The Heirloom Portrait: behind Kanta Studio and its revival of silver-print photography that will last generations

“I’m not a business actually. I’m a service provider,” he says. “I’m giving people the opportunity to make an heirloom print.” That distinction is important. At Kanta Studio, a portrait session is not simply about producing an image—it’s about creating an experience.

The process is intentionally slow. A single sitting may last two to three hours, and only one to four photographs are taken. This deliberate pace invites something rare in today’s image-saturated world: stillness. “Slowness really is essential,” Jeffrey says.

Clients often arrive expecting a conventional photo session. Instead, they find themselves participating in something more reflective. Many come with an idea of the past they wish to honour—perhaps echoing the posture or expression of a grandparent whose portrait hangs in the family home.

The results can be unexpectedly emotional. “When the picture comes out, some people say, ‘Oh my gosh, I look like my grandfather,’” he says.

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For Jeffrey, these moments reveal the deeper purpose behind the work. The portrait becomes a bridge between generations, a reminder that they carry traces of those who came before them.

The process itself encourages that reflection. Rather than chasing perfection, Jeffrey guides his subjects through small exercises—how to sit, where to look, how to relax into the moment. The goal is not to control every detail, but to allow authenticity to emerge.

“We can’t control everything,” he says. “The imperfection is the perfection. The picture at the end of the day is who you are.”

In an era dominated by digital photography and AI-generated imagery, Jeffrey sees his work as something of a counter-movement. Modern technology may produce thousands of pictures in an instant, yet few are ever printed. “You have thousands on your phone,” he says. “And yet, never one is printed and hung up on the wall.”

By contrast, the portraits created in his studio are silver prints designed to endure. Made using traditional materials, they are archival objects intended to last well beyond the lifetime of the people in them. “This will outlive you, will outlive me and will be passed down through generations,” he says.

While other portrait studios often required clients to return days later to collect their images, his approach allows sitters to witness the photograph appear during the same session. This strengthens the emotional connection between the moment, the portrait and the memory of the experience.

Jeffrey also highlights how it’s important to ensure that the craft itself does not disappear. Many of the teachers who once practised these techniques are no longer around, and much of the specialised equipment has been discarded or turned into decorative antiques. 

To counter that loss, Jeffrey now trains apprentices and students, passing on both the knowledge and the philosophy behind the practice. Because ultimately, these photographs are not meant for galleries or museums.

Their true home, he believes, is within families—where they can continue to tell stories long after the people in them are gone. Before handing over each finished portrait, Jeffrey offers one final piece of advice to his sitters: write something on the back.

A name. A date. A place. Perhaps even a thought or feeling from that moment.

“Whenever people look at old pictures, they always wonder who they are,” he says. With that small act, the photograph becomes more than an image. It becomes a trace of a life—an heirloom that, like memory itself, can travel across generations.

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