botanical garden – Elena Arvasi Portrait Photographer

Floriane [Edinburgh, 2021]

4 September 2025Posted in portraitureTagged 2021, botanical garden, digital photography community, edinburgh, portraiture, women photographyLeave a comment

Last November I had the immense pleasure to catch up with an old friend. We hand’t seen each other since 2010. Flo (Floriane) came to visit me me in Edinburgh from Toulouse. We met in 2006 at the library of the University of Tours, during my Erasmus year, and we became friends immediately. I guess it was a matter of empathy, artistic connection and a good vibes exchange. We always stayed in touch during the following decades!

Flo is one of the bravest and more optimistic people that I know. In the past 10 years she lived and worked in China & South Africa. I couldn’t believe that this time we would spend a couple of days together in bonnie Scotland!! The weather was reasonably dry and of course we managed to slip in a quick portrait session at the Botanics. Needless to say…she is a BEAUTIFUL subject to work with!

Olivia, Anna, Elena & Nneka [Edinburgh, 2020]

9 August 20259 August 2025Posted in portraitureTagged 2020, botanical garden, edinburgh, friends photo shooting, portraitureLeave a comment

I met Olivia at the beginning of the pandemic, we were colleagues in a call centre. I can tell that she was the best gift of that year to me. She only worked in the company for a few months before starting university (yep, she is 18 years younger than me!), but when we met the sparkle of friendship and understanding clicked, and we have stayed in touch since then. I have always appreciated her good nature and good faith, the sense of family & friendship that she has, her open-heartedness. Her affection lifts me up and her zest for life is skyrocketing! She also has a deep connection with photography, thanks to her mother!

I took pictures of her in November 2020. She had brought some of her friends with her, at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh. The setting was outstanding with such beautiful autumn colors and it was intriguing to watch them acting more as a knit family rather than friends! Enjoy these beautiful memories (and the short video below)!

and that came as a GOOD surprise…Olivia & Necka on PhotoVogue!

If you believe that this is a studio portrait, then you are wrong! It was taken outdoors at the Botanics on a cold day!! Another friend supported the black drape and we created an improvised studio setting.

Is their pose provocative? I don’t think so. This portrait reminds me of an old daguerreotype taken during the American civil war, two friends standing together, lost in time and almost sharing the same destiny…

The girls were just outstanding and they got a bit emotional when I told them that the shot had been selected for publication by PhotoVogue!

Thank you, dear Editors, for our shared delight Alessia Glavian o, Chiara Bardelli Nonino & Francesca Marani!!

Annasole & Emi [Parma, 2017]

20 January 2025Posted in Kids & familiesTagged 2017, botanical garden, children portraiture, children shoot, digital photography, nikon, parma, spring timeLeave a comment

Annasole and Emi were born six weeks apart and were totally unaware of the photo shoot we had planned for them. For not knowing each other and being so small, I must admit that their interaction had been quite convincing and above all peaceful! A sincere Thanks goes to Elisa and Tomomi for their openness and for allowing their two little princesses to pose in front of my lens in the beautiful Botanical Garden!

Arianna [Parma, 2017]

21 December 2024Posted in Kids & familiesTagged 2017, botanical garden, digital photography, friends, Kids & families, nikon, parmaLeave a comment

Arianna was tiny and expressive. Dressed up in her pink-princess-coat, she was in a good mood, willing to be taken in photos and curious about the new environment, the Botanical Garden, which proved to be a topnotch location!