Category: Photography

Photography and visualization are like brother and sister. The equipment is different. But color, depth, composition, exposure, sharpness are important in both cases. And it all comes together in Photoshop.

The ideal is, of course, an artist’s impression which is indistinguishable from a photo, or vice versa.

The themes of my photography are much the same as my visualizations: architecture, urbanism, landscape, public spaces, infrastructure, industry, interiors and water. Only my space images are, for now, mainly computer generated.

Leuvehaven harbour with the Zadkine sculpture during a snow storm in the winter of 2026

Photography

1. March 2026

The Three Star Winter of ’26

In the past, I’ve often reviewed winters on this blog. With a focus on the photographic aspects of those winters, the fresh blankets of snow that give the city a completely different look. But in recent years, there hasn’t been much to review. Holiday The last snowfall of any significance was in February 2021. It created a nice thick blanket of snow, which lasted well over a week. And it was even possible to skate on natural ice. That winter period felt like a kind of holiday in the otherwise gloomy covid period. Unsettled But after that, winters were mostly… Read More

Passing city buses created light stripes near Groothandelsgebouw in Rotterdam on a december evening

Photography

20. January 2026

December Evenings in Rotterdam

The blue hours are the two magical moments of the day, just before sunrise and just after sunset. The light is ideal for taking dramatic city photos. These blue hours are there all year round, but in the middle of summer, they’re at rather inconvenient times. In December, on the other hand… New Year’s Dive I’ve often written about January mornings on this blog. It’s the time of year when the sun rises around 8:30 a.m., meaning the blue hour, that favorite part of the day for photographers, roughly coincides with the morning rush hour. So you don’t have to… Read More

Spectacular weather photo with swirls of fog and sunlight at Kop van Zuid and Erasmus Bridge in Rotterdam

Photography

30. December 2025

Countdown: the Best Photos of 2025

The frequency of my blog posts has decreased somewhat this year, but of course, I can’t ignore the end-of-year tradition, so here they are again: my ten favorite photos of 2025. Selected from over 5,000 photos taken during walks with fellow travelers A., A., A., I., C., N., and many others. The resulting longlist still contains 236 photos, which in themselves form a cinematic overview of the year. But I don’t want to bore my readers with a top 236. So, after a painful selection process, the top 10 below remained. 10 – Motorway Composition This year, the new section… Read More

De Oude Gracht in Utrecht gezien vanaf de Gaardbrug, op een zonnige, windstille herfstdag

Photography

24. November 2025

False accusations of artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence is becoming more and more of a nuisance for photographers and artists. Usually because your work gets lost among the millions of mediocre AI images that flood the internet every day. And sometimes for a completely different reason: because people (or AI systems?) simply don’t want to believe that your photos are real… Stock photos For about ten years now, I have been uploading photos from my extensive archive to stock photo sites. It won’t make me rich, because the return per photo is disappointingly low. But if those images rot away on my hard drive, I earn… Read More

Dunes, swamps and reeds, with two people for scale, at Marker Wadden nature reserve in the Netherlands

Photography

2. April 2025

The Marker Wadden Expedition

Marker Wadden have been there for a few years now, but until recently I didn’t have the chance to visit this newest part of the Netherlands. On a beautiful day in late March, I finally took the ferry from Lelystad with my travel companion R., to take a look at the nature archipelago in the Markermeer. Our high expectations were more than met by both the landscape and the architecture. And the photogenic weather with beautiful cloudy skies also generously cooperated. Zoom out for context, zoom in for details… Markermeer Markermeer is a lake that has only existed since the… Read More

The interior and artwork of the Markthal in Rotterdam reflects in the wet pavement during evening twilight

Photography

29. December 2024

Countdown: the best photos of 2024

It is a tradition that goes back to the early years of this blog: the annual top 10 of my best photos. Although, “best” is such a value judgment, let’s call it my favorite photos. Or maybe just the photos that have a good story to tell. Since 2016, I have been looking at the photos I took that year every year in mid-December, selecting about 200 for the longlist. What follows is a long and painful process to distill my top 10 from that. Anyway, as long as I have the list and the accompanying blog post ready somewhere… Read More

Stone sculpture of a lion on Delft Gate in Rotterdam

Photography

4. October 2024

Bronze and Stone Animals in Rotterdam

The animal kingdom has always been a source of inspiration for art. Anyone who looks around in a city like Rotterdam will see countless animals immortalized in statues, reliefs, and murals. World Animal Day, October 4th, is a good time to take a little tour of these beastly artworks. A photo blog with the theme: Rotterdam’s animals made of bronze and stone. And paint and other materials, but that would make the titlea bit long. Delft Lion Perhaps lions are the most frequently portrayed animals in art, so you can regularly encounter them in Rotterdam. And that’s remarkable when you… Read More

The green square in front of Saint Lawrence Church in downtown Rotterdam

Photography

5. July 2024

Greening Rotterdam

I don’t hesitate on this blog to point out places in the city that could be less stony. But then I also need to show when things seem to be going well, concerning greening and sustainability. So, in the beginning of summer 2024, here’s an ode to the urban nature of Rotterdam. An encouragement to keep going in the right direction! Greening “Wow, it’s clear that the Dutch excel in sustainability,” said one of the Flemish civil servants I guided through Rotterdam a few weeks ago. Well, to be honest… I actually felt that the greening of Roffa was progressing… Read More

De zon gaat vlammend onder in de Rotterdamse haven achter de Euromast

Photography

14. February 2024

Halfway Zalmhaven Tower

It’s becoming a good year for high altitude urban photography. Only two weeks after the already quite sensational photo session from the Montevideo penthouse, I was once again invited to take pictures with a number of fellow photographers from a special location in Rotterdam. This time the action took place at the Zalmhaven tower. The organizer of the event was once again Ramazan Aydogan from Rotta Historica, in collaboration with Margot de Ruiter from R365 Christie’s International Real Estate. Zalmhaven The Zalmhaven tower is the tallest building in the Benelux. The tower itself is 203 meters, and the mast reaches… Read More

De iconische M op de glazenwassersinstallatie van woontoren Montevideo in Rotterdam

Photography

30. January 2024

The Montevideo Penthouse

It’s been a while since Rotta Historica‘s Ramazan Aydogan organized one of his renowned photoshoots. We once stood on the roof of the Delftse Poort building and Erasmus House, and on a minaret of the Mevlana Mosque. However, due to the pandemic, it hadn’t happened for a few years. On January 29th, it was time again: together with nine other photographers, I was invited to capture the view from the penthouse of Montevideo. Montevideo Montevideo is not only the capital of Uruguay but also a residential tower on Wilhelminapier in Rotterdam. Most buildings on the pier are named after former… Read More