Portrait Photography in Tarifa: A Session with Amana

Ben Welsh

Sep 4

2 min read

When professional singer Amana, based in San Pedro de Alcántara on the Costa del Sol, contacted me through Instagram, she was looking for a new series of portraits for her upcoming album.

The idea was to create something more than a conventional portrait session, combining studio portrait photography with a beach photoshoot in Tarifa, Southern Spain.

Studio Portraits for a Professional Singer

We started in my photography studio in Tarifa, working with different looks and lighting setups.

For the first portraits, Amana wore denim against a strong blue background. The simple colour palette allowed her expression, movement and extraordinary long hair to become important elements of the photographs.

We then moved to a darker, more dramatic look with a sculptural black dress and a vintage-style microphone. Instead of treating the microphone simply as a prop, we used its cable as part of the composition, wrapping and moving around her body.

Amana is a natural performer, so rather than relying on static poses, we worked with movement, gestures and her interaction with the camera.

From the Portrait Studio to the Beach

One of the great advantages of my photography studio in Tarifa is its location: the beach is just a few minutes away on foot. This means we can combine a professional studio portrait session with a completely different outdoor location without having to travel anywhere by car.

For the second part of Amana's photoshoot, we simply left the studio and walked to the beach.

The visual language changed completely. Amana wore a flowing mustard-yellow dress, creating a striking contrast with the pale sand, blue sky and Atlantic Ocean.

We worked extensively with movement—jumping, dancing and allowing the dress and her long hair to become part of the composition. In some photographs I deliberately used a slow shutter speed to introduce motion blur, while in others I froze the action completely.

Portrait Photography for Singers, Musicians and Artists in Tarifa

Creating promotional photography for a musician is different from producing a standard portrait. The photographs need to communicate something about the artist and their personality before anyone has even heard the music.

The aim of this session was to give Amana a varied collection of professional portraits that she can use for her new album, press, social media and promotional material.

Having the beaches of Tarifa within walking distance of my studio also gives musicians, models, actors and other creative professionals the opportunity to create professional studio portraits and outdoor location photography in a single photoshoot.

I work with singers, musicians, performers, actors, models and other creative professionals looking for distinctive portrait and promotional photography in Tarifa, Cádiz and Southern Spain.

Photography: Ben Welsh PhotographyLocation: Tarifa, Cádiz, Southern Spain