Il Volta 24

The cosplay shoot: Il Volta 24

These images were taken during the 2024 edition of Il Volta, three continuous days in which cosplayers and photographers from all over the world come together to build sets of strong visual impact. The result is a small catalogue of very different moods, held together by the way the light is allowed to work on surfaces and materials.

The range moves from interiors saturated with red, where drapes and warm light wrap figures covered in golden chains and veils, to a white bathtub surrounded by reddish reflections and deep shadows. In the first case the colour floods everything, settles on skin decorated with henna, lights up golden pendants and stones, and lets the veil filter the features without hiding them completely; in the second the pale porcelain becomes the only bright anchor among dark horns, long gloves and a background that closes into shadow. In these scenes the presence in front of the lens is restrained, almost suspended, with the gaze carrying the weight of the frame while the body stays immersed in the surroundings.

Elsewhere the light changes completely: a portrait against natural backlight, cream and copper tones, with a soft, diffused air that softens the edges. Here the pale fabric and the coppery hair gather the glow coming from outside, and attention shifts to a more open expression, almost listening. A scene on pale fur, with an open book and hands loaded with rings, keeps the same quiet, inward register: the framing is close, taken from behind the shoulder, and the gesture over the pages becomes the silent centre of the image.

Closing the set is a bare architectural space, columns and half-light, where the posture becomes tenser and more reactive to the surroundings, with cool blue tones dominating. The figure seems to use the structure as cover, measuring the distance from the wall, and the dry contrast returns an energy opposite to the enveloping warmth of the earlier scenes.