Why do these things always have to start so early in the morning? It was 4am, I was upright, brushing my teeth and doing another audit of my bags as I waited for the taxi to arrive. I had booked this trip to Lanzarote months ago and yet it had somehow snuck up on me.

Nausicaa Yami by Sam Barton — Network effects

I first met Elena in a very cold studio in East London back in January. This was one of those great examples of how photography can bring people together, the network effect of a shared need to be creative and how you invariably meet like minded people along the way. My Canadian friend Dave was in the UK for a week and had a busy schedule of shoots planned. I had insisted I buy him supper so we could meet face to face for the first time and that quickly turned into him inviting me on a shoot with Elena. I was familiar with her work, but also knew she was Italian and had assumed she was based there, so it was a nice surprise on many counts.

Our shoot was a lot of fun and I am particularly fond of a photo I took of Elena sitting inside a wooden seat as if she is the other half of an acorn. Most importantly we all had a great time shooting together and enjoying each other’s company. This all came at an odd inflection point in my life, I was about to change jobs for the first time in 10 years and had a bunch of free time ahead of me. A rare opportunity and one I had every intention of using to build upon my photographic project. I just needed to find the right people to come along on this adventure with me.

I was fortunate that when I suggested the idea of Elena being part of this work she had already seen some of my photos and was excited to get involved. I like travel photography trips to be done over a week or so, my thinking being that I want to get to know the new location, understand the person I am working with and allow time for bad weather or the ability to re-do a location should we wish. An insight into the logical side of my brain. So I proposed we agree on dates and then lock down the location. Elena looked at her diary and announced that she could fit me in at the end of May! I immediately did two things. I laughed out loud and then booked the dates with her. I knew she understood what I had in mind and that mattered more than the waiting.

We chatted a fair bit in the months that passed and I would share the behind the scenes (BTS) shots I was taking as my other trips unfolded. On one occasion she asked if her boyfriend could come along on the trip with us. They both travelled for work and this was a way for them to spend time together, but importantly he wanted to see how she worked. I was fine with the idea, I enjoy the social side of these trips and an assistant is always welcome. It wasn’t until a little later that a penny dropped. The logistics of shooting nudes in remote locations with one person is hard enough, but it’s that much harder with two people and yet here was an opportunity where two people knew each other and we were all going to be in the same place together. What better way for him to see how she worked than to actively get involved! It was a crazy idea. Bonkers. Can you even imagine writing the words and then pressing the send button? I knew Elena well enough that I felt I could send the message without getting a virtual slap even if it was a simple no. To my surprise and joy she had immediately shared the idea with him and they were both up for it! Something to include if the opportunity arose.

The cheescake test

I was holding my phone when a WhatsApp notification appeared on the screen from Elena. “We’re downstairs!” It was a dark and rainy morning in London, a perfect way to leave for a warmer island. I got in the front next to the driver and simultaneously greeted Mark and Elena behind me, whilst also apologising for the early start. Our final moments in the UK were spent in Gatwick airport sharing a homemade cheesecake that Elena had brought. A nice symbolic gesture, but also an indication of how we were all going to enjoy spending time together. Afterall, you can do anything with people that you have shared a cheesecake with before 6 am in the morning.

We arrived in Lanzarote surprisingly quickly and were soon in our white hire car, Elena at the wheel. Lanzarote is not a big island and our apartment was a short 10 min drive away. The island was new to me but Elena had been here a few times. I had done a lot of research beforehand, picking out locations that matched my otherworldly brief. Frankly, an island that was formed by volcanoes makes this process somewhat straightforward.

My father is a film producer and prior to my trip explained that a project he is working on surrounds a mega tsunami that is triggered when a chunk of land falls off the coast of the Canary Islands where I was headed. The science is that WHEN (not if) it falls the 13,000ft to the sea bed the impact will trigger an underwater wave that travels across the Atalntic and rises up into a tsunami as it makes landfall with the eastern seaboard of the US. Basically wiping out a decent chunk of America. His words were that it could happen tomorrow, a hundred years from now or much longer. Cheery!

I have always been one to live life in the here and now, enjoy the time we have on the planet. But wow, that is a great reminder to go out and tick things off your bucket list. Especially those on the East Coast of America apparently before we all have to relocate to another planet…

Somewhat ironically I was here in Lanzarote to seek out alien looking landscapes and I was excited to go find them. That evening we shared a meal in a local restaurant and got to know each other better whilst also chatting about a plan for our first shoot day.

The next morning we headed out to our first location, an area in the centre of the island surrounded by volcanoes and rich with black soil that is perfect for vineyards. I have a small obsession with black sand (we’ll get to that later) and that combined with the curious circular walls made from the volcanic stone that have been created to protect the plants from the harsh wind make these vineyards particularly appealing - to me. Our chosen location was just 20 mins from our apartments but it felt like we were a thousand miles away from the busy tourist life of the coast. The narrow road was devoid of traffic and we were overlooked by several large volcanoes that each wore a different colour. Beside the road were miles of these vineyards, their jigsaw-like pattern spread out ahead of us. We reached my dropped pin and parked the car in a barren landscape of dried lava fields that must have been from a movie. The location was perfect, but would it be ok to shoot here? We were very alone, the only other car was a distance away, a man was tending to the crop. Mark was about to get his first experience in the field (quite literally) as an assistant.

Mark set off towards the chap armed with his phone and Google translate to ask if we could take photos in his vineyard and if it was ok to use a drone here. Elena and I joked about how we were about to take some great marketing shots for their wine, adding our very own sparkle to their vintage. Happily the chap gave us his thumbs up and we set about picking a spot amongst the stone walls. Mark took some fun BTS of me lying on the ground as I demoed to Elena the kind of poses I had in mind and talked through drone photography (it’s a very different medium and harder for the model without the normal communication so you have to do much more planning before getting into position).

A quick edit from this set. I’ve not had time to edit the vinyard series properly yet.

The weather was kind to us, and by that I mean it was an overcast day, that soft light is a must for aerial shots. We took a number of images and varied the framing and poses whilst Mark relayed my small directions from afar. But what I hadn’t noticed until now was that the volcanic earth had not been kind to Elena’s skin, she hadn’t said a word, but at one point her arm resembled a pin cushion. A good opportunity to have a break! We used the time to review our shots and also mooted the idea of Mark posing with Elena. This seemed to happen quickly, Mark had watched Elena and had followed my instructions to her, but also had Elena to guide him on poses and how to fine tune ones body shape to be more elegant. Those two were naturals and we captured some great shots together that had an Adam and Eve feel to them. That crazy idea was suddenly being realised and it no longer felt crazy, it was a very natural conclusion to this beautiful location.

After a few hours rest at our apartments, we headed out again for sunset at a black sand beach. I had found a number of beaches on the west coast of the island that were made from volcanic rock and would provide that stark contrast of a white body against a natural black background. But also, these beaches tend to be framed by rough terrain, odd shapes of rock frozen in place as the lava reached the sea hardened in pace. Another great setting for my otherworldly brief.

The road to our first beach had been blocked, we guessed it was unsafe to reach, so we parked at the next beach a mile down the road. It wasn’t as long, but had the same wild feel to it and the size of the car park meant it wasn’t busy at all. It was low tide and you could quickly see the soft black sand as it was polished by the white waves of the sea. Either side of the beach were jagged, and sometimes spiky rock formations that jutted out into the sea. It was perfect, I couldn’t have asked for more.

There were a few people sat on the middle of the windy beach awaiting the sunset so we chose to shoot amongst the jagged rocks on the left hand side where tourists were put off by the sharp rocks. Looking at the shots now I am reminded of the wind and stormy clouds and how Elena had suddenly become more feral with her poses, her instinct to connect with the environment was clear to see. We finished shooting by a lake of water that was trapped at low tide, Elena continued her animal-like poses as if she had risen from the water and behind her was a large red volcano that added to the drama.

It was late when we left the beach, fooled by the long sunset we’d stayed longer than planned. It’s easy to lose track of time when you are having fun. Mark ordered pizzas on the way back so we could eat without going out and our evening was spent reviewing the day's shots.

*BTS shot taken by Mark*

The next morning we got back in the car and headed towards a canyon I had on my list. Elena had promoted this island as a perfect match for the kind of locations I was seeking and she wasn’t wrong. We parked on the road below a steep hill and seemed to be next to a long row of cars. This didn’t feel good for shooting in if it was going to be busy. We were here anyway and decided to scale the hill and check it out, even if it meant we came back early another morning. I brought my camera and a wide lens, just in case.

These canyons aren’t marked, you have to guess at where the entrance might be. Our path up the hill was clearly not the common route and when we arrived at the top it was quiet, the tourist favouring another part of the hill. Ahead of us was a tiny slot in the rock, just big enough for Indian Jones to slide into. We went in single file and found ourselves inside a tiny, but perfectly formed sandstone canyon. It was a mini replica of ones I had seen in Utah or Jordan. The smaller size somehow made it more dramatic and it was a perfect fit for Elena’s slight frame. This was a spectacular find, and it was also not that busy. Ahead of us were two people taking selfies. We politely waited and then when they were gone we were alone and quickly used the time. Elena needed no prompting, she found weird and wonderful poses, leveraging the fact that she could straddle the canyon with her legs and hold onto the sides with her arms.

Mark ran back to the car to get my other camera and some things for Elena, we were here to stay! He was also instrumental in being our canyon gate keeper, letting new people know to wait a few minutes before they could enter. We exploited our time with Mark at the gate as long as we could and then paused for Elena to rest and allow people past us. She would stand at the entrance to the canyon wearing a white towelling dressing gown from the apartments and look at our shots through my camera. I can’t imagine what people must have thought of us, but Elena was at ease, her Italian chic was plain to see. She had that air of confidence about her that said she was meant to be there and no one questioned it.

We went back into the canyon four times in total, the last time was to perfect a shot that we both delighted in taking. I had to straddle the top of the canyon, my feet on either side of a narrow ledge and Elena lay on her side like a serpent along the canyon bed, the walls were lined with various colours, each line perfectly highlighting the organic shape of the smooth rock that had been carved by water. Her poses were different, they were very feminine and a nice soft contrast to the rocky backdrop. We left the canyon, excited we had found it, but also pleased with our accomplishments. It was one of those shots that you both knew was worth going the extra mile for.

One of us looking better than the other, but it's always about the shot. BTS taken by Mark of course!

We headed back to the apartments to rest, our plan was to go back to yesterday’s black sand beach for sunset once again. By now we were becoming more familiar with the route and arrived earlier than yesterday. The sun was still high so we had time to search for the perfect location. The left hand side of the beach where the sand gave way to rocky shapes was unpopulated so we headed that way. We traced the coast and walked the edge of the land for just under a kilometre as we surveyed the landscape. There were many good opportunities but some were too dangerous to reach. In the end we selected a place close to the sea that had a number of rocky fingers that reached out into the water like breakers.

I’ve become familiar with seeing a location from the typical eye height and then being able to picture the bird's eye view. This was going to be a good spot! Our first thought was to find a gap in the rocky fingers where Elena could lie down and pose comfortably. Our eyes all fell on the same spot at once, a heart shaped gap in the rocks lined with black sand, each rounded edge of the heart would fit Elena’s arms perfectly with her body and legs below. It was here that I took one of my favourite shots of Elena, her elegant pose and white body perfectly contrasted the harsh black landscape. As we walked back to the centre of the beach I remember saying to the two of them that I was having a great time taking photos here, but in that moment I wanted nothing more than to be at home so I could print out the image we had just taken.

This is one of those images that has to be seen in printed form.

We used the last of the evening light to shoot on the now deserted beach and Elena found her more feral side once more perhaps encouraged by the giant volcano that overlooked the beach. Our evening was spent in Elena and Mark’s apartment sharing wine and reviewing the day's shots.

The next morning was Saturday we all enjoyed a lazy start to the day as we readied ourselves for a drive to a more remote location. We were headed back to the east coast towards the tip of the island to the rock pools of Los Charcones. These natural pools capture water at low tide and make for a calm place to swim whilst the angry sea next to them crashes against the cliff walls. It was another wild location I had found during my virtual recce and I was keen to see it. The directions on Google maps showed a road that lead straight to the pools with a short walk at the end to reach the water. But in reality the last few miles were down a narrow and bumpy dirt path. Mark joked that this was like visiting a remote coffee plantation as he shared some of the stories of his day job in the coffee industry.

We arrived at the location and pulled the car into a spot that overlooked the drop below to the sea. It was an image from a car commercial designed to encourage you to go explore the world with your new car, a Suzuki in our case. The location was just as wild as I had imagined, from our vantage point atop the cliff we could see a variety of possible locations to shoot in. Plus, the remote nature of our location meant we were almost alone. This was perfect!

I took my enormous backpack to the ledge and worked my way down a number of giant black boulders intending to find a path to the bottom for the others to follow. Part way down I reached a cave cut out of the rock and stopped. It was like something had crashed into the cliff hundreds of years before and left behind this crater. This was gold as far as I was concerned, it was entirely different from the shots we had planned to take, but it was a brilliant find and one we were going to use it first. We chose to reach the bottom and make camp. Once in place we surveyed our new world, the terrain was a rough limestone plateau that was pock marked with giant holes cut out of it that were filled with sea water. At the edge, the sea buffeted a small cliff and pushed spray and salt up into the air. I knew I had seen this type of land before, it was almost a year to the day that I was with Kate in the salt pans of Gozo, a place that kick started this project of mine. By way of confirmation I found pools of salt in the limestone as the trapped sea water evaporated leaving the salt to dry in the sun. If I were religious I’d have seen this as a sign from the gods.

A cave of creativity

Above us was the stark black cliff that we had climbed down and the crater-like hole which was cut out of it. It seemed much higher from here and it was obvious the shot I had in mind could only be taken with a drone. Mark helped Elena back up the cliff and got her installed safely whilst I took some reference shots to confirm the framing I wanted. My drone has a couple of lenses on it and I was able to see the wide, more dramatic framing compared to the longer telephoto lens which gave a more personal feel to the image - I wanted both! Elena was very familiar with my shooting style now and needed litte direction, this was to be some simple, gentle poses, something very feminine. Even from the ground it was clear that Elena’s naked form against this dramatic background was going to make for a beautiful image. You could imagine this was a scene from an opera, music by Verdi booming in the background with the crashing waves on percussion. Just like the day before, I knew I had taken an image that had to be printed as soon as possible.

Buoyed on by our creative success in the cave we searched for other wild places next to us. The wind was relentless and seemed to have picked up. It seemed to be the cause of the changing sunlight as it pushed clouds around the sky more quickly than the past few days. This wasn’t new to us, we had become proficient at being tactical with the sun, seizing upon the soft light when it presented itself. But now, at almost midday we had to be quicker than normal. We hopped from one spot to another and captured a variety of images against this wild, alien-like landscape. That box becoming was well and truly ticked!

By now it was 2pm, lunch time had somehow been an gone and the light was too hard to use in the open. We retreated back into the cave where the dark walls were still in shadow, our intention being to take some portraits as a continuation of the shots taken at the beginning of the day. To connect the story of our location, we emptied my water bottle and filled it with salt from the rock pools. Elena later applied the salt to her skin and the crystals sparkled against the sheer black walls. Elena’s creative spirit is at home in moments like this where she can curate a character. She isn’t an actress pretending to be someone else, it’s more that her natural energy is fully charged when she feels connected to the images we are both trying to take and this was one of those moments.

Our drive home was back along the dramatic scenery, the jagged cliff edge to our left and a string of volcanoes to our right. I used the slow pace of the road to film our journey back with my drone, just a bit of fun for us and a nod to that car advert that we had participated in earlier in the day.

We arrived back at the apartments exhausted and drained of energy. The constant wind had caught up with us so we had a late lunch and agreed to call that a day for shots. That evening Elena and I had a meal out, it was nice to chat 1:1 as this was the first time. I believe these simple moments are very important, you learn a lot about a person over a meal and that, for me, is very helpful when it comes to capturing them. We also agreed upon a plan for the next day. We had been so focused on maximising the locations I had on my map that we had yet to shoot with any of the clothes Elena had brought with her.

The next morning Elena had laid out her significant wardrobe and we picked a number of looks to work through. The first was a simple but very stylish jumpsuit whose wide legs met in the middle and gave the appearance of a dress. Her hair was up in a bun and we had aligned on some simple makeup and jewellery. The finished ensemble was that of a fifties film star. The walls of the apartment were either in hard daylight or shrouded in shadow and a softer light. We used the terrace of my apartment first. I liked the diagonal shapes of both hard and soft light created by the slatted roof. We then used the staircase, its long leading lines combined with a 20 mm lens allowed Elena to own the centre of the frame as the wind filled the fabric of her outfit and made the image even more dramatic.

An editorial edit

We shot in short bursts and both enjoyed reviewing the shots on the back of the camera. This was an entirely different way of shooting together, but we found a lot of energy from it. I just love shooting in this editorial style where you capture a story as much as a set of fashion-led images and Elena’s versatile look lended to the images perfectly.

The next look was an ode to Helmut Newton with Elena’s long leather boots and just a simple black bikini. On paper this outfit sounded ridiculous but the finished look was fabulous and Elena shone as she walked towards the white double sofa next to the pool that was to be our location. The hard light wrapped around her and cast a perfect shadow on the wall behind. The finished images were bold and dramatic and the framing hid our land based location. If you told the viewer that we were on a yacht in Monaco they would have believed you.

Our final look was an Yves Saint Laurent black dress that Elena had not shot in before. It was a beautiful cut made from velvet with one bare shoulder and arm. The other shoulder was a puff of velvet that continued down the length of the other arm. If you liked contrast as I do this was a magnificent dress. She completed the look with some diamante earrings and Gucci sandals. Elena looked a million dollars, all she needed was a fashionable party to go to. In many ways that dictated the scene we set for our editorial. A girl who was at a party but was not enjoying it, our shots followed her as she escaped the other guests and sat awkwardly by the pool, eventually taking her shoes off and defiantly smoking a cigarette. This was another moment where Elena was transported to a different era. I once again congratulated her on her versatility and she joked that another photographer didn’t like that in models, he’d favoured continuity in a portfolio. If you look at my work it’s all over the place, I just love taking photos and would rather take the right image for the moment than try and make it match my last one.

A perfect match

We broke for lunch and a rest and planned to go back to my favourite black sand beach for one more visit that evening. We had a lazy lunch and reviewed some of the morning's photos. Mark and Elena sat outside of their apartment as we drank a beer each and I could see they were a perfect match. I grabbed my camera and took a snap of them in that happy moment. It’s often easy to forget to capture those real moments of people especially when we are so used to reaching for a phone to do so.

That evening we ventured out to the beach armed with clothes for the first time. The idea was to continue where we left off earlier in the day, but with the wild and rocky beach as our backdrop. We quickly found our spot at the edge of the near empty beach and Elena and I moved in and out of the waves taking shots together. Mark was always close taking BTS and ready with my second camera body, I could totally get used to this!

Our final shots here were nude, the idea was to use the soft black sand as not just a contrasty backdrop, but also as a light covering over Elena’s skin as if she was more connected to the place. The first images were taken with my traditional cameras and we finished with images taken with my drone to show the full context of the scene. The drone had a set of three batteries ready to go, but unfortunately my controller was low on power so this was going to be quick. Mark later said “It was impressive seeing both of you react to the situation and be able to capture the images despite the short amount of time that you had”. He had come here to witness her work and had collectively seen the very professional side of Elena alongside her goofy self that I am sure he was more than familiar with.

The next day was our final day

We were all tired, the strong Lanzarote wind could drain you of your energy and I am always very conscious of how energy impacts the images you take. Having enjoyed the time taking fashion and editorial shots the day before I proposed we do the same again that morning and then have a lazy afternoon before going out for a meal somewhere nice for our last night together.

We used up the last of Elena’s extensive wardrobe, this time with a slicked back hair theme. The first images were simple and yet elegant and would be the first ones I shared on Instagram when we got back. The place was quiet, the other quests were away which permitted some nude shots amongst the mix of hard and soft light. Elena’s poses were natural and graceful. At one point I was reminded of a book my parents gave me by Edward Weston, but also a photo I had taken of my wife Cleia many years previously. We were staying in a remote villa in Greece and I took a candid shot of her in the nude as she bent down to stroke a local cat. That photo captured something I was seeing here, the eye by-passed the nudity and focused on the natural and honest grace of the subject, Cleia.

To me that point symbolises how I have approached taking nude photos and why I find it works especially well with these wild landscape images. It’s that raw honesty that draws the eye.

I took my first planned nude photo a year and a half ago back in September 2022. I was confident of my abilities as a photographer, but I wasn’t confident I could do justice to this very different medium. As with all things you don’t know until you try and I was surprised by how the images turned out. But something that I have always felt confident about is taking photos of people, I just love connecting with new people and trying to get the best out of them. Elena had said early on in our time together that she hated clothes. I had laughed as she had brought so many, but it didn’t take long to see what she meant, she was just very confident in her own skin. This was a trait I had seen in other art models but it seemed especially true of Elena. We had come to know each much better in our time on Lanzarote and regardless of what she was wearing I could see her for the artist that she was.

That evening we ate at a lovely seaside restaurant that Mark had found. It was a happy meal and the food was excellent. Mark had by now amassed a huge number of BTS images plus videos and was figuring out how to share them with us. We were sad that our time had come to an end, it had genuinely been a lot of fun for all of us. My only positive was that I would soon be reunited with my new Epson A2 printer and I would be able to print out some of these images that we had captured. We finished the meal with rather large brandies in big glasses whilst walking on the beach below the restaurant. It was very decadent on all counts, but we all knew this would be a nice memory.

Sizing the moment

A month or so before our trip to Lanzarote I posted some photos of Elena from our first London shoot and included a BTS image of her laughing. In the description I described Elena as a ‘hold my beer’ kind of model. Someone who can jump in and nail a pose in a moment but also highlighted her real side referenced in the BTS image and saying it was good to spill your beer now and then. She quickly replied saying *“I feel like you’re going to realise very soon that I spill my beer 99% of the time 😂❤️”* She wasn’t wrong! Her happy personality was always on and made our trip that much more fun.

I left Elena with a print I brought with me of her as the acorn from our first shoot together. I love to complete circles and this was a perfect example, the model being reunited with her image and the underlying story behind that image as without it we wouldn’t be here in Lanzarote.

A great reminder to all of us to seize the moment.

If you don’t already do so, please go and follow her modelling profile: Nausicaa Yami Below are some BTS snaps taken by both Mark and myself during our awesome trip to Lanzarote.