Moody, cinematic photography for portraits, brands, and editorial work. We craft images that live in the shadows — dark by design, intentional in every frame. Based in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
Every service we offer is rooted in the same principle: restraint is power. We don't flood a scene with light — we sculpt with darkness, pulling only what the image needs into visibility.
Personal portraits, professional headshots, and character studies. Whether you're an actor building a portfolio, an executive refreshing your LinkedIn presence, or simply someone who wants one truly extraordinary photograph of yourself — we shoot with depth and intention. Our Williamsburg studio is purpose-lit for low-key natural shadow work. Sessions run 60–90 minutes with full digital delivery and print-ready files.
From $450 / Session
A brand's visual language is its first conversation with the world — and most brands speak too loudly. We help companies find their quiet. From product photography and founder portraits to full campaign shoots for launch cycles, our brand work is designed to cut through noise with atmosphere rather than volume. We've partnered with emerging consumer brands, boutique hospitality groups, and established design studios across NYC.
From $1,200 / Day
Magazine features, lookbooks, fashion editorials, and long-form visual storytelling. We work directly with editors, creative directors, stylists, and designers to produce imagery that carries narrative weight. Our editorial work has appeared in independent and trade publications across the US, UK, and Scandinavia. We are comfortable on location, in-studio, and in challenging environmental conditions — the darker and more textured the setting, the better.
From $2,400 / Editorial
We specialize in intimate events where atmosphere is half the story: gallery openings, brand launches, chef's table dinners, private performances, product unveilings. Unlike traditional event photography, our approach treats the event as an editorial scene — we move through it quietly, capturing candid moments with the same care we bring to a controlled shoot. Deliverables include full edited gallery within 72 hours.
From $900 / Event
Mika Andersen's limited-edition fine art prints are produced in editions of 10–25, handcrafted in the studio darkroom or printed on archival pigment paper for longevity of 100+ years. Each print ships in a custom portfolio sleeve with a signed certificate of authenticity. Available series include The Brooklyn Shadows Collection (2022), Faces at Low Tide (2023), and the ongoing Midnight Botanicals project. Prices and availability on request.
Editions from $280
A hands-on, full-day introduction to silver gelatin printing in our working studio darkroom. Participants learn to develop film, make contact sheets, and produce archival fiber-base prints under Mika's direct instruction. Maximum six participants per session to ensure every attendee gets meaningful time at the enlarger. No prior experience required — only curiosity. Materials, chemistry, and a take-home print are included. Workshops run on select Saturdays; advance booking required.
$180 / Workshop Day
Mika Andersen was born in Copenhagen in 1984, the youngest of three children in a household that kept the curtains half-drawn and the reading lamps burning low. Her earliest memory of a photograph is a black-and-white print of her grandmother's hands — the shadows between the fingers as defined as the skin itself. She didn't know it then, but that image would define her entire practice.
After studying visual communication at the Danish Design School, she moved to New York City in 2009 on a one-year lease that never ended. She came to assist on fashion shoots — hauling grip equipment, managing call sheets, learning the language of light from the ground up. Within three years she had made the transition from assistant to first assistant to occasional second shooter, cutting her teeth on editorial work for small independent magazines that paid almost nothing and cared about everything.
By 2013 she had a body of work she was proud of and a philosophy she couldn't yet fully articulate: that the most interesting part of any photograph was what didn't make it into the exposure. The discipline of underexposure — technically, the act of allowing less light than the metering system recommends onto the sensor or film — became for her a metaphor for editorial restraint. Less reveal. More atmosphere. Trust the viewer's imagination.
In early 2014 she signed a lease on a raw warehouse space on the north end of Williamsburg, near the waterfront, and spent six months building out the studio herself with two carpenter friends and a near-maxed credit card. The name came immediately: Underexposure Studio. Not as a technical term, but as a statement of intent. She installed two large-format windows that she keeps covered with heavy linen scrims. The studio has no overhead fluorescents. Every shoot begins with the room as close to darkness as it can be.
Since opening, Underexposure has grown into one of Brooklyn's most distinctive creative photography practices. The client list spans emerging coffee roasters and major fashion labels, first-time headshot clients and cover subjects. Mika has exhibited work at three New York galleries, contributed editorial imagery to fourteen publications including Apartamento, Cereal, and Document Journal, and has returned regularly to Copenhagen and Malmö to shoot on commission.
The philosophy has never changed. Every project starts the same way: Mika walks into a space, turns off everything she can, and waits for the darkness to show her what it has to offer. That's Underexposure. That's the work.
A selection of recent editorial, brand, and portrait work. Each project is a collaboration — we listen first, then we disappear into the dark and make something worth seeing.
★★★★★"We briefed Mika with a one-page deck and a mood board that was mostly black rectangles. She took that and ran with it — the Kindred Botanica campaign she produced had a quality of stillness that we'd never seen in product photography before. Every art director I've shown those images to asks immediately who shot them. We've now worked with Underexposure on three consecutive campaigns and won't be changing that anytime soon."
★★★★★"I've been in magazine publishing for fourteen years and I approach photo commissions with a healthy amount of skepticism. Mika is the rare photographer who actually listens before she picks up a camera. For the Quiet Hour editorial in our spring issue, she spent two hours just talking with our subject before the shoot began. The images she produced were the most emotionally precise portraits we've published in three years. The Bebas Neue-reading public agreed — it became our most-shared issue of the year."
★★★★★"We needed photography for our café launch that felt nothing like café photography. We'd seen so many bright, airy, Scandinavian-minimalist coffee shots and we wanted the opposite — something that felt like 5 AM on a Tuesday, when the work is real. Mika delivered something so precisely that. The Fernway Morning Dark campaign has been running on our packaging, social, and in our flagship for over a year. People stop in the shop to ask about the photos. That doesn't happen with most commercial work."
Let's find out what your brand looks like in the dark.
Start a ProjectThank you for reaching out to Underexposure Studio. Mika or a studio representative will respond within one business day. We're looking forward to hearing about your project.
This Privacy Policy describes how Underexposure Studio LLC ("Underexposure Studio," "we," "us," or "our"), operating through the website underexposure.net, collects, uses, and shares information about you when you visit our website, contact us, or engage with our services.
By using underexposure.net, you agree to the practices described in this Privacy Policy. If you do not agree, please discontinue use of this website.
We collect information you provide directly to us, including your name, email address, project details, and any other information you submit through our contact form or communicate to us via email or phone. We may also collect information automatically when you visit underexposure.net, including your IP address, browser type, pages visited, and time spent on those pages.
We use cookies and similar local storage mechanisms — including the key ue_consent — to remember your preferences and improve your experience on underexposure.net. See the "Cookies" section below for more detail.
We do not sell, rent, or share your personal information with third parties for marketing purposes. We do not use your personal information for automated decision-making or profiling.
Underexposure Studio uses a cookie consent banner on underexposure.net. Your consent preference is stored in your browser's localStorage under the key ue_consent. This does not transmit data to our servers and is used solely to avoid showing the consent banner on repeat visits. You may clear this preference at any time through your browser's developer tools or privacy settings.
We may also use third-party analytics tools (such as Google Analytics) to understand how visitors use underexposure.net. These tools may place their own cookies. Please refer to those providers' privacy policies for more information.
We retain contact form submissions and project communications for up to three years from the date of last contact. If you would like us to delete your information sooner, please contact us at privacy@underexposure.net.
Depending on your location, you may have certain rights with respect to your personal information, including the right to access, correct, or delete data we hold about you. To exercise any of these rights, please contact Underexposure Studio at privacy@underexposure.net. We will respond within 30 days.
underexposure.net is not directed to children under 13 years of age. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If we learn that we have inadvertently collected information from a child under 13, we will delete that information promptly.
Underexposure Studio may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. Changes will be reflected on this page with an updated date. We encourage you to review this policy periodically. Continued use of underexposure.net after changes constitutes acceptance of the updated policy.
For privacy-related inquiries, please contact:
Underexposure Studio LLC
234 Wythe Avenue, Studio 3B, Brooklyn, NY 11249
Email: privacy@underexposure.net
Phone: (718) 555-0129
These Terms of Service ("Terms") govern your access to and use of the website underexposure.net, operated by Underexposure Studio LLC, a New York State limited liability company (NY LLC #5821447), with its principal place of business at 234 Wythe Avenue, Studio 3B, Brooklyn, NY 11249. By accessing underexposure.net or engaging our services, you agree to these Terms.
You may use underexposure.net for lawful purposes only. You agree not to use this website to transmit harmful, deceptive, or infringing content; to attempt to gain unauthorized access to any part of the website or its underlying systems; or to interfere with the website's normal operation. Underexposure Studio reserves the right to terminate or restrict access to underexposure.net at any time, without notice, for any reason.
All photographs, text, graphics, and other content on underexposure.net are the property of Underexposure Studio LLC or its licensed contributors and are protected by applicable copyright, trademark, and other intellectual property laws. You may not reproduce, distribute, publicly display, or create derivative works from any content on underexposure.net without prior written permission from Underexposure Studio. For licensing inquiries, contact hello@underexposure.net.
When you engage Underexposure Studio for photography services, the specific terms of that engagement — including deliverables, rights granted, payment schedules, cancellation policies, and usage rights — will be set out in a separate written agreement or project confirmation. These Terms govern your general use of underexposure.net and supplement (but do not replace) any project-specific agreement between you and Underexposure Studio.
In the absence of a separate agreement, all photographs produced by Underexposure Studio remain the intellectual property of Underexposure Studio LLC. Clients receive a limited, non-exclusive license to use delivered images for the purposes described at time of booking. Rights beyond that scope require a separate licensing agreement.
underexposure.net is provided "as is" and "as available," without warranties of any kind, express or implied, including but not limited to warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, or non-infringement. Underexposure Studio does not warrant that the website will be uninterrupted, error-free, or free of viruses or other harmful components.
To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, Underexposure Studio LLC shall not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages arising from your use of underexposure.net or our services, even if Underexposure Studio has been advised of the possibility of such damages. Underexposure Studio's total liability for any claim arising from use of underexposure.net shall not exceed one hundred US dollars ($100.00).
underexposure.net may contain links to third-party websites. These links are provided for convenience only. Underexposure Studio does not endorse and is not responsible for the content, privacy practices, or terms of service of any third-party sites. Your use of those sites is subject to their own terms.
These Terms and any dispute arising from your use of underexposure.net or Underexposure Studio's services shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of New York, without regard to its conflict of law principles. Any legal action arising from or related to these Terms shall be brought exclusively in the state or federal courts located in Kings County, New York (Brooklyn), and you hereby consent to the personal jurisdiction of such courts.
Before initiating any legal proceeding, the parties agree to attempt good-faith negotiation to resolve any dispute. If negotiation fails, either party may pursue mediation through a mutually agreed mediator in Brooklyn, NY before proceeding to litigation.
Underexposure Studio may revise these Terms at any time by updating this page. Continued use of underexposure.net after any changes constitutes your acceptance of the revised Terms. If you do not agree with any revised Terms, you should discontinue use of the website.
For questions about these Terms, please contact:
Underexposure Studio LLC
234 Wythe Avenue, Studio 3B, Brooklyn, NY 11249
Email: hello@underexposure.net
Phone: (718) 555-0129