035 — Recent Portrait Assignments

Recent portrait assignments and my approach to balancing fast-paced and slow moments

It’s almost April now, and 2025 is in full swing. For me and my work as a photographer, this means I’ve had the chance to work on some exciting projects that have fueled my creativity.

Have you ever looked at my portfolio website? If so, you may have noticed that I always try to find a balance between the fast and the slow. It’s always about balance—yes, I know you’re tired of hearing that—but I truly believe it is.

Even when working on a project that’s more focused on action or sports, capturing moments of slowness is just as important to me.

When asked to portray someone, I tend to look for unique compositions, occasionally use artificial light, and incorporate a sense of humor to capture their true personality.

Here are some of my favourite portrait assignments from the past few months.

01 Teo Crawford for Verkehrsverbund Tirol

Teo Crawford is one of the most humble people I know. He’s mastered the art of blending his love for analog photography with his filmmaking skills, captivating over 270,000 YouTube subscribers with his travels and passion for photography. Grateful to have captured his portrait for the U26.tirol project by Verkehrsverbund Tirol.

02 Tracy Northup for DerSTANDARD

Photographing quantum physicist Dr. Tracy Northup in her lab at the Technical University of Innsbruck for the 30-year edition of derstandard.at was a unique experience. Watching her and her students research quantum computing was truly fascinating—something completely new to me.

03 Manuel Hückel for his alter ego DJ MANUH

Experimenting in the studio with various light-shaping tools and colors was exactly the vision for this portrait series with DJ MANUH. He brought the idea, I translated it into my style and visual language — and this is what we created.

04 Magdalena Pichler for her personal brand

Magdalena is my girlfriend, and I know her well—she embraces slowness above all else, so it felt only natural to capture this series of her on film. Shot on 35mm Ilford HP5+ with the Olympus XA and 120 Kodak Gold in the Mamiya 645, paired with a beautiful 80mm lens.

05 Helene Stanger for Verkehrsverbund Tirol

While studying in Vienna, Helene regularly returns to her hometown, Kitzbühel. It is here that she nurtures her connection to nature and works to serve the local community through several initiatives she has founded.

Thank you for reading this far. I feel very privileged to be able to experience and get to know all these interesting people!

Starting tomorrow on, I’m away for 3 days shooting a campaign. There will be some insights on this one in a future newsletter for sure, so keep considering subscribing to not miss it.

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My name is Fabian Mühleder and I’m a photographer who focuses on authentic advertising, lifestyle, and portraiture. This newsletter is for you, if you are curious about my journey to find the creative rhythm. By subscribing, you'll receive project updates, in-depth thinking, photos, insights, behind-the-scenes stories and how-to’s straight to your inbox.

The best place to see my work is my website. Other places to find me are Instagram and LinkedIn.

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