STORY | AMSTERDAM

Headshots in the Zuidas, Between Glass and Green

By Aleksandria Rudenko | Updated 5 November 2026

Smiling man with crossed arms in a white shirt with rolled-up sleeves, a black-strapped watch, close before a gray-green wall in the Zuidas

Julian needed new headshots in the Zuidas, the business district where he has worked for years. His firm had just made him a partner, but his photo on its website still dated from his very first job.

So we met near his office, among the towers he passes every day. This is what the Headshot Photoshoot is for: portraits for LinkedIn, a company website or the press. It is one of the sessions in my business photography in Amsterdam.

Between the Towers of the Zuidas

The Zuidas is the city’s business district, where more than 50,000 people go to work. Between its glass towers, though, there are lawns, trees and small gardens. It was a warm summer day, so Julian left his jacket at the office. He came in a white shirt with the sleeves rolled up, olive chinos and black shoes.

Walking toward the lens on a paved path between two lawns, a man in a white shirt, a concrete bridge and Zuidas office towers behind him

Mid-stride under leafy branches, sleeves rolled up, a young man walks toward the lens, a glass tower and a hazy summer sky above the Zuidas — A path between two lawns, with the towers behind

Headshots Against a Plain Wall

For the profile photo itself, I wanted a background that stays calm even at thumbnail size. A wall of gray-green panels, in the shade of a building, did exactly that. Many people tell me they never know what to do in front of a camera. That’s why, for headshots, I give clear and simple directions: a hand in a pocket, arms crossed, a look past the lens. Each small change becomes a different photo.

Three-quarter portrait of a man in a white shirt and olive chinos, one hand in his pocket, looking past the lens before large gray-green panels

Full-length portrait of a man with crossed arms against a wall of gray-green panels, black leather shoes on dark paving stones

A Laptop in the Garden

Sitting on a stone ledge with a laptop on his knee, a man looks into the lens, purple flowers, grasses and a glass office building behind

Next, we walked to a garden between two office buildings. Julian sat down on a stone ledge with his laptop on his knee, the way he spends many lunch breaks. Behind him, purple flower spikes rose from the grasses.

I moved in closer. First he read something on his screen and smiled, then he looked up, straight into the lens.

Closer view of a man smiling down at his laptop on a garden ledge, a tree trunk and a blurred office facade softly behind him

Laptop open on his lap, a man in a white shirt looks straight into the lens, purple flower spikes and a glass facade blurred in the Zuidas — One ledge, two moods: at work, then looking up

A Laugh on the Promenade

Hands in his pockets, a man stands on a brick-paved courtyard in sunlight, raised beds of rust-orange flowers and a dark granite office front

In a courtyard paved with brick, the sun came out in full. It lit up the beds of rust-orange flowers and the dark stone of the offices. By now, Julian stood at ease, hands in his pockets.

Waist-up portrait in bright sun, a man glancing to the side, a tall tree and the large windows of a dark stone office building behind

Laughing, hands behind his back, a man stands on a wide pedestrian street in the Zuidas, rust-colored planters and tall towers around him

We ended on a wide pedestrian street between tall planters and towers. When I read his new title out loud, he burst out laughing. Of all his headshots in the Zuidas, that laugh is the one his colleagues still mention.

His photos were for his firm, so the Headshot Photoshoot was the right fit. Want photos for your own name and work instead? These personal branding photo ideas show what else one hour can hold.

Need new headshots in the Zuidas for your own firm? Discover how my business photography in Amsterdam works.