About Kirill Kozlov

I'm Kirill Kozlov, an Portrait and actor headshot photographer in North London. Nearly thirty years behind a camera — the last twenty spent on one subject: actors.

Where the eye comes from

I was born in the Soviet Union — a country that no longer exists — and trained as a cinematographer (DoP) in the Eastern European tradition. With a degree in cinematography and my early years spent shooting on film, I learned to read light by instinct because every single frame had to count. London has been my home since the 90’s and I've been a North Londoner long enough to know that "cheers" has at least nine different meanings — and all of them are friendly.

That schooling never quite leaves you. and n the tradition I come from, light isn't decoration — it's the story. You hold the frame still and let the face do the talking. Casting directors sometimes say my pictures look a little different without quite being able to say why. Maybe that's why trey are more memorable?

Headshots are my main work, but I still take on select projects as a Director of Photography. Moving between stills and motion keeps the eye sharp — and keeps the process rooted in storytelling rather than photography formulas.

What the Headshot is for

In this industry a Headshot isn't a nice portrait. It's your calling card — often the first thing a casting director or agent sees, usually for about a second. Its job is to make them believe you before you've said a word. On a film set, that's the cinematographer's entire craft: using light to tell an audience who someone is. I bring the same craft to a single still frame.

Casting works to a strict format, and I respect it. My taste runs editorial; my deliverables run casting-correct. A striking photograph that doesn't quite look like you is a beautiful problem—and casting has no time for problems. Knowing when not to be too cinematic is exactly where over 25 years of experience shooting headshots pays off.

How a session works

We start with a cup of tea and a conversation about your casting — who you're being seen for, and who you should be seen for. Then we work, one person at a time. No production line, no queue behind you. I show you the back of the camera as we go, so you're never left wondering how it's going, and at the end I'll tell you honestly which frames are the strongest — even when it isn't the one you walked in wanting. Whether you're just out of training or twenty years into the work, the process is the same: collaborative, unhurried, built around you.

Why ONE photographer matters

New headshot studios spring up like mushrooms after rain. They grow by adding photographers. I never wanted to grow that way. When you book me, you get me — the same eye that shot your last session, and the one before that. A fair number of my clients find me after a session at one of the bigger studios: a different photographer each time, an hour on the clock. They come here for the opposite.. Some have been coming back for over a decade; several have outlasted their own agents.

I regularly photograph graduates of RADA, Guildhall and LAMDA, and actors with Curtis Brown, United Agents and Hamilton Hodell, among many others.

The studio

A calm, private Large daylight space — The High Cross Centre, Fountayne Road, N15 — a short walk from Seven Sisters and Tottenham Hale. Easy to reach, easier to relax in.

When we work together the goal is simple: images that feel unmistakably you, with the clarity and range to move a career forward. Nice and simple.

To book your headshot session or for any other
enquiry please email me your available dates
and package you wish to go for to:
mail@kirill.co.uk or call 07927 942 822