STORY | AMSTERDAM

Summer Portraits on the Canals for an Art Director

By Aleksandria Rudenko | Updated 5 November 2026

Man in a cream T-shirt sitting on the stone steps of a canal house, hands folded, gazing down the street in a summer portrait

Emil works as a freelance art director, yet his profile photo was an old holiday snapshot. For his new website, he wanted summer portraits on the canals of the city where he works.

Portraits that feel like an ordinary good day are the heart of my portrait photoshoots in Amsterdam. We met on a sunny day in August, in the canal ring, with nothing to prepare but a few simple clothes.

Front Steps in the Shade

We began on the stone steps of a canal house, out of the sun. Emil wore a cream T-shirt and light trousers, rolled at the ankle. Sitting down helped: hands folded, he looked down the street and forgot the camera for a moment.

Smiling man on the gray front steps of an old canal house, a birch trunk and leaves blurred at the edge, from a personal branding shoot

Then I stepped back a few meters and let the leaves of a young tree blur across the edge of the frame. This wider view shows the steps, the railing and the old house, so his website can place text beside it.

Summer Portraits on the Canals

On a bridge nearby, he threw a denim jacket over his shoulder and walked toward me. Behind him stood a row of tall canal houses, while a scooter passed in the distance.

On a summer day of his personal branding shoot, a man in cream walks across a bridge past tall canal houses, a denim jacket over his shoulder

Man with a denim jacket slung over one shoulder on a bridge, looking aside, two tall canal houses behind him in warm summer light — A canal bridge in the August sun

Next, he changed into a sage-green T-shirt. Under three old gables, I photographed him from low down, so the houses rose above him against a blue sky. Each of Amsterdam’s gables has its own shape: here a white one with carved scrolls, a striped one and a plain brown one.

Low view of a man in a sage T-shirt and sunglasses on a bridge railing beneath three old gables, part of his personal branding shoot

Full-length summer portrait on a canal bridge, a man in a sage T-shirt below a white neck gable, a striped gable and a brown one

Close Portraits by a Summer Canal

Back in his pale T-shirt, now with gray jeans, he leaned on a railing by the water and laughed at a boat full of people. These summer portraits on the canals also needed a few close frames: one for his profile and one for his email signature.

Close portrait of a laughing man in a cream T-shirt by the water, canal houses and moored boats glowing soft behind him

Man in gray jeans half-sitting on a railing by the water, sunglasses in hand, sunlight glittering on the canal behind him

Man in a white T-shirt with his hands in his pockets between parked bicycles, a sunny waterway with a boat of people behind him — Bikes, a canal and a boat full of people

A Lamppost to Lean On

We ended under the trees by an old lamppost and a row of bollards. In the sage T-shirt again, he leaned on the post and crossed his arms. That last frame is now the first thing visitors see on his website.

Man in a sage T-shirt and gray jeans leaning on an old lamppost under leafy trees, with bollards and tall houses around him

Arms crossed, a man leans on a cast-iron lamppost by a tree-lined canal, a summer portrait in dappled light among bollards — An old lamppost under the canal trees

More ideas for portraits around your work? These personal branding photo ideas come from real sessions.

Would you like summer portraits on the canals of your own? Discover how my portrait photoshoots in Amsterdam work.