A selection of portrait photography showcasing people in their professional reality. This series will be published in a book, including interviews.

Eleonora Works — international artistic nude model, singer, actress

You are a travelling international photo model, and besides that you are a singer and an actress. To start with the first, was modelling your teenage ambition?

I wouldn’t say that as I would have never thought at that age that I could really become a model. I wasn’t really encouraged on the topic by my social environment: being a model was seen as something really silly and lazy, a sort of shortcut. But I have always been fascinated by art photography and liked the idea of modelling one day.

Did you, at young age, admire fashion photo models, and were they role models for you, so to speak?

Not really at a young age, but when I started modelling, some 1990s and 2000 topmodels became a reference point. Nowadays, Adriana Lima is still my favourite.

How were your first years as a professional model?

I have been working as a professional model since I was twenty-two years old, but I started building my portfolio a few years before. I would say the beginning was really difficult as I worked hard to learn how to pose, how to chill in front of the camera, what to show and what to hide, emphasizing my body qualities and masking my defects, how to interact everytime confidently with a new photographer and staff et cetera. And all these aspects were complicated for me because I was really shy… I’m still really shy actually!

Another challenge was how to distinguish serious professional photographers from scammers or bad actors, as there are unfortunately too many, and they are well accustomed to deceive the non-expert.

I started travelling since the very beginning, even if it took a few years to travel all over Italy and abroad. Concerning nude posing, I had a first attempt at the very start, but I didn’t go on as I was dampened by my surroundings: it was really hard at the time finding someone supportive for the glamour photography, let alone nude art. I tried again six years ago with a bit more experience and courage and I have never regretted my choice.

Which countries have been on your touring schedule the last few years?

In the last few years I have been modelling in Germany, Austria, Belgium, The Netherlands, Poland, France, UK, Spain, Greece and of course Italy. At the end of 2025 I’ve travelled to the US, and in January 2026 to Denmark and Sweden.

‘Hanover was the first time I really felt I had found
my place in this world. I spent an entire week shooting
in wonderful outdoor locations and studios every day
with enthusiastic and genuine photographers.’

Can you tell a bit about your most precious memory in regards to your modelling?

That was for sure my first travel to Hanover. It was the first time I really felt I had found my place in this world. I spent an entire week shooting in wonderful outdoor locations and studios every day with enthusiastic and genuine photographers. Every day started with my cup of tea at the make-up station while listening to the local radio, and ended chatting with the staff at a cozy dinner. It was familiar and professional at the same time and I felt treated both like a star and part of the family, even if I was a foreigner and didn’t speak German really well at the time.

Have there been any unfortunate events in your modelling career?

Premissing that I feel really lucky as I have a wonderful relationship and a long cooperation with 90% of the people I met in this field: yes, I had some bad experiences in the past due to the unprofessional behaviour of some photographers I worked with (last minute cancellations not supported by serious reasons, inappropriate comments or proposals, violation of the agreements et cetera).

You don’t seem to have any tattoos (thank you!). Is that a deliberate choice?

It is: I have nothing against tattoos, but I never felt the need of having one. It’s not my style, at least for the moment.

Are most of the photographers you work with men? Any female photographers? Do you have a preference for either of them?

Most of the photographers I shoot with are men, but I also worked with women and I don’t have any preferences: each of them have their own personality and sense of art, which are normally independent from gender.

Did you ever turn down a photoshoot request / moodboard? Where do you draw the line?

I would refuse a photoshoot when it requires me to go beyond the line (asking me, for example, to do explicit erotic nude, which is not to be blamed, but it’s simply not my cup of tea) or when it lacks artistic ideas and creativity: if I don’t have an inspirational clue helping me to start, I don’t succeed interpreting and giving life to something that is really worth it.

Do you photograph yourself?

I don’t, I prefer staying in front of the lens instead of behind it.

‘When I explain that I do naked art,
and I say “I had a naked shoot last week”,
then someone who doesn’t know me
may respond like: “Naked? Oh!”’

What is your opinion about conservative sentiments that depicting nude women is feeding male view on women as purely lust objects?

I could really write a book to answer the question, but I will cut this short saying that I find it nonsense, regressive, misogynistic and ignorant. Behind naked art pics there are no ‘sexual dummies’, but professional models striking what sometimes are very difficult poses and making efforts. And the act itself of reserving these claims for female naked art images, while the male nude body is never subject to any type of judgement, is the real death of feminism.

In these times, some unhealthy developments have been going on: anti-feminism or worse, misogyny, with hate comments to female sports women and others in the public eye. As a model, and specifically an artistic nude model, have you experienced this rising sentiment yourself?

Yes I did, I unluckily noticed such an attitude since I started modelling, but instead of evolving we seem to go back.

How can this negative development be changed?

Oh, that’s a really interesting question. I think that we should completely change the people’s mindset, people’s way of seeing things. I’m sorry to be so direct, but it seems that women can never do what they want. A naked man is judged in a totally different way than a naked woman. I’m not saying that everyone is thinking like that, but most of the people evidently do. The reason must be something in their background, how they grew up, the moral codes from their youth. For example, my country — maybe it’s one of the most, I would say, unluckily and really sadly, bigot countries in Europe. When you just say ‘naked’, it’s like naked = sex. For most Italian people, nudity is associated with sexual provocation (not everyone, as there are luckily some open-minded people who don’t think like that).

When I explain that I do naked art, and I say ‘I had a naked shoot last week’, then someone who doesn’t know me may respond like: ‘Naked? Oh!’ As if I am doing a striptease, or as if there should be happening something sexual with the photographer at the end of the shoot. It’s ignorance, because they have never witnessed a naked shoot.

Nuditiy is acceptable for some people, but others think that nude models are promiscuous women, really easy women who do it for money. To me, it’s totally absurd. I’m not promiscuous at all, and what I really hope is that the young generation will change things.

If a man shows his skin, people may say that it’s ridiculous, or that they don’t like it. No one would say he’s a sexual object. If a woman does it, she’s a sexual object. She’s offending  an entire generation of women, an entire battle to gain equal rights,  that’s ridiculous if you think about that. People should travel, explore, and have their children grown up with a different concept.

There was a time many years ago in which I really felt bad for a period as I was missing support in my job by many people I loved. At the time in my neighbourhood there was a little girl who knew that I was modelling and, as nowadays Instagram is within everyone’s reach, she went searching for my photographic profile. One day she met me in the courtyard and approached me shyly with her hands behind her back: ‘I just wanted to tell you that I saw your pics and you are extremely beautiful.’ She left a drawing she had made for me and ran away: I still keep it in my closet. It was really the first time that all my wounds were healed as I clearly saw the world for what it was: dominated by nastiness while innocence tries to resist. Starting from that day I really stopped caring of what people say or think about me.

American mass social media platforms (Facebook, Instagram) are monitoring nude photos, labeling them ‘explicit content’. Photographers and models who post their pictures without self-censoring them, are risking to have their images deleted, or their profiles being banned. What do you think — can you see valid reasons to justify this censorship?

I changed my mind a bit recently about the topic after an unpleasant event which came up last year. Now I understand what Meta is trying to do, that’s to say preventing and avoiding the illegal and non-consensual distribution of private content by third parties, but the problem is that they are doing it in a wrong way:  they are ruining the vision of pieces of art, they are mortifying women’s body and they are treating breasts, which are not so anatomically different from a pectoral, like a sort of pornographic expression to be ashamed of.

Let’s talk about your other artistic careers: singing and acting. Was this a childhood / teenage ambition for you?

Yes it was, but I thought I wasn’t good enough to do it for a living. It was only many years later that I found the right people to encourage me in this career. I started working with an organisation, and the president of this organisation heard me singing and he gave me the opportunity to perform in theaters and at big events, really important events.

Which are the most interesting highlights in your singing and acting career?

A few months ago I had the privilege to sing for one of the most well-known Italian chefs of our times (it was really exciting) and I have also performed in front of one important chargé d’affaires of the Italian state.

Why did you, as a singer, choose a pseudonym rather than your own name?

It was necessary to find a name connecting the physical appearance and the voice of a north-east blonde Italian woman with a music genre born in the US: soul music. And here came to my mind the typical cinnamon scent I could smell when I was a kid in a fastfood restaurant run by American people in Germany. That essence coming from pastry is a dear memory which I still keep in my heart and maybe this is one of the reasons why I really love cinnamon (cannella in Italian). And so that’s the origin of White Cannella, a white blonde Italian lady singing a pretty American-style soul repertoire in original language.

Do you have a manager?
No. There have been a few people wanting to be my manager, but I turned down their offers.

You are dividing your time between modelling, acting, and singing. Are there any other artistic or entirely different things that you are giving your best to, or like to spend your free time on?

I really love speaking foreign languages, that’s why I constantly try improving the ones I already speak while basically learning some other new one. Furthermore I’m trying to take a Medicine Master degree.

Is this something you will be doing for a living in the future? What makes this subject so interesting for you?

Actually, I started with this study before modelling. So I already was a medicine student, and then I got in touch with photography. Of course it was a situation where I had to work too, so I had to treat modelling as a hobby. Things went really good with photography, but I didn’t want to quit my medicine study, That’s why nowadays I’m still trying to take exams. I already passed more than fifty exams.

‘It happens that I don’t see friends and family
for weeks, but this career is one of the most beautiful
things that has happened in my life.’

How many lives do you have? Do you sleep at all?

Not much, but we have the eternity to sleep and we are living just now.

You seem to be very focused on career, developing yourself, personal development. Don’t you forget to live?

I would say that sometimes maybe it happens, but the simple fact of posing, or travelling for work makes me feel that I’m living. That’s to say, this is my life. I love my life, I love my job. It happens that I don’t see friends and family for weeks, but this career is one of the most beautiful things that has happened in my life.

Is it lucrative at all to be a model?

It’s not so lucrative as people would think, considering the things that I do. I work a lot, but I don’t work every day, and I have a lot of expenses. I survive, I would say.

Why can a model ask a fee, while a photographer can’t do that easily?

If I need to commit you to a job, it’s absolutely necessary and right that I pay you. On the other hand, if you ask me to pose for you – provided that we are on the same professional level – the thing that matters is: whose project is it? If I have a project and I need you to work on it, of course I would pay you and you will do exactly what I have in mind. And vice versa. If you need a model, if you want to shoot with her for your project, if you make the decisions and she’s like the actor in your feature, then you pay her.

I’m not a big fan of shooting on TFP basis, I had bad experiences. At the beginning of my career I was exploited with the excuse of time for print. So it happened many times that I worked for free, exclusively following the photographer’s ideas and instructions and never even saw the pictures after the shoot.  So I worked with no results and just lost time.

I know lots of photographers who want to shoot fulltime, but they had to make ends meet with shooting marriages or children. Some thought that this was not creative enough and it frustrated them, and then they quit.

‘I can’t deny to be a stage animal, but
I hate being under spotlights in my private life
and I’m more shy than people would think.’

On a personal side, do you have a partner / husband? If so, how does he cope with you posing scarcely dressed or undressed for male photographers and travel the globe on your own? Concerning travelling by yourself, do you find it hard to be alone a lot of the time, and being away from home?

He has always supported me and encouraged me with my career. I’m really lucky for that. Concerning travelling by myself, I have never experienced such problems. I never feel lonely while travelling as I’m rarely alone and I’m constantly in touch with my friends who live in Italy or abroad. I love travelling and most of the cities where I usually shoot are like a second home, so I never feel nostalgic.

Would you say that you are an extraverted personality, given the fact that you are in the spotlights so often (and enjoying it, as it seems)?

Definitely not. I can’t deny to be a stage animal, but I hate being under spotlights in my private life and I’m more shy than people would think.

Back to the modelling, as this is the focus of attention for this conversation. What advice would you give to young girls with the ambition to be a model?

I always repeat that I’m at the new recruits’ complete disposal, especially for feedback: the motto is ‘always ask’. It’s extremely important to be well-informed about who you are going to work with in order to avoid unpleasant experiences. If I could give a suggestion to the new models, I would recommend choosing carefully their collaborations in order to build a good portfolio. Don’t listen too much to people’s reactions, and don’t be influenced by what they think. Also don’t be afraid of moving, as outside your country there’s a lot more to be discovered.

Is there, for yourself, an age limit to your work in modelling?

I don’t believe in an age limit, but I think that it lasts as long as you don’t feel tired to get on with this life, as it requires more devotion and sacrifices than someone could imagine.

Can you elaborate a bit more about the devotion and sacrifice that is needed to maintain your own modelling career?

I would say, starting from the basis: diet regime, and going to the gym. For me that is a sacrifice, because I hate training. If I could avoid it, I would absolutely do it! I’m not really a sports person, but I do it three times a week, at every cost. Even if I have to do it at one o’clock in the night, I will do it. And concerning diet: it’s not so heavy for me, but of course I can’t eat everything I want because I have to be in shape. I have to care about my aesthetics. This is really the basis.

Then, there are months in which I don’t see anyone except people in the field. This is not an eight hours day job, then you go and it’s done. Sometimes you get up at 4.30 in the morning, and you go back home at eleven o’clock in the evening. And it’s not rare that the following day you have to do exactly the same.

Another sacrifice example: I saw my five-years-old nephew just few weeks ago. Six months had passed since I saw him last. Children change a lot in such short time, and I didn’t see these changes happening. That’s a sacrifice.

Do you desire to have children of your own?

It’s difficult, and a genetic illness I discovered a few years ago doesn’t help.

Can it be cured?
At the moment, research is making progress, but now I can only hope it will develop as late as possible. I found out just three years ago and I took the decision not to waste one more second in my life.

‘I’m not really a sports person, but I do it three times a week,
at every cost. Even if I have to do it at one o’clock in the night.’

Frank Zappa once jokingly titled a song ‘What’s the Ugliest Part of Your Body’. What is, in your opinion, the ‘ugliest’ part of your body? And what is the most beautiful part of your body?

I personally really like my eyes, whereas I can’t put up with my right breast: photographers who shoot with me are inevitably aware of that, as when they ask which side of my body I prefer to show I always go for the left.

That’s interesting, because it sounds like you prefer to accept your right breast as it is – slightly smaller – instead of considering surgery to manipulate your appearance. What’s your opinion about fillers in ladies’ (or even young girls’) breasts and lips?

I’m not blaming people for plastic surgery. If someone has some body parts that she absolutely can’t be happy with, it’s quite right to change it. I have nothing against that. The problem is that young people in particular seem to be influenced by Instagram pictures and want to change something, comparing themselves to an ideal or avatar that doesn’t represent themselves. I mean, sometimes it’s not an improvement, wanting to resemble an AI image.

What I can say, and that’s really sad, is that maybe, concerning models at least, they are also influenced by the criticism of photographers sometimes. I experienced body shaming too: ‘It’s a pity, you could be so perfect, but this thing of you is not working, that is a defect, the other could be better.’ I got used to it, but younger people may be more easily influenced, thinking they are not good enough and make serious, drastic decisions.

We live in a time where digital photography is the standard. Anyone can photoshop a picture in a few seconds. And I’m not joking when I say two seconds. Two seconds and you can correct anything that you want. So if you are shooting with a model with some light imperfections, you can quickly and easily correct them yourself digitally. I definitely condemn professionals triggering, offending, pressing young women to invasive procedures for some photos.

Last question: what question would you like me to ask you as a last question?

Please ask me if I love my job and if I would choose to begin with modelling again if I could go back to the past: the answer is obviously yes, I wouldn’t change a thing and I’m really happy with who I am today.

Almere, January 2026

The work of Eleonora can be followed on Facebook and Instagram (modelling profile 1), Instagram (modelling profile 2), and Instagram (singing).

This interview is also available as a photo art book!