Aria Rainbow in an abandoned castle (Patreon)

Here is another couple of images of the amazing Aria from that castle we shot in Piemonte. All-natural light as it almost always is when I shoot on location.

One philosophical observation regarding derelict places: I find that when I photograph in places like this the background is almost as important as the model. The scene makes the image and as such the model needs to be integrated into or interact with the environment.

I’m far from the only one liking derelict places and I suspect for most people having a “real” environment is a welcome change from a studio environment where everything is nice and controlled. If you see yourself in that statement, I would recommend you to rethink what your definition of “background” is?

For me, it’s a suitable environment that either adds something to the image as a whole or at least doesn’t detract from it. I rarely like studio setup and with the exception of sculptural images, I do everything I can to stay away from a seamless background.
All that does is isolate the model and remove depth and dimension, which is counter to what I want in an image.