Pre-Raphaelite Portrait Shoot with Leona: A Second Look at Lady Lilith

A Second Look at Lady Lilith

I picked Leona up from the station five minutes from my studio, and it wasn’t until she was in the car that I realised she’d flown in from Sweden, where she’s at university, on her way back to her parents in Ipswich. She’d built this session into that journey rather than putting it off until her next visit home. That’s the kind of thing that tells you how much someone wants to do a shoot before you’ve even switched a light on. The idea itself was hers. She’s loved the Pre-Raphaelites for a long time, and she wanted to return to Rossetti’s Lady Lilith, a painting I’d already photographed once before with a different model, Polly, a while back. I said yes without much persuading. Getting to explore the same painting again, with someone else’s read on it, was too good a chance to turn down.

  • A young woman with long brown wavy hair sits on a gilt wooden chair wearing a white flowing dress, gazing toward the camera with her hand raised to her face.
  • A woman in a white draped garment reclines on an ornate gold chair against a neutral background, gazing upward.
  • A woman in a white draped garment reclines on an ornate gold chair against a neutral background, head tilted back.
  • A woman with long brown hair sits on an ornate gilt chair, draped in flowing white fabric, gazing upward against a neutral background.
  • A woman in a cream linen dress reclines on a gilded Rococo chair against a neutral background, looking toward the camera.
  • A young woman with long wavy brown hair sits barefoot on a gilded wooden chair, wearing a white button-up shirt dress against a neutral grey background.

The Look: White, Loose and Deliberately Restrained

Leona wore a long white nightgown for most of the session, styled to drape loosely and fall off the shoulder rather than sit fitted or structured. That was a deliberate choice on both our parts. Lady Lilith is a painting about a woman fully aware of her own reflection, and we wanted the same quiet confidence without it ever tipping into anything inappropriate. Everything stayed implied rather than shown, which mattered to me as much as it did to her. Rather than working through separate outfit changes, we built variation into the session a different way, standing and seated poses, and backgrounds with different cloth textures brought in and built up behind her as we went. For lighting, I used a large softbox, 120cm, positioned camera left, which gave a soft, wrapping light. I leaned on the inverse square law deliberately here, positioning it close enough that the falloff did real work, giving us that gradual light to dark that Rossetti’s paintings rely on rather than anything flat.

  • A woman in a white patterned blouse sits on a dark blue fabric, leaning toward an ornate gold chair with a contemplative expression.
  • A young woman with long reddish-brown hair sits posed next to an ornate gilt chair, wearing a cream blouse and dark skirt with a white shawl draped over her shoulder, against a neutral grey background.
  • Woman in white lace shawl seated on dark blue cushion, leaning toward ornate gold chair, neutral background.
  • A woman with long auburn hair wearing a white ruffled shirt and dark trousers kneels beside an ornate gold chair against a neutral background.
  • A woman sits on a gilded chair against a neutral background, wearing a white ruffled blouse and dark skirt.
  • A woman with long wavy brown hair sits beside a gold ornate chair, wearing cream and teal clothing against a neutral background.

Jane Morris, the Muse Behind It

Lady Lilith gave us the visual language for the shoot, but Jane Morris was there too, in a quieter way. Rossetti painted Jane Morris over and over across years, and what made those paintings work wasn’t just her face, it was the trust and familiarity built up between an artist and a model who returned to each other again and again. That felt like the more honest reference for what was actually happening in my studio. Leona and I have worked together since January 2025, across a good number of sessions by now, model portfolio work, a Celtic themed shoot, one session where the styling drifted into Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring almost by accident. This wasn’t two people meeting a painting for the first time. It was two people who already knew how to work together, applying that to a new idea. These images were only ever inspired by Rossetti’s paintings, never an attempt to reproduce them exactly, and we took plenty of artistic licence along the way.

  • Woman in white draped clothing sitting on ornate gold chair with red velvet draping in dark studio setting.
  • A woman with long reddish-brown hair wearing a white off-shoulder dress stands beside a gold chair draped with red fabric.
  • Woman in white chemise seated on ornate gold chair with red velvet drape, hand to face, dark background.
  • Woman in white chemise and dark skirt sitting on ornate gilt chair draped with red fabric, head tilted pensively.
  • A woman in a white slip dress stands beside an ornate gold chair draped with red fabric against a dark background.
  • A woman in a white silk robe sits on a gold-trimmed chair with red velvet upholstery against a dark background.

Why This Kind of Photograph Still Works

This isn’t the first time a photographer has borrowed from Pre-Raphaelite painting either. Julia Margaret Cameron was doing something similar with a camera back in the 1860s, staging literary and allegorical scenes, softening focus on purpose, more interested in mood than technical polish. What she understood, and what still holds up, is that these paintings were built around light, gesture and story rather than likeness alone. That’s the part worth chasing in a studio now, not a costume recreated stitch for stitch.

  • A woman with long reddish-brown hair sits on a dark blue velvet chair against a grey background, wearing a cream blouse and gazing to the side.
  • A woman with long reddish-brown hair sits holding dark red calla lilies, wearing an off-shoulder cream dress against a neutral background.
  • A woman with shoulder-length brown hair sits facing away, holding a dark red calla lily. She wears a white off-shoulder blouse and a dark teal fabric drapes across her lap.
  • A young woman in a white draped garment holds dark red flowers, seated against a muted background, looking over her shoulder.
  • A woman with shoulder-length brown hair looks over her shoulder. She wears a white draped garment and holds a dark blue fabric. A dark red flower rests on her shoulder.
  • A woman with brown wavy hair holds dark red flowers over her shoulder, wearing a white draped garment and dark blue fabric.
  • A young woman in a white flowing gown reclines on dark blue fabric, looking over her shoulder at the viewer against a neutral background.
  • A woman in a white chemise reclines on dark fabric, holding a dark red flower, gazing toward the camera against a neutral background.
  • A young woman with reddish-brown hair sits on a blue fabric, wearing a white ruffled dress and holding dark red flowers. Neutral background.
  • A young woman in a white dress sits on dark fabric, holding dark red flowers, gazing toward the camera with a slight smile.
  • A woman with long reddish-brown hair sits against a dark background, wearing a cream-colored robe over a dark teal dress, gazing thoughtfully to the side.
  • A woman with long reddish-brown hair reclines on dark fabric, wearing a cream-coloured dress, gazing to the side thoughtfully.

Same Painting, Different Photograph

I could look back at my lighting notes from Polly’s session and borrow from them, and I did, but that’s where the similarity ends. Two different people in front of the same painting will never produce the same photograph, and that’s exactly as it should be. The images from this session are entirely Leona’s own, shaped by how she moved, how she held the pose, and what she brought to the idea, not a repeat of something I’d already made.

  • A woman in a pale patterned robe stands in profile against a red background, holding red fabric.
  • A woman in a pale slip dress holds a sheer red fabric against a deep red background, looking downward pensively.
  • A woman in a pale slip dress stands in profile against a deep red background, draped in sheer red fabric.
  • A woman in an ornate cream dress with ruffled collar stands against a red background, arms outstretched holding flowing red tulle fabric.
  • A woman in a white embroidered dress and white blouse stands in profile against a vivid red background, with red fabric draped behind her.
  • A woman in profile wearing a cream embroidered dress holds a flowing red veil against a deep red background.

If You Fancy Something Similar

I get asked fairly often whether a themed session like this is only for experienced models, and it isn’t. What matters more is having a reference you actually care about, whether that’s a painting, a film, a decade, or something more personal, rather than picking a theme because it sounds impressive. The strongest sessions I’ve done in this vein have all started with someone bringing me an idea they were genuinely attached to, the way Leona did here.

  • Woman in white dress holding ornate gold mirror, seated on gold chair against dark gold background.
  • A woman in a white garment holds an ornate gold-framed mirror, gazing at her reflection against a textured golden-brown wall.
  • A woman in a white top holds an ornate gold-framed mirror, gazing at her reflection against a dark background.
  • A woman in a white draped garment holds an ornate gold-framed mirror, gazing at her reflection against a dark background.
  • A young woman in a white garment gazes at her reflection in an ornate gold-framed mirror against a textured gold wall.
  • A woman in a white garment gazes into an ornate gold-framed mirror against a textured gold wall.

A Note on Model Safety

I don’t touch a model to adjust a pose. If something needs to change, I say so or show it from a distance, never with my hands. I always offer a model the chance to bring someone with them, a friend, a partner, whoever they’d feel comfortable having there, before the shoot even starts. Leona has modelled with me for a long time now, and this time she came on her own. I’d still rather she brought someone, and I say so every time, but I understand it as the kind of trust that builds up over a lot of sessions together, and I take it as a compliment rather than something to wave through lightly. For anyone newer to this, or anyone who doesn’t know their photographer well yet, a chaperone should be the default, not an afterthought. If a photographer won’t allow one, or makes a model feel awkward for asking, that’s a serious red flag and worth walking away from. A model’s safety isn’t something to negotiate on the day. It should be settled and clear before a camera comes out.

  • A woman with long dark hair sits on an ornate gold chair, wearing a white slip dress, against a dark golden-brown background.
  • A person with long brown hair wearing a black blazer stands against a mottled gold-brown background, looking over their shoulder.
  • A young woman with long wavy brown hair wearing a black coat stands against a muted gold-brown background, looking toward the camera.
  • A young woman with long dark hair wearing a black coat stands against a textured gold-brown background, looking downward.
  • A woman with long dark hair sits on a red chair wearing a black blazer and white skirt against a golden-brown backdrop.
  • A woman with long reddish-brown hair stands beside an ornate gold chair against a dark background, touching her face thoughtfully.

Suffolk Studio Sessions Like This One

This session was shot at my studio at Base Business Park in Rendlesham, the former RAF Bentwaters site near Woodbridge, and I work with models and clients across Suffolk, Ipswich and the wider East Anglia area. If a themed or art inspired session appeals to you, whether that’s Pre-Raphaelite painting or something else entirely, I’m always glad to talk it through.

  • Woman with long reddish-brown hair wearing a black blazer, looking over her shoulder against a neutral grey background.
  • A woman with long reddish-brown wavy hair wears a black blazer over a white shirt against a neutral grey background.
  • A woman with long reddish-brown hair wearing a black blazer stands against a neutral grey background, gazing to the side.
  • A person with long brown hair wearing a black blazer and cream slip dress, hands raised to their hair, against a neutral grey background.
  • A woman with reddish-brown hair wearing a black blazer over a white top, photographed against a neutral grey background.
  • A young woman with long auburn hair wearing a black cardigan stands against a grey background, looking downward with hands clasped.

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