I had a very enjoyable and successful photoshoot with Stephanie last week. These shoots are essentially an opportunity to practice, and to develop my skills. One of the key ways I do this is by taking an existing photograph as a reference point. In this case the reference point was a photograph of Claudia Cardinale, taken right at the start of her career.

The idea of taking a reference point like this is not to copy the picture but to use it as starting point. In this case the pose is clearly based on, though hardly unique to, the original but the setting is intended to be rather less utilitarian than the original.