When Covid-19 took away the gaggle of tourists usually found in her neighbourhood – namely, outside her door – Eva took it as the perfect chance to document the neighbourhood in a way that highlighted just how special it really is. “By seeing the portraits as large as possible, the pure sharpness of the skin can be experienced.” “I shoot with 4x5 inch negatives because of the sheer sharpness that they can achieve,” she says. But closer inspection reveals a more fascinating aspect to Eva’s style that makes her photographs so alive. Pursuing deep rich colours is a plus for me.” It’s certainly true that Eva’s palette is bold and vivid against a stark white background, illuminating stories behind the faces of her subjects. “Most of the portraits are very close so you can see the raw feeling of emotions. “I shoot with 4x5 negatives in the portraits,” she explains.

Within the book, Eva’s mastery of the analogue medium lends itself well to the many diverse portraits of Trompettersteeg. “About 18 months ago, me and my dad crawled into the attic together to fish a Sinar Camera out of the dust and straight away I started practising with it in his home studio.” “After my studies and years of working for newspapers, my interest in analogue photography came back,” Eva explains.

It was a routine that spurred Eva to take up the hobby as a profession, from studying to working for Dutch newspaper Volkskrant. Inside the book, Eva covers an impressively large array of people, from “the owner of the famous live sex theatre (he is a local legend) and the owner of the first condom shop in the world all the way to the director of Europeʼs largest temple, brothel sex workers, Amsterdam students, tour guides, and local residents,” Eva says.Įva’s beginnings with photography stemmed from learning “the tricks of the trade from father,” in days spent in the darkroom her parents had in the centre of their house. Centred around De Trompettersteeg, the narrowest alley in Amsterdam, the book covers 70 different portraits of those with connections to the surrounding neighbourhood – the infamous Red Light District. That’s why we were instantly captivated by the new release from portrait photographer Eva Roefs, Studio Trompettersteeg.

So rarely does a portrait photography book come around that reflects an entire community of people in equal measures of adoration, education, and artistic weight.

3d light studio