Photography: Damien Lovegrove
Models: Mischkah, Giorgia Pepé, Susanna Fusari, Morgana Balzarotti
Styling: Damien Lovegrove and Mischkah
Hair and Makeup: The models’ own
Location Scout: Damien Lovegrove
Camera: Fujifilm GFX100ll
Lenses: GF30mm, GF32-64mm, GF55mm, GF110mm, GF250mm
Lights: Amaran 200X and Amaran 60X with battery power supplies
Lighting Effects: Scattergels
Location: Western Tuscany, Italy
Wow, what a trip! Each year I say this is the best yet and 2024 was no exception. The combination of models, locations and concepts created some memorable photographs. Here are 31 of the 100 or so that I took on this adventure in Tuscany. Enjoy!

01. Caravaggio was my inspiration for this workshop. Not the man himself or the twisted violent subjects he chose to paint but the colour palette and tonality he employed in his work. The dark yet detailed textures in the backgrounds, the soft flowing fabrics and pools of crisp hard light that fell on his subjects pulling them out of the depths of the environs. Giorgia and Mischkah rocked the peasant look perfectly.
It was at the end of March 2024 when I drove the 1500 miles (2400 Km) south to Italy from my home in the UK to find the places I needed for this adventure. I had placed 130 pins in a Google Map, each one a potential shoot location. I zig-zagged across Tuscany up dusty roads, over fords, and through woodlands all in search of magical places to shoot.

02. Giorgia has a classical elegance that contrasts well with the environment in which she finds herself in. The Scattergel breaks up the light and bathes her in pools of illumination.
These first three photographs were taken in an abandoned 20-room mansion with a family-run factory and horse stables adjacent to the main house. Access was via a 10-minute walk uphill from the road and through a wall of brambles. I had cut a route through the brambles on my recce in March and by September only a small amount of work with secateurs was needed once more.

03. Nothing quite prepares you for the features of buildings like this to reveal themselves out of the darkness as your eyes grow used to the dim illumination from an iPhone torch. In April this was a dark, cold place to shoot in and in September when the workshops took place it was far more pleasant location.
After a month of scouring Google Earth for potential shoot spots and a three-week recce, I had to create a workshop itinerary, arrange accommodation, do a financial costings breakdown and create this booking page on my website. It was about another month of work to get to the point of accepting bookings. The process is quite admin heavy but the photographic opportunities make the effort worthwhile.

04. I’m not sure what this press is for. It could be olives or grapes but the textures and shapes here are superb. Mischkah looks stunning in this top I bought from Depop, and her own skirt.
In my exploration in the days before the workshop, I stumbled across an abandoned hamlet in the woods that I’d not discovered on my recce. It was complete with a medieval tower, ten houses, a chapel and a white horse. The horse was free to roam and it was quite evident where the horse had ventured. The place is just magical with at least one big 6 bedroom building close to being habitable. There was an electrical supply recently disconnected and a multitude of shooting opportunities.

05. In the basement of the medieval tower is this dusty room. I found a broken ladder on the floor. I propped it up on a block of wood and rested it against the wall. I happen to love ladders and bicycles as graphical elements in portraits. Mischkah wears ‘Rover’, the name she gave my gold dress because it travels with me everywhere. The liquid gold nature of the dress delivers a dramatic twist to an otherwise minimalist shot.
I’ve been going to Tuscany to run workshops since 2009 and it’s a place that I’ll never tire of. I went to Umbria in 2023 to run a workshop near Orvieto and in 2025 I’ll be heading further south. There is so much more to discover in the abandoned buildings of this magical land.

06. I introduced floaty tulle skirts into my work a few years ago and this was their final outing; I like to evolve my styling. I love the flow of the fabric in this shot of Susanna. The subtle textures are captured in fabulous detail by the 100mp GFX camera. The principal subject is quite small in the frame in a lot of my shots and this kind of shooting needs a lot of megapixels. I like 12mp for a headshot, 24mp for a full-length shot, 50mp for an environmental portrait and 100mp for wider full-length shots with negative space. I only have one camera at a time so my current GFX100ll is driving my picture style somewhat.
There is always a sense of excitement when I first lay eyes upon new locations. I spend the first 10 days or so of a recce weeding out the potential shoot spots to get down to a shortlist, then the next week or so shooting in these newly found locations. At this point, I’m joined by a friend and together we shoot several models. Again it’s a shortlisting process for the September workshops. This April I was joined by Mischkah for a week of the recce, and in the evenings over dinner, we planned the styling and devised the look for the workshop. In Orvieto 2023, I lit the scenes with flash from the outside of the buildings pumping the light through windows and doors. This year was all about battery-powered continuous lighting from within.

07. Giorgia and Mischkah in the abandoned mansion. The cart is in fabulous condition and is being stored on an upper floor near the olive oil production facility. There is an external ramp from this room down to the factory below. The building is beyond renovation but still strong enough to be a fairly safe working environment for photography.
I had planned for the 2024 Italy workshop to be my last because of the sheer amount of admin needed to put on such an event but my personal circumstances have recently changed and now I find myself with admin help and new reasons to travel. I guess my painting and drawing will have to wait for a few more years.

08. Having a vision for an image is vital. I have spent my life disliking the combination of red and green. The luminance of the two colours is fairly similar and it took Mischkah’s insistence to shoot this frame. I lit Mischkah with a pool of light and also the back wall. It’s important for me at times to collaborate with passionate creatives to develop ideas and achieve masterful results.
I have a group of six clients who have become friends and want me to put on another workshop event in Italy in September 2025. I’ve already started scouring Google Earth and putting pins in Google Maps. In April, I’ll go over to Italy and do my three-week recce to find our new shoot locations and the base for the September event. This time, I’ll work in an area south of Rome.

09. This location is a chapel in the abandoned hamlet I found in the woods. The stonework and frescoes are exquisite and the atmosphere is electric. I used the Amaran 200 with a Scattergel to light Susanna in the dress called Rover. I used the GF30mm lens for this location and that lens has the equivalent angle of view as a 24mm lens on full frame format.
If you have a group of friends who want to get together to shoot in any of these locations please get in touch here and let’s see what we can put together. I’ll already be in Italy in April and September 2025 so this is a cost-effective opportunity. I am also happy to work on a 1:1 basis too. I have the locations, models, lighting kit, and the time to make your shooting experience top-notch.

10. Mischkah is bathed in beautiful light and you can see the hint of smoke from my battery-powered smoke machine. I now have access to two fabulous abandoned chapels in Tuscany. There are many more but each of them has issues including dangerous masonry, falling rooves or they are securely locked etc.
My recent photography has been lit with hard light, both continuous and flash. It’s now time for me to move onto soft light but with control. Directional soft light is a fabulous tool to work with. You hear words like feathering banded around but true control requires far more than changing the light direction. In 2025 I’ll be using soft light, both continuous and with flash. I won’t be able to use my beloved Scattergels but I have other tricks up my sleeve.

11. For this composition I set a strong foreground, added Morgana and placed her against a clear part of the background. I rigged the camera low to emphasise the foreground and establish the lead in lines. The composition is full of diagonals including the virtual ones like Morgana’s eyeline and the relationship between Jesus and Morgana. The tonal regression with the most distant part of the scene being the lowest in contrast completes the concept. The crisp, hard light is set at 90° to the camera like in so many shots in this set.

12. Studies of Susanna in monochrome.

13. Studies of Mischkah in monochrome.

14. Susanna is used to glamour and fashion modelling alike and looks wonderful in the daisy outfit and the white halterneck playsuit in dappled sunlight.

15. Morgana brought Niko with her to the shoot. They make a lovely couple and we took some shots for them both to enjoy.

16. Morgana and Susanna pictured among the olive trees. The smell of thyme and mint was wonderful as we crashed through the undergrowth to reach this olive grove.

17. What I love about Italy is that around nearly every corner there’s something exciting to see. When I visited this bridge in April there was a flowing river with rock pools and fish below it. By September, the river had completely dried up. The height of this ancient bridge implies a full-flowing river at times of storm surge and snow melt. Mischkah is a vision in white set against a forest backdrop.
Join me in Italy for 1:1 or group training. Please message me here in the first instance and we can arrange a Zoom call to discuss your options.
Do you like to work with hard light or soft light? Please feel free to comment below with your answer and your reasons why.
Wow, those are spectacular! The lighting, models, locations…all amazing!
Thank you Randy for the compliments :)
Beautiful work Damien
Hi Doug,
Thank you :)
Beautiful work by all!
Hi Martin, Thank you :)
Cheers,
Damien.
A joy to read and look at! Is the GF 55mm a keeper?
Best regards, Paul
Hi Paul,
Thank you for the compliments. The 55 is fabulous and a keeper for sure. I think I’ll let the 80 go sometime soon. The secondhand market is full of them at the moment and the resale price is low right now.
Such wonderful, and yes, tender images.Superb!
Thank you Terry for your kind words.
Stunning imagery, Damien! Shared affinity for Caravaggio. Two (there were more) past Tuscany takeaways for me…embrace hard light and trust the talent. Best wishes to all collaborators and talent with a sincere wish that our paths cross again in the near future. Be well.
Thank you Patrick,
Wonderful memories and I hope we get to shoot again soon.
Kind regards,
Damien
Love them. That dress sure does get around ;)
Hi Peter,
Thank you. There will be far more shots with that dress in 2025 as I look to complete my next book called ‘Rover’. The book about the dress.
Cheers, Damien
Beautiful and inspiring photos, Damien!
Thank you Jay :)
Had to comment again as actually can’t stop looking at the images with the press. The textures, light, model, colours. All of it! Perfection.
Thank you Melanie. It makes me tingle when it all comes together and I look down to my LCD screen and I see a fabulous image.
Damien.
As always these are breathtaking images. For me I adore soft light but I think that comes from my love of newborn photography where soft light is a must. Your hard and soft light work is always so inspiring. That last images is a real “wow”! Congratulations on clearly another fabulous workshop!
Thank you Melanie,
I understand your love for soft light and that is where I’ll be heading next. I’ll need flags, more stands but the effort should be worth it.
Best wishes, Damien
This year’s workshop was a fantastic experience, making new friends and memories that will last forever. Your work is truly inspirational, and it was fantastic to join you on another adventure.
Hi Jeremy,
Thank you for your comments. It was great to share another adventure with you. It was one of a series of wonderful creative experiences we’ve had together. They are all life-long memories.
Regards, Damien
Excellent images & very inspirational.
My compliments.
Dave
Thank you Dave. Photography is a wonderful hobby to have. A bit of vision, a slash of light and voila!
Cheers, Damien