STORY | AMSTERDAM

Autumn Headshots on the Reguliersgracht

By Aleksandria Rudenko | Updated 6 November 2026

Smiling man in a flat cap, round glasses and a striped top under a long black coat, leaning on a bridge railing on the Reguliersgracht in autumn

Bastien had just joined a small design studio in Amsterdam as a creative producer. The studio’s new website needed a face for every name. So, on a gray day in late October, we made his autumn headshots on the Reguliersgracht.

A team page is exactly what the Headshot Photoshoot is for. It is one of the sessions in my business photography in Amsterdam. Still, he wanted photos that looked like him on an ordinary day: a long coat, a flat cap, round glasses.

Autumn on the Reguliersgracht

The Reguliersgracht cuts across the canal ring between old gabled houses. We met where it reaches the Prinsengracht. The trees there had begun to turn yellow, and the first leaves lay on the bricks. Bastien arrived in a long black double-breasted coat and a red paisley scarf. So we began right away, by a red-brick house with a curling neck gable.

Man in a long black double-breasted coat and a red paisley scarf leaning on a bridge railing, a bike with a basket and a red-brick gabled house behind

A red paisley scarf against a black wool coat

Glasses, a Cap and Stripes

Hand on his hip on a Reguliersgracht bridge, a man in round glasses and a striped top under an open black coat, yellow autumn leaves above him

Then the scarf came off and his round glasses went on. Under the open coat, he wore a white top with dark stripes. At the bridge railing, he put one hand on his hip. Small changes like these turn one hour into a whole series of different headshots.

Full-length portrait on a Reguliersgracht bridge: a man in a black coat, jeans and brown boots, a flat cap in his hands, yellowing autumn trees behind

Across herringbone bricks walks a man in a long black coat, striped top and round glasses, a tweed cap in his hand, a bike with a basket by the railing — The cap stayed in his hand, for now

Walking toward the lens with a laugh, a man in a black coat, jeans rolled at the ankle and brown leather boots, a red-brick neck gable behind him

When I asked what his studio was working on, he laughed and walked toward me over the herringbone bricks. A laugh like that rarely comes while someone stands still, so now and then I keep people moving.

After a while, the gray tweed cap went on. Around the corner, a wider canal opened up. A house with a yellow shopfront stood on the far corner, while a red boat lay along the quay.

Wide view of a man in a flat cap and long black coat leaning on a canal railing, a corner house with a yellow shopfront and autumn trees across the water

Hands clasped, a man in a flat cap and round glasses smiles past the lens by a canal, gabled houses, a moored red boat and yellow leaves behind

Cap, glasses and a striped top

Hand in his coat pocket, a man in a flat cap and glasses laughs on a canal bridge, a yellow corner shopfront and a tree turning gold behind him

An Umbrella Above the Water

To finish, the scarf went back on, this time together with the cap. On a wide brick square under big trees, he could not stop laughing. Fallen leaves lay all around his boots.

Man in a flat cap, round glasses and a red paisley scarf laughing on a brick square, a big tree with yellow leaves and parked bikes behind him

Laughing in a long black coat, scarf and cap, a man stands on a herringbone brick square, fallen yellow leaves all around his brown boots — Scarf and cap together, on a square under the trees

From across the Reguliersgracht: a man sits on the brick quay wall under an open black umbrella, gabled houses and autumn trees above him

He had brought a black umbrella, just in case. From across the Reguliersgracht, I watched him sit down on the quay wall and open it. Behind him stood the corner house where we began. An umbrella gives a canal photo a very Dutch touch, rain or not. That frame now hangs above his desk at the studio.

Coat, scarf, cap or glasses? These ideas on what to wear for headshots come from real sessions.

Would you like autumn headshots on the Reguliersgracht for your own team page? Discover how my business photography in Amsterdam works.