A Foray into Portrait Photography

In 2024, I tried my hand at portrait photography.

I took two portrait photography workshops at Kaat Stieber’s studio in Rotterdam. I booked the first workshop through Heel Holland Fotografeert. After that, I took the Portrait Photography Masterclass with Kaat herself.

The first photo below is a portrait taken with studio lighting; the other photo was taken in daylight. More photos will follow—I need to sit down and take my time with them, because I want to edit them in a specific style.

I took the advanced workshop “Fine Art Painted Portraits” with Ymke Myrte (YM Academy) at her studio in Nootdorp. Ymke uses a much more complex lighting system with multiple studio lights.

All in all, portrait photography is a lot of fun and definitely something worth trying. The downside is that you have to buy a studio flash, backdrops, and all sorts of other equipment, and you also have to arrange for a model, including styling. That spontaneous “I’ll just give it a try today” vibe—which I love—isn’t really an option here.

I highly recommend the workshops with Kaat and Ymke; I learned so much from these talented photographers and had a really great time. It’s also really interesting to see how things work in a completely different branch of photography, and I believe you can always benefit from that.