I'm Anastasia Karpenko. I photograph people, events and spaces.
I trained as a book illustrator in St. Petersburg, and I still work like one. Before a shoot I research, sketch, and decide what each frame has to do — the pose, the light, the lens, the angle, all of it in service of the same story. Are we balancing features or exaggerating them? Do we want harmony or contrast? Those are answered before anyone stands in front of the camera.
My first years behind a camera were weddings, which taught me to read emotion in real time and see a moment arriving before it does. Corporate work came after, and taught me structure — how to bring intention to a frame when there's a brief, a deadline, and a room full of people to move through. Both are still in how I shoot.
How a project runs
Every project starts with a conversation. I want to know what the images are for, who they're speaking to, and what you want them to say — before we talk about dates. If it's a location I don't know, I'd rather see it in advance than improvise in it. I can improvise; I just prefer not to have to.
In the studio and on interior shoots I work tethered, so each frame appears on screen as it's made. You see what I see, and we adjust the light, the pose or the styling together rather than hoping it worked out. Nobody has to trust me blind.
At events I do the opposite and stay out of the way. The day runs as it would without me. For anything large, and for weddings, I work with Obada, my second shooter — so nothing depends on one person being in the right place at the right time.
Afterwards, a gallery is edited as a sequence, not a pile: an opening, the moments that matter, an ending. Highlights reach you within 24 hours when your communications team needs them, the full set shortly after.
The Studio
My studio is in Lufingen, five minutes from Zurich Airport, with free parking at the door. Full lighting setup, backdrops, and a tethered workstation, plus daylight from a long window when the shoot calls for it.
It's a calm place to be photographed, which matters more than square metres. Most people arrive a little nervous about being in front of a camera, and that passes faster in a room that feels like a room than in a hall. For larger teams or productions the space can't hold, I work on location.
Who I work with
For large events and weddings I work with Obada, my second shooter and assistant. Two cameras in a room means nothing depends on one person standing in the right place at the right time — and at a wedding, it means someone is with the couple while someone else is with the guests.
When a project needs video, I bring in videographers I've worked with before rather than subcontracting to strangers. I shoot all the photography myself.
If you're thinking about a project, tell me what the images are for and I'll tell you honestly whether I'm the right person for it.
Selected clients
