Portrait Photography

My Estonian grandfather, Viktor Kollin, was a man shaped by the hardships of his time—a distant and quiet figure to us, his grandchildren. I never really got to know him; he always kept to himself. Like so many men of his generation, he was forced to give up on his dreams, swept along by the collective madness of the era. But he didn’t take the easy way out. He held onto his integrity, even though it meant sacrificing his own aspirations.

In his own quiet ways, he rebelled. He became a journalist for a small regional newspaper because he yearned to write, to tell stories, and to photograph—even though back then it meant working under draconian censorship, feeding into the wide-open mouth of propaganda. But all his spare time was devoted to questioning and resisting the oppressive regime by creating beauty, something so absent from the harsh movements of his time.

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Left: My grandpa around 1950
Right: Blooming buckwheat on film 2021

This morning, I had a long brainstorming session with the Documentary Photography Museum in Tallinn, Estonia, preparing for my upcoming exhibition in August. We spoke so much about my grandfather that my longing to create a project about him and my home country is becoming overconsuming. When I visited Estonia in 2021, I shot mostly on film—it felt like the right approach for a place where time still moves more slowly. I had an innate urge to simplify, to slow down.

Now, I’m pulling every string possible to spend two months there this summer, giving myself the space to sink deeper into the mood, flow, and poetry of this Nordic terrain and its quiet yet warm people.

A female stork on a stormy afternoon
2021 I Estonia

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left:Lake in a forest where we used to swim as children
right: downtown Tallinn

Estonian documentary and fine art photographer



creator: /now • /portrait • /shakti •
https://linktr.ee/angelikakollin

The first shot really reminds me of home because we used to do the same and hang out there & we still go walking around it on sunny days!

Photographer and fluid artist from the UK

https://linktr.ee/zosphotos

Me too!! Had to make use of our surroundings and all the other kids!

That sounds beautiful! My childhood was very immersed in nature. We didn’t have many adults entertaining us 😊

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