Portraits on the Milky Way — Isabella at the Alte Molkerei

A portrait shoot that was also a product shoot — and a location that held more backdrops for both than a single day could possibly use. With Isabella I headed into the Alte Molkerei in Mank, combined with product photos for the new Schagerl Drums and the matching merchandise.

Isabella crouched in a broken brickwork archway in the Alte Molkerei, black and white — Broken brickwork — patina that gives the image depth

The Alte Molkerei is a lost place straight out of the imagination: a vast, long-abandoned industrial building full of patina that leaves nothing to be desired. From dark, labyrinthine cellars with a genuinely post-apocalyptic mood, to large, light-flooded halls, to an apartment with unfiltered '70s flair — all of it under one roof. White-tiled walls, broken brickwork, light falling through the cracks: the kind of material you can really only fail with if you bring too little time.

Isabella with a Schagerl snare drum in a white-tiled kitchen of the Alte Molkerei, black and white — White-tiled walls, a snare — portrait and product photo at the same time

That range was exactly the point. The patina of the place gave the portraits with Isabella the same depth as the product shots of the drums — no sterile studio backdrop, but surroundings with character that don't just show the instrument but ground it. A drum kit against broken brickwork simply looks like more than it does against a white wall, and a portrait in the right backlight amid all that patina even more so.

Isabella portrait in the broken brickwork archway of the Alte Molkerei, black and white — Light-flooded hall — character rather than sterile background

Thanks to Isabella for coming along through cellars, halls and a '70s apartment — and to Schagerl Drums for letting product photos here look like anything but product photos.

→ All images from this session in the gallery