The same light three times – board portraits for Oulun Energia

I photographed three new members of the board of Oulun Energia, an energy company in Oulu, at my studio in the spring of 2026. The work came straight from the company, which had three new people on its board and needed pictures of them for its website. Each of them booked their own time.

The request was more precise than usual. The pictures had to match the ones I had taken earlier of the other board members. On the board page the portraits sit side by side in one grid, so a new one must not stand out: a different light or a different crop would show there at once.

Repeating something is a different job from taking one good picture. The three sitters came to the studio on three separate days within three weeks, so the light, the distance and the crop height had to be set the same every time. I left the setup untouched and turned everyone the same way to the camera, but left the posture to each of them: one keeps the hands clasped, another folds the arms. A picture is allowed to look like a person rather than a form.

A single sitting is short, and that is a demand of its own. When someone comes alone at a time booked from a calendar, there is no room for familiarity to build. So the technical side is ready before the door opens, and the whole visit goes on what happens in the face.

The background is white and the pictures are cut out. That is not a style choice but a requirement of the page: on the board page the portraits sit in small tiles side by side, and a background would bring as many rooms into the row as there are people. White keeps the row calm and sends the eye to the faces.

The pictures are now on the governance page of Oulun Energia, in the same grid as the members photographed earlier. The row reads as one set rather than a collection of separate sessions, and that is the only measure this job has.

See the board introductions: oulunenergia.fi