stone and Orange

Three days in Sicily, a house among olive and citrus trees, six photographers and three models. We come together at Masseria della Volpe for the pleasure of making photographs with the time, people and attention a good image deserves.

I like the idea of inhabiting the same place for a few days, learning how its light changes, recognising a room in the morning and returning in the afternoon with a different image in mind. A first meeting with a model, a conversation, an experiment: gradually we understand one another, the work becomes more natural, and it becomes possible to look for something more personal.

We will photograph in small groups, giving everyone room to develop their own images. An intimate portrait, the movement of a dress, the relationship between the body and architecture, a figure finding its place in the landscape. The models will bring their experience, sensitivity and those intuitions that make a photograph the result of an encounter.

Meet the Model is an occasion to make photographs in good company: a shared production, with freedom to explore and time to develop your ideas. It is neither a workshop nor a course, and there is no programme of lessons.

I will be with you throughout. If you would like to discuss an image, ask for a technical suggestion or have a short explanation of a technique or a piece of equipment, I will be very happy to give you the time you need. It might be an experiment with a light, a question on set or a small discovery made while we work. This support is offered entirely free of charge.

For the event, we reserve the whole property exclusively for our production. The house is part of the work: its rooms, its light, the spaces where we meet and prepare our photographs. Reserving the property is therefore a production cost we would incur regardless of whether participants stay overnight. Wherever the property can accommodate us, we are happy to offer you lodging without any supplement to the event fee.

Staying with us is optional. You may accept the accommodation or make your own arrangements; the participation fee remains the same. The stay accompanies the photographic experience rather than being sold as a separate travel service.

There will also be the pleasure of discovering the local cuisine and enjoying some memorable meals together. In Sicily, a conversation begun over photographs easily finds its way to the table. I value that time too: we tell stories, laugh and get to know one another. Often we return to our cameras the following day with a different ease between us. Meals are included in the participation fee; drinks are at each participant’s own expense.

Masseria della Volpe stands on a hill in the Val di Noto, in the countryside of southeastern Sicily. The restored architecture of the small rural hamlet preserves its connection with the surrounding land. Olive, carob and citrus trees open out around it; farther away, the eye follows the landscape towards the sea.

For a photographer, this continuity between house and countryside offers many possibilities. Stone returns the warmth of the light, openings separate the interiors from the brightness outside, and trees draw irregular shadows. The swimming pool introduces another surface, shifting and reflective, beside the substance of walls and vegetation.

It is a place to discover through the hours: watching where the sun falls, finding a shadow in which a face acquires softness, noticing that a small change of position transforms the background of a photograph. Returning to familiar spaces gives us greater freedom. We stop continually searching for somewhere new and begin to see more clearly where we already are.

I would like you to leave with photographs in which you recognise yourself, a few new friendships and the desire to begin again.

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.