OLENA HASTILOW PHOTOGRAPHY & ART 

A look at Weeks 2, 3 and 4 of Woman Who Has No Voice, a year-long self-portrait photography project tracing how silence begins to settle, tighten, and shift within the body.

Portrait photography doesn’t have to be intimidating. In this blog, I share simple, beginner-friendly tips for creating beautiful natural-light portraits and show how colour and multiple exposure can transform them into dreamy, expressive works of art. Discover how light, connection, and layered textures can turn a simple portrait into a visual story.

This image marks the first week of  Woman Who Has No Voice , a photographic series that will unfold gradually across 2026. Silence begins here This image does not tell a story in isolation; instead, it establishes a starting point for the work. The subject’s body is still, and the gestures are restrained. In this first image, silence is not questioned or challenged. It simply exists – present, held, and unspoken. By returning to the same subject body week after week, the proj

As this year comes to an end, I wanted to share the starting point of a new photographic body of work that will unfold slowly throughout 2026. Woman Who Has No Voice , is a year-long photography project that will be released on an almost weekly basis. This work explores silence not as absence, but as something carried within the body. A condition that can be inherited, internalised, resisted, and, over time, reconfigured. Through fabric, gesture, and layered mixed media eleme

As this year slowly approaches its end, I felt it was finally the right time to write my very first blog post. I’ve been meaning to share my story for a while now - not as breaking news, but as a personal reflection on how life, loss, and creativity have shaped me these past two years.   Looking Back at How It Started Photography has been a part of my life for many years to a lesser or greater extend. What began as a passion, eventually became a career change in 2024. By the