Being an art major in school, I was required to take a lot of art history courses. This photoshoot was inspired by the art of Antiquity rediscovered in the spirit of the Renaissance. Pieces of art like the Winged Victory of Samothrace and the Parthenon. Pieces that are ancient, flawed and missing pieces, yet still breathtakingly beautiful.

Catrina Beautiful Ruins Blog Sitting Image Visalia Photographer

My idea for the set was to make it look like an lost room full of ancient artifacts, which the viewer has just discovered. And among these beautiful ruins, a goddess has been trapped. The color pallet was based off of the color of travertine, a building material prominently used in Italy. I also added pops of deep red and purple to complement gold accent pieces. All of these colors worked together to give a warm tone I was going for.


I wanted to keep the clothing fairly simple and in the same color pallet as the set to give the idea that the model was a part of these ancient relics. I went with a simple flowy bottom to mimic the draped fabric looks of antiquity and a more renaissance looking top.

Beautiful Ruins Blog Lighting Setup Visalia Photographer
Catrina Beautiful Ruins Blog Final Set Visalia Photographer

The struggle with creating this set was trying to find a balance. I wanted it to feel full but not cluttered. There are a few things I wish I would have moved around, but overall I think I achieved my vision.

Here’s where I found everything:


This was a three light setup with an Einstein Flash Unit with large silver umbrella and diffusion as the key light, a Godox AD300Pro as an overhead light with a large silver umbrella, and a Godox AD600Pro for fill with a softbox.


Shooting was lots of fun! I pulled up a document I compiled of my posing inspiration and showed it to the model, Catrina, and she ran with it. She did an amazing job of expressing vulnerable yet powerful goddess vibes, which tied the whole story together!

Catrina Beautiful Ruins Blog Last Image Visalia Photographer