A trip down memory lane.

Long before I focused on nature photography, I started in a very different world: games journalism. First with Nintendo 64 Magazine in 1996, later at N-Europe, and eventually founding my own media company in 2004 while still writing for others. Back then, if you wanted photos for an interview, you took them yourself.

And looking back now… let’s just say photography was not yet my strongest skill.

This image is one of my first photographs I considered “good” at the time: a portrait of Shigeru Miyamoto, the creative mind behind Super Mario Bros., The Legend of Zelda, and so many worlds that shaped my youth.

Shot on what I believe was a film-based Canon EOS Rebel with what was probably the kit lens, it reminds me how far both technology and skill have come. At the time, I thought this was a great portrait. Today, I would never frame or light it like this.

And that’s exactly the point.

If you look at your old work and feel a little embarrassed, that’s not failure. That’s proof you’ve grown. The eye that critiques your past is the same eye that has learned to see better.

And years from now, the images you are proud of today may teach you that same lesson all over again.

#ShigeruMiyamoto #Nintendo #GamingJournalism #PhotographyJourney #PortraitPhotography #FilmPhotography #CanonEOSRebel #RetroPhotography #N64 #NEurope #MediaHistory #LearningPhotography #CreativeGrowth #Throwback #PhotoArchive #OldPhotos #PhotographyLessons #VisualStorytelling #GameIndustry #NintendoHistory #PhotographerLife #ThenAndNow #GrowthMindset #CreativeJourney #MemoryLane #ThroughTheLens #ByMaikeldeBakker #MaikeldeBakkerPhotography #WonderingLens

The forgotten orange glow of night…
Genoa, Italy • January 2007
Canon EOS 30D

Sometimes I miss the sodium vapor glow that the world was suffused in before LED lights…

#Photography #DigitalCamera #ColorPhotography #Photo #NightPhotography #Cityscape #CityNights #SodiumVapor #Canon #CanonEOSRebel #CanonEOS300D #DSLR

Lattice
Paris, France • Canon EOS Digital Rebel • January 2005

Does anybody know what the name of this unique building is?
[Solved: Ministry of Culture and Communication by the architects Francis Soler and Frederic Druot]

#France #Paris #FensterFreitag #WindowFriday #streetPhotography #Photography
#Canon #CanonEOSRebel #CanonEOS300D #DSLR #CanonPhotography #Monochrome

Where the wild things roam
Paris, France • Canon EOS Digital Rebel • January 2005

#France #Paris #FensterFreitag #WindowFriday #streetPhotography #Photography
#Canon #CanonEOSRebel #CanonEOS300D #DSLR #CanonPhotography

Isolation • March 2006
Granada, Spain • Canon EOS Digital Rebel

This tourist was covered from head to toe, and was quite isolated from everything except for the view of the Alhambra.

#Photography #DigitalCamera #ColorPhotography #Photography #DigitalPhotography
#Canon #CanonEOSRebel #CanonEOS300D #DSLR #Bokeh
#Spain #Granada #AlhambraDeGranada #PortraitPhotography #Portrait #People #Isolated

Textile Study • March 2006
Granada, Spain • Canon EOS Digital Rebel

These pieces were hanging up outside of one of the numerous tourist shops at the edge of the old Arabian section of Granada, across from the Alhambra.

#Photography #DigitalCamera #ColorPhotography #Photography #DigitalPhotography
#Canon #CanonEOSRebel #CanonEOS300D #DSLR
#Spain #Granada #AlhambraDeGranada #Textures #Texture #Textile #Fabric #LightPainting #Colors #Patterns

Pretty impressed with this new Canon 55-250mm 1:4.5-5.6 lens I snagged from Adorama used. Image Stabilization is so nice at max zoom levels. #canoneosrebel #canon