BODIES, STONE & SEA

Three days and two nights on Alicudi. A maximum of six participating photographers. Three adult professional models. One artistic director and workshop leader. Fine-art nude, implied nude and environmental portraiture. Natural light, with discreet reflectors and minimal continuous lighting. Digital, film and Polaroid photography welcomed. Intermediate and advanced photographers; serious beginners may join. Working language: English, with Italian and French support if available.

Participants will learn to direct a model clearly, gently and collaboratively; develop images rather than simply collect poses; use the geometry and colour of the house as part of the composition; photograph skin in hard sunlight, open shade and window light; balance the figure against a large Mediterranean landscape; work with gesture, stillness, movement and negative space; create visual continuity across a photographic series; and edit a small, coherent portfolio at the end of the retreat.

2. The Terrace — Pink walls, yellow floor, vine-covered pergola and blue horizon. Here we explore the tension between saturated colour and the simplicity of the human form.

3. The Island — Volcanic stone, paths, sea, vegetation and late-afternoon wind. The body becomes less portrait and more landscape—something elemental, fragile and timeless.

Each photographer receives a pre-retreat creative questionnaire, a recommended equipment and packing guide, three days of guided shooting, sessions with all three models, at least one private directed shoot, an individual portfolio consultation, a group editing and sequencing session, a post-retreat online review within four weeks, and a small digital booklet containing the final collective selection, subject to model approval.

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 Consent is specific, ongoing and may be withdrawn at any time.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Images may not be published, exhibited, sold or submitted to competitions outside the agreed model-release terms. Selected images intended for publicity should receive model approval. 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.

Bring your own way of seeing.

Everyone will tell you what to bring. This is better than that. That other thing is essential. In photography, what goes into someone else’s bag always seems to be everybody’s business.

I would start with you: what you want to say, the images you are looking for, the tools you feel at home with. Heavy equipment tires you out. A slower process takes time. Yet a view camera may give you precisely the image you imagined; a collodion portrait may reward all that preparation with the wonder of the person receiving it. For me, that is worth something.

If your photographic journey revolves around unusual or demanding equipment, talk to us. Tell us what you want to make before deciding that travelling with us could never work for you.

Essential Requirements

Tripod

A sturdy, portable tripod is essential for dawn, sunset, night photography and carefully constructed compositions. Carbon fibre is particularly suitable because it combines stability with lower weight.

Ziplock

Last but not least, two of photography’s greatest secrets: Ziplock & Bongo Ties. Simple resealable food bags to help keep dust and moisture away from your equipment, and elastic ties with a small wooden toggle to secure cables, covers and all those little things that refuse to stay put.

Protecting individual pieces of equipment—preferably with two bags—is a light, practical defence when wind carries sand into every opening.

What we bring for you

There are a few wonders in our bags for you, too. Medium format cameras — yes, including the splendid HASSELBLAD X2D II 100C — to pick up and use. We travel with COLORCHECKER, a complete set of LEE Filters and a matte box, SEKONIC meters and PocketWizard triggers. When the project calls for them, we add PROFOTO and BRONCOLO flash, ARRI continuous lighting, MATTHEWS grip and SUNBOUNCE systems for shaping natural light. Tools that make you want to try again, and see what happens when light finally takes the shape you had in mind.

And then there is Luca, your guide: a true fine art photographer — read: a rather unusual photographer. Do not be surprised if view cameras, ultra-panoramic film cameras and other delightful oddities emerge from his bags. Shh… they are part of the experience, too.

Need a backup camera, a particular lens, a tripod, a head or a monopod? Tell us before departure so we can plan what to bring. Our enthusiasm is considerable. Our carrying capacity has its limits.

Bring your own way of seeing, and we will shape the journey to make room for it.

Over the years, we have developed a welcome package to make your stay as comfortable as possible and help you make the most of your experience. It brings together a thoughtful selection of essentials—things that are easily forgotten or can be difficult to arrange from abroad.

We begin with one of the most important: staying connected.

Your welcome package includes:

Everything is packed in a protective, waterproof expedition dry bag, ready to accompany you throughout the experience.

Alicudi is reached only by sea. Participants should plan their journey through Sicily and the Aeolian ferry network, allowing a generous margin for weather, connections and the reduced winter timetable. Exact meeting instructions and the recommended port of departure will be confirmed before travel.

London Photographic Workshop will help each participant coordinate the final approach to the island. Where practical, the group will meet before boarding; otherwise, clear ferry guidance and direct assistance will be provided so that everyone reaches the house safely.

There are no roads or cars on Alicudi. Movement is on foot along stone paths and stairways, and luggage may require local porterage. Travel light: a compact photographic kit and a carefully limited personal bag are more valuable here than unnecessary equipment.

Sea and wind conditions can delay, alter or suspend ferry services. Participants should avoid tight onward connections and retain flexibility around arrival and departure. Any programme adjustment will follow safety, access and the actual rhythm of the island.

Alicudi is beautiful precisely because it has resisted convenience. Its paths are steep, stepped and irregular; reaching houses and photographic locations may involve sustained climbs without road transport. Good balance, suitable footwear and a realistic assessment of personal mobility are essential.

The house provides protected interiors and terraces, but exterior work remains dependent on wind, rain and the condition of stone surfaces. Sessions will be moved, shortened or brought indoors whenever the weather makes terraces, paths or the shoreline unsuitable.

The workshop maintains a closed-set protocol for all figure work. Models and participants must be adults; consent is specific and continuous; phones, spectators and unauthorised behind-the-scenes recording are not permitted. A private changing and resting space, regular breaks, meals and warmth are integral to the production.

Medical services and shops are limited on the island. Dietary requirements, allergies, medical considerations and mobility needs must be discussed before booking so that the suitability of the retreat and any necessary arrangements can be assessed honestly.

After leaving Alicudi, with vine shadow, volcanic stone and blue water still shaping the remembered body, the images ask to be returned to those who made that quiet work together.

I did not include six months of post-workshop contact by chance, nor as a simple service.

Many years ago, I was teaching an online course that could easily have felt impersonal. Instead, when it ended, the group did not want to dissolve. We had never all sat around the same table, yet years later we are still a living community. From that experience came conversations, magazines, books, friendships and shared ways of looking.

It taught me how valuable a small circle of people can be when they have lived and worked through an experience together.

For this reason, every workshop includes six months of continued contact at no additional cost: a private group, image sharing, feedback, and a form of ongoing tuition shaped by cultural prompts — a book, an image, a thought, an exhibition, or an occasion that may open a new direction in the work.

The event ends. The adventure in photography begins.

5–7 December 2026. On Alicudi, sunrise remains close to 07:05–07:06 and sunset near 16:41. The three-day retreat takes place within the short, concentrated light of the Mediterranean winter.

Morning light enters the house slowly, moving across doorways, cool rooms and pale surfaces before reaching the terrace. Its angle is low enough to reveal texture without forcing the body into spectacle. The afternoon closes quickly, and the transition from gold to blue must be anticipated rather than chased.

The moon is a waning crescent approaching new moon. Nights are therefore comparatively dark, giving the sea a deeper tonal weight and allowing lamps, windows and small sources of interior light to become part of the photographic language.

December is mild for winter but exposed to maritime weather. Temperatures are commonly around 10–16°C, while rain, humidity and westerly winds can change the island rapidly. Sea conditions affect not only light but access, arrivals and departures; the programme must retain flexibility.

Wind moves fabric, hair, vegetation and the surface of the water. It can also make terraces and paths unsuitable for a planned session. The house then becomes shelter and subject: an interior landscape shaped by reflected light, intimacy and duration.

This Light Map belongs to a small island in winter. It follows the passage of light through a house, the darkening of the sea and the fragile interval in which the body, stone and horizon become one composition.