nikon d700 – Elena Arvasi Portrait Photographer

I believe that photography is so important not only to allow us to have beautiful pictures and to receive a rewarding image of ourselves but it also functions as a collective memory, documenting the different stages of our life. December 2013, I had been in England for 5 months and was recovering from a difficult time. I wanted to shine and prove to myself that I was making it, that I was taking care of myself and that my efforts were fulfilling a valuable purpose. However, when I look at these pictures I still think: “Gosh, how skinny was I!”. I had worked with Matthew Bishop, who to this day he remains one of my favorite photographers, a few months earlier and I asked him to take some winter portraits of me. We met up in London on a cold December morning, we had a coffe and he led me through the shooting. I cherish these photographs: I see myself as elegant and also with a somewhat French style!

This post is not to forget that, yes, we can! It is also meant to be a reminder to always thank ourselves for all the good stuff, the ideas, the braveness that we can have, for each meaningful action that we do, during each day, in every phase of our lives. One of my nemesis is to show-up and to share valuable contents. When I am going to write an article or to prepare a post, I always ask myself: “Shall I do it? Is it worth it?”. If I can inspire or motivate someone, or my words might have a positive impact on someone who is sharing even a slightly similar aspect during his journey or might be able to relate because of a personality’s aspect, then my purpose is fulfilled.

Posing in front of a camera is always intimate, it is hard and when they say that the first 15-20 minutes are awkward, they are completely right. It was summer 2013, I had moved to England (Newbury) a few weeks earlier, I was recovering from the end of a relationship and…look at it, I just got a drastically-short haircut! I felt the need to have some nice images of me, plus I wanted to document this period of change. Browsing on the web, I found Matthew Bishop and fell in love with his work, so on a late afternoon he came down from London, in order to take some portraits of me in a forest area, close to the Kennet canal. The glow of that evening was simply breathtaking. I felt comfortable working with him, because of his calm and also because he had a vision, about what he wanted to achieve. To this day, I am still grateful to him for these lovely outcomes. That’s why I hired him, a few months later, for a winter session in London 😁