STORY | ROTTERDAM

Headshots in a Rotterdam Park, Under the Summer Trees

By Aleksandria Rudenko | Updated 6 November 2026

Smiling woman in a white blouse and rust wide trousers leaning on the wooden railing of a footbridge, dense green trees behind her in a Rotterdam park

Sanne had just joined a landscape architecture studio, and its team page still showed a gray placeholder for her. She designs parks for a living. So for her headshots, she asked for a Rotterdam park, among trees rather than towers.

Most people think of Rotterdam’s skyline first. Its parks, however, give the city a slower, greener side. This one gave us a new backdrop every few steps: a bridge, a path, a lawn, a pond.

That is how I like to plan my photoshoots in Rotterdam: one area, with plenty of variety within a short walk.

A White Blouse on a Wooden Bridge

Sanne came in a white short-sleeved blouse with a pointed collar, rust-colored wide trousers and white sneakers. Leaning on the railing of a wooden footbridge, she laughed before I had even started.

Laughing and looking aside, a woman with long brown hair in a white short-sleeved blouse, hands folded at her waist, soft green bokeh all around her

Farther along the path, felled tree trunks lay in a row. She sat down on one, hands folded on her knee. Her studio shows everyone in the same close framing, so I made that frame first, then stepped back for a full-length one.

Full length on a mossy fallen trunk beside a path, a woman in a white blouse, rust-colored trousers and white sneakers, broad green leaves beside her — Felled trunks along a park path

A Black Dress Under the Trees

For a second look, she changed into a black dress with buttons down the front, still with her white sneakers. A woodchip path led us between tall trees, and she simply walked toward me.

Walking toward the lens on a woodchip path between tall trees, a woman in a black button-front dress and white sneakers, sunlight on the undergrowth

In the shade, the light stayed soft and even. Then I came in close, while she told me about a park she is designing now. Her hands kept moving as she talked.

Out on the open lawn, she swapped the sneakers for black heels and sat down on a green bench. Behind her, people sat in the sun with their picnics.

On a green bench in summer, a smiling woman in a black dress sits with her legs crossed, a sunny lawn with people picnicking blurred behind her

Next, I stepped back to show the whole bench and the old trees around it.

Wider view of a woman in a black dress and black heels on a long green bench, the lawn and tall trees of a Rotterdam park all around her

Soon after, the heels came off again. Barefoot in the grass, shoes in one hand, she leaned on an old tree and laughed.

Black heels in one hand, a laughing woman in a black dress leans on an old tree trunk at the edge of a sunny lawn

One more step back, and the whole trunk came into the frame.

One hand on a mossy tree trunk, a barefoot woman in a black dress smiles on the grass, shoes dangling from her other hand and wide lawns behind her

Last Headshots by the Park Pond

For the last look, she wore a wrap dress with a bold pattern in orange, navy and cream. By the pond, a weeping willow hung low over the water. She held her tan suede boots in one hand, while warm light came through the leaves.

Under a weeping willow by the water, a woman in an orange, navy and cream patterned wrap dress holds tan suede boots, in a Rotterdam park — A weeping willow by the pond, warm light through the leaves

Within a week, her gallery was online. Of all her headshots in a Rotterdam park, the studio chose the close smile on the tree trunk for its team page. For LinkedIn, she picked the laugh on the bridge herself.

Wondering what to wear for a session like this? These ideas on what to wear for headshots come from real sessions, hers included.

Want headshots in a Rotterdam park for your own team page? Discover how my photoshoots in Rotterdam work.