The Paul Pokratnieks Trio are a jazz ensemble whose music sits between restraint and release: structured, patient, occasionally uncontained. The album commission asked for images that matched that quality: three profiles, lit from the side, each face a distinct relationship to shadow.
We shot in a single long session, working with a hard side light that carved the faces into distinct volumes. Building each frame as a composition in black and white, finding the exact point where the light described the face without flattening it.
The final images were selected for the way the three profiles read together and separately. Each face holds its own story while the set reads as a unified statement. Used across the album artwork, streaming platforms, and press materials.
