Client
Personal Project
Location
Coorg, Karnataka
Year
2025
Camera
Canon EOS R5 C
Lens
85mm f/1.4
A portrait series exploring solitude and presence in old-growth forest.
The Brief
A personal project initiated by Ahem to explore environmental portraiture in natural light. The goal was to create a series of portraits that felt genuinely inhabited by the landscape rather than placed within it — subjects that belonged to the forest rather than visiting it.
Our Approach
We worked across two early mornings in the coffee estates and forest trails of Coorg. All frames were shot in available light only — no fill, no reflectors. The mist that sits in the valley at dawn became a natural diffuser, and the filtered light through the canopy created the layered depth we were looking for. Subjects were asked to move through the space naturally and we followed, shooting continuously rather than posing.
The Outcome
The series produced twelve final frames, five of which were submitted to the PDN Photo Annual. The quiet, unhurried quality of the images has since become a reference point for how we approach all environmental portrait work.