Waiting for The Flight

Airport lounges are curious spaces—half liminal, half aspirational. I shot this at Milano Linate, where the atmosphere was oddly hushed despite the comings and goings just outside. The artificial calm was broken only by the subtle rustle of magazine pages and the occasional clink of glass. I was drawn to the symmetry—the near-theatrical lighting, the evenly placed glasses on the coffee table, and the sketchy wall mural of aeroplanes gesturing to movement while everyone inside remained still.

Technically, I worked with the available light, letting the ambient tones do their job. The soft light from the floor lamp created a pleasing halo on the wall, balancing the composition visually. I exposed carefully to avoid overblowing the whites of the lamp and to retain detail in the shadows of the leather armchair and dark clothing. The high ISO didn’t introduce disruptive noise, and colour rendering remained faithful to the cool, almost sterile palette of the room.

What I like about this photo is its quiet layering. The mural suggests departure; the couple suggests pause. We don’t know their story, but in that moment, they too become part of the architecture of waiting.