Group of adults sitting at an outdoor cafe table with wine glasses in black and white street photography.

Explores people and nature without interaction.

The unconscious and naked give a true expression.

Black-and-white photography. Street and nature. Leica M.

I photograph people and nature the same way: without interfering. Nothing here is posed, arranged, or asked for. What interests me is what happens before anyone becomes aware of being seen, the unguarded moment, before a person composes their face or an animal changes its behaviour because it has noticed a watcher.

Working with a Leica M keeps that distance small and the process quiet. Black and white removes what colour tends to add, decoration, mood, distraction, and leaves the structure of the moment itself: gesture, light, and the relationship between what is close and what is far.

Whether the subject is a stranger on a street or a fox crossing a field, the intent is the same: to record something true, not something staged.

Contact Information

Feel free to reach out to me using any of the methods below. I'll get back to you as soon as possible to discuss how we can work on exciting projects together. Looking forward to connecting!

Phone number

+46 733 36 00 19

Email

stefan@aaltonen.studio

Social Media

Instagram

Facebook

Woman in cap and sunglasses sits on bench eating in busy cobblestone street, black and white.

Man sits beside a large teddy bear inside a wooden pulpit in a black and white church interior.

Black and white street photo of two women walking, one elderly with a cane and glasses, another younger on phone.

Close-up of African woman in white cable knit sweater and colorful head wrap in city square.

Silver-haired man in striped jacket stands with back to camera near bus, black and white.

Older woman with upswept hair pushes bicycle past Victoria cafe on urban street, black and white.

Elderly bearded man with glasses and woman with blonde hair stand together outdoors, black and white.

Two young people in black t-shirts stand outside urban thrift store in black and white photo.

Older blonde woman in sunglasses and white t-shirt stands in city square, black and white.

Dark-haired woman in sunglasses carries leopard print bag on busy urban street, black and white.

Close But Not too Close

Street photography lives inside a single number: distance. Too far and the frame goes dead, another wide shot of people who could be anyone. Too close and you've stopped observing and started interfering, the subject reacts to you rather than to the street. Somewhere in between is the distance that leaves a moment intact.

I keep my Leica M close and shoot from the hip more often than through the viewfinder, not to hide the camera but to stay out of the way. The goal isn't to disappear. It's to be near enough to feel the scene and far enough that nobody has to perform for me.

Most of these frames fail. The ones that work are the ones where the distance was exactly right, and I could not tell you in advance what that distance would be.

Unguarded