“I focus on the quality of a product”

Your work is characterized by unique lighting setups and sometimes mysterious compositions. What inspires you to create this kind of imagery?

A variety of things can inspire me. I move between a lighting mood inspired by nature and lighting setups that resemble those seen in 3D renderings. It’s all a bit too perfect to be found in the real world, but just authentic enough to be distinguished from computer-generated images. It may sound contradictory, but for me, it’s about achieving a certain balance.

How important is playing with light in your compositions, and how do you develop the right lighting mood for a series?

Light is crucial to all my images. I try to shape the objects I photograph in a way that does them justice. Sometimes this goes to the point of abstraction, but often it’s enough to simply observe the objects closely and emphasize what’s already there. The lighting mood generally develops during the preparation for the actual shoot, always in collaboration with art direction, set design, and the client. Typically, the client already has a concrete idea, but what’s missing are the moods, a vision for execution. I really try to engage with the product’s design, look at existing images, handle samples, let them sit on my desk in the studio for a while. Then, an image usually forms in my mind. That’s when I know how I want to approach the production.

How has your approach to still-life photography evolved over the years, and what has influenced you the most?

At the beginning, I used to work with the largest possible lighting setups. Nowadays, I’ve reduced that to the minimum. I’ve realized that I can work more precisely when I get the most out of a single light source. Additionally, there’s now the demand to produce more images in a single production day, so a more streamlined working method benefits me.

What emotions or stories do you aim to convey through your still-life photography, especially with everyday objects like beauty or shaving products?

In my work, I focus on the value of a product—on surfaces, transparencies, details, and, of course, the overall design. That’s the foundation. Simply highlighting those elements is often enough to make everyday products look anything but ordinary. I find that fascinating.

Do you have a favorite story from one of your past projects that best illustrates your approach to photography?

One of my personal highlight projects was my first collaboration with Max Winter and 30 Grad Magazine. The series “Organic Designs” still resonates with me today. Max and I were already in close communication before the actual shoot, working on refining the series together. We set a rough framework without limiting ourselves too much before production. But that requires a client who understands creatives and gives a certain level of trust. That gave us the freedom we needed to experiment with concepts and execute them with the necessary commitment. At the time, I was still working in an old, unheated studio owned by a friend. It was cold and relatively dark, but it didn’t matter. We had good ideas.

Klick here for Kruthoffers photo series “Organic Designs” from 2019.

Klick here for Kruthoffers photo series “In Focus” from 2022.