Harm Jan Schuurman Harm Jan Schuurman
EN/NL

About the work

I work as a fine art photographer with a focus on black-and-white portraiture. My interest lies in presence rather than performance — in the quiet space that opens when time slows down and attention becomes precise.

Photography, for me, is not about capturing moments, but about creating the conditions in which something honest can appear. Light, distance, and restraint play a central role. I work slowly, allowing images to form rather than directing them into existence.

Approach

My practice is rooted in attentiveness. I am less interested in directing a subject than in noticing when a moment settles. Small shifts in posture, breath, or distance often matter more than instruction.

I work with simple light and a restrained palette to keep the image open. The photographs are not meant to explain or persuade; they are invitations to pause, to look slowly, and to stay with what remains when excess falls away.

What keeps me returning to portrait photography is the possibility of encounter. Not the image as an object, but the exchange that precedes it — the brief alignment between two people when attention is shared and nothing needs to be performed. Photography becomes meaningful to me precisely in those moments where intention softens and something unguarded can surface.