A Photoshoot on a Sunday

Some photoshoots are carefully planned long before the camera is even picked up.
Others grow quietly out of a good conversation, shared trust, and a simple idea.

This series with Karol belonged to the second kind.

We had decided early on that the old hat would become part of the story — not as a costume, but as a small piece of atmosphere. Something that could help shape the mood without taking over the images themselves. The rest was left open. No strict script, no pressure to “perform.” Just two friends spending a good day together, talking, laughing, experimenting with light, and allowing the moments to unfold naturally.

What I enjoy most about working this way is that the photographs slowly stop feeling staged.
Expressions appear that cannot really be directed. Small pauses, distant thoughts, quiet tension, sudden laughter. The camera begins to capture a person rather than a pose.

The final images became darker and more cinematic than we originally planned. The deep shadows and black-and-white tones seemed to fit the atmosphere that appeared during the shoot — something suspended between strength, vulnerability, mystery, and calm. At moments the images almost feel like fragments from an unwritten film.

Some of the portraits carry a stillness that feels introspective and distant.
Others reveal warmth and humour breaking through unexpectedly. Together, they became less about the hat, or the styling, and more about presence and mood.

For me, that is often where portrait photography becomes most interesting: not when someone tries to become a character, but when pieces of the real person quietly remain visible beneath it all.

Thank you, Karol, for the trust, the laughter, and a genuinely beautiful day behind the camera.