‘I wanted to capture the passage of time’: Tina Signesdottir Hult’s best phone picture | Photography

Sisters Saga (left) and Ylva, and photographer Tina Signesdottir Hult, a friend of their parents, could all sense the serene atmosphere of the building they were shooting in: an old workman’s house at Visnes copper mine in Norway that Signesdottir Hult had chosen specifically for the purpose. “I wanted to capture a sense of the passage of time by connecting the delicate, ephemeral nature of the girls’ youth with the enduring, resilient spirit of the house,” Signesdottir Hult says.

The photographer says the girls are “both very sweet, sensitive and compassionate, but otherwise complete opposites. Saga, 10, is calm, sometimes quite shy, while Ylva, 11, is very energetic. This is a study in contrasts and connections; not just of light and shadow across their faces, but the emotional differences between the sisters. The subtlety in their expressions and body language invites the viewer to ponder the story behind their moment of quietude,” she adds.

Their parents thought Signesdottir Hult captured their daughters in a “very calm and profound way”, she says, and both girls were pleased with the results, too. “I never tell my models how to act,” Signesdottir Hult says. “Their pose came about naturally. We worked together to capture a beautiful moment.”