STORY | AMSTERDAM

Portraits with a Notebook on the Canals in May

By Aleksandria Rudenko | Published 8 November 2026

Portrait of a man with a gray beard in a black polo shirt, a black notebook in his hands, gazing to the side against a pale wall

Duarte fills a black notebook on every trip: café names, train times, a line or two about the day. On a long weekend in Amsterdam in late May, he booked portraits with a notebook, the same one that had already seen three countries.

By then, he had enough holiday snapshots. What he wanted were portraits of the man who writes things down. That is a good brief for my portrait photoshoots in Amsterdam: one area, a short walk, and time to look up from the page.

A Bridge and Two Old Doors

We started on a canal bridge, with small boats gliding below and gabled houses behind him. Duarte wore a black polo over a white T-shirt with light trousers, and he kept the notebook in his hand. Then we walked past two old doors. One was warm brown wood, the other stood under a brick arch with the city’s coat of arms above it.

Man in a black polo shirt and light trousers standing on a canal bridge in Amsterdam, boats on the water and gabled houses behind

Man with a gray beard in a black polo standing in front of a tall brown wooden door, a black notebook held at his side

Man with a notebook in his hand in front of an arched wooden doorway, the Amsterdam coat of arms carved in the stone above — An arched doorway with the Amsterdam coat of arms

Portraits with a Notebook at a Pale Wall

Around the corner, a long cream wall gave us calm light and nothing to pull attention away from him. With the notebook in his hands, the portraits grew calmer on their own. Duarte held it the way he holds it on trains, thumb between the pages, so I asked what he had written so far that day. While he answered, he forgot to pose.

Man in a black polo with a notebook in his hands standing to one side of a long cream wall, calm shade and soft lines in the plaster — A long cream wall in calm shade

Smiling man in a black polo shirt holding a closed black notebook in both hands in front of a pale cream wall in Amsterdam

Man with a gray beard resting one hand on a pale wall, his other hand in a pocket and one white sneaker crossed over the other

Higher up, a window in the wall reflected a whole row of gabled houses. I placed him just below it, sunglasses in his hand, and let the reflection do the rest.

Man in a black polo leaning on a cream wall below a window that reflects a row of gabled canal houses, sunglasses in his hand

A Walk in the Sun

Next, we crossed into the sun. A wide brick street with stoops and parked bikes ran straight ahead, and I asked Duarte to walk it twice, slowly. The second time, he looked up and smiled, and that became the frame.

Man in a black polo walking down a sunny brick street in Amsterdam past stoops and parked bicycles, trees in leaf at the end

Portrait of a smiling man in a black polo on a sunny Amsterdam street, one hand in his pocket, canal houses and stoops behind him

A Cream Sweater on the Leidsegracht

For the second half, Duarte changed into a cream sweater, and we walked to the Leidsegracht. On its corner with the Kerkstraat stands a house painted almost black, with white window frames. Against that dark wall, his light clothes now stood out like a fresh page.

Man in a cream sweater crossing a brick street under tall canal trees on the Leidsegracht, parked bicycles and a lamp post behind — The corner of the Leidsegracht and the Kerkstraat

Man in a cream sweater and light trousers standing at the corner of the Leidsegracht and the Kerkstraat, a black house behind him

Man in a cream sweater walking past a house painted almost black with white window frames, glancing back over his shoulder

Full-length portrait of a man in a cream sweater leaning on the stone ledge of a black canal house, one hand in his pocket

He leaned on the stone ledge in front of the house, one hand in his pocket, and looked at me calmly. Cyclists passed behind me, yet he stayed exactly where he was, as if he stood there every day.

Back to the Notebook

At the end, he sat down on that same ledge with the notebook and his phone beside him. He opened the notebook, wrote a line and only then looked up again. So I photographed both: the man writing and the man looking up.

Man in a cream sweater opening a black notebook on a stone ledge by a black canal house, trees and gabled houses across the water — The notebook open on a stone ledge by the Leidsegracht

Man with a gray beard in a cream sweater resting one arm on a stone ledge, a brick wall painted black behind him

Man in a cream sweater sitting on a stone ledge by the Leidsegracht, arms around one knee, a notebook and a phone beside him

The last frames were simple: a deep green hedge, Duarte with one hand in his pocket, and the notebook back in his bag.

Portrait of a man with a gray beard in a cream sweater beside a black house, gazing to the side in soft light, the canal behind

Man in a cream sweater with one hand in his pocket in front of a deep green hedge, a calm last portrait of the session

Looking for an idea of your own? One of these solo photoshoot ideas is a souvenir from your travels, much like the notebook in Duarte’s portraits.

Want portraits that feel like you on an ordinary good day? Discover how my portrait photoshoots in Amsterdam work.