Agnés, Illustrator and Graphic Artist in Her Digital Habitat

Creative Plans and Studio Realities

This portrait of Agnés was part of a personal project I’d envisioned: a simple but elegant series profiling artists and scientists. In my mind, it was going to be straightforward. I had a concept, a consistent style in mind, and a clear sense of how it should look. Naturally, it didn’t go quite like that.

One unexpected hitch? My romanticised expectations of artists’ studios. I imagined textured walls, shelves of intriguing objects, and diffused northern light pouring in like something out of a Dutch painting. What I got was a much more modern reality—clean, functional spaces, screens glowing, and light that doesn’t quite do what you’d like unless you bring your own.

Agnés, like many graphic artists, spends most of her time working on a computer, so natural light isn’t exactly a priority. As you’d expect, beautiful shadows take a back seat to screen resolution.

A Shift Toward the Stylised

This led to a small crisis of method: do I keep chasing a kind of light and mood that doesn’t actually exist in these environments, or do I shift the concept? I’ve done more controlled, stylised portrait work before, and I’m now thinking that approach might serve this project better. Less documentary, more designed. I might post examples later to explain what I mean.

That said, this image of Agnés works. It’s honest, visually clean, and reflects her personality—calm, focused, and quietly charismatic. Sometimes, a simple portrait is enough.

One Image, One Direction Forward

This shoot may not have aligned with the visual mythology I had in my head, but it helped clarify how the project needs to evolve. It’s not the first time a good image has come out of a change in plans. And Agnés, thankfully, was both patient and photogenic—two rare qualities when your backdrop is an everyday workspace.