Autumn light, 2026. Three Saturday sittings remain before the studio closes for December.
Check a date
Portrait studio
Apricot Paper is a one-photographer studio working in daylight only. Sittings are unhurried, conversational and short enough that nobody has to perform — you leave with a small edit of frames that actually look like you.
The index
Read as a body of work rather than a gallery wall. Each strip notes the subject, the format and the light it was made in.
Studio portrait · 6×7 medium format · north window, late morning
Two-person sitting · 35mm colour negative · the hour before sunset
Working portrait · digital · one window, reflector on the shadow side
Gathering · digital and film · lamplight, no flash used
Studio portrait · 6×7 medium format · backdrop pulled to grey
Sittings
Every sitting is photographed by Ines alone — no second shooter, no assistant moving lights around you. Pick the one that matches the room you want to be in.
The simplest option. A backdrop, one large window and a chair, for headshots, a milestone birthday, or a portrait you have been meaning to make for years.
Photographed in your own rooms, which is where most people finally relax. Good for families, new babies, and anyone who dislikes being looked at by a backdrop.
Registry weddings, anniversary lunches, a studio launch. Quiet coverage of up to thirty people: the room, the hands, the toast, and one proper group frame.
Fees depend on length, travel and print selection. Send a date through the enquiry form and the reply includes the full fee sheet, nothing withheld.
How it runs
Most people arrive slightly nervous. The sequence below exists so there are no surprises in it.
Fifteen minutes to hear what the portrait is for, who is in it, and what you have hated about being photographed before. That last answer shapes the sitting most.
We pick a time by the light, not the diary — usually mid-morning in winter, early evening in summer. The date is held once you confirm in writing.
Tea first, camera second. You will be given something to do with your hands, and told plainly when a frame is working. Nothing is posed for longer than a few seconds.
You see the full take in a private gallery, choose your favourites, and receive the finished files. Cotton-rag prints are made to order from the same edit.
Before you sit
Clothes bought for a sitting tend to look bought for a sitting. Mid-tones, soft textures and long sleeves photograph kindly; tight patterns and bright logos fight the face.
The studio's window is good from mid-morning to early afternoon in winter, and later in summer. Outdoor sittings are booked to the hour before sunset, so they move week by week.
Under-fives get the first twenty minutes, before patience runs out. Bring the one toy that reliably works and nothing else — a bribe in the bag is worth two on the schedule.
Frames are composed differently for a wall than for a screen. If a large print is the point, say so at the enquiry stage and the sitting is shot with that crop in mind.
A portrait is not a likeness you catch. It is the moment someone stops guarding their face, and the only job is to still be holding the camera when it happens.
Questions
Six to eight weeks is comfortable for a studio portrait, and three months for a gathering. Short-notice dates do open when a sitting moves, so it is always worth asking about the current month.
Outdoor sittings are rescheduled free of charge if the rain is genuinely unworkable, and we agree the call the morning of. Overcast is not a problem — flat cloud is the most flattering light there is.
Both, usually in the same sitting. Medium-format film for the frames that want to be slow, digital for coverage and for anything with a deadline. You are never charged extra for film.
Between 12 and 140 edited frames depending on the sitting, delivered as full-resolution files plus web-sized copies in a private gallery that stays open for a year.
Colour, contrast and anything temporary — a blemish, a stray hair, a crooked collar. Faces are not reshaped and skin is not smoothed. If you would like more than that, say so and it will be quoted honestly.
Yes, and dogs are often the reason a sitting works. Tell me in advance so the time is planned around them rather than interrupted by them.
Personal and professional use — websites, press, book jackets, social accounts — is included with every sitting. Advertising use is a separate licence, quoted per campaign.
Move it once, at no cost, with a week's notice. Inside that week the date is usually impossible to refill, so a part of the fee is retained; illness is always treated sensibly.
Enquire
Tell me roughly when and what for. You will get a written reply with availability, the full fee sheet and a suggestion about light — not a brochure.