Feb 24, 2026 I rarely experiment with black and white but I like the way this turned out. Rain on top of a frozen lake reflect light into a misty sky. #BlackAndWhitePhotography #Monochrome #LightReflections #ChasingLight #Atmospheric #CinematicPhotography #DarkAesthetic

Full moon in Koh Samui’s…peach. 🌝
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#KohSamui
#ThailandNight
#IslandNights
#TropicalVibes
#PalmTrees
#NightPhotography
#StreetAtNight
#ThaiIslands
#SoutheastAsia
#TravelMoments
#Wanderlust
#NightLights
#CinematicMood
#MoodyGrams
#SlowTravel
#IslandLife
#RoadTripVibes
#ExoticPlaces
#TravelPhotography
#NoFilterMood
#TropicalNight
#SkyAndPalms
#QuietRoads
#DreamyScenes
#NightScapes
#TravelDiaries
#OnTheRoad
#AsiaTravel
#ChasingLight
#HiddenThailand

Where the earth breathes and the soul listens. 🌱✨. Nature never rushes, yet everything gets done. 🌿 #NatureLovers #IntoTheWild #EarthFocus #NaturePhotography
#GreenVibes #ChasingLight #ForestMagic #Sunlight
#PeacefulMoments #NaturalBeauty #FindYourCalm
#EcoAesthetic #NatureHealing #SereneScenes

As a landscape photographer, I'm no stranger to hiking in the dark to be set up and ready when the light hits the sweet spot early in the morning. Today was different; today I found myself running through a frozen field in my pajamas because the light was ready and waiting when I looked out the kitchen window.



#chasinglight #sunrise #drama #goldenhour #landscape #winter #sweden #värmland #telephoto #cinematic #mist

Yesterday morning felt like one of those quiet bets you make with nature. The night had frozen everything solid, so I suspected there might be low-hanging fog waiting somewhere between the fields and the treelines. As I walked in, part of me was afraid I had already “mist” it — but as the sun crept closer to the horizon, the air began to thicken, soft and silver, like the world taking a slow breath.

Just before sunrise, something unexpected happened. High above the forming fog, an ice cloud lit up in iridescent colours — mostly red, orange, and yellow, with subtle hints of green and blue. Ice crystals at high altitude can refract sunlight much like tiny prisms, creating these fleeting rainbow glows known as irisation. It felt like a quiet scientific miracle happening in real time.

That’s when I saw the leafless tree. Stark, skeletal, patient. And suddenly the composition clicked: a tree seemingly losing its last colours into the sky, like a gentle puff of smoke drifting upward. It’s not my most dramatic image, but there was something special in its simplicity — a moment where winter, light, physics, and imagination lined up just long enough to press the shutter.

Photography, after all, is just another way of studying light and life.

#wonderinglens #ByMaikeldeBakker #NaturePhotography #LandscapeLovers #MorningMist #IceCloud #Iridescence #AtmosphericOptics #WeatherPhenomena #TreeSilhouette #WinterLight #DutchNature #LowlandsMagic #SunriseGlow #ColorInTheSky #FoggyMorning #PhysicsInNature #ScientificStorytelling #CanonPhotography #OutdoorLife #NatureStory #MagicalRealismInNature #NaturalWonder #SkyWatcher #EarthObservations #LightPlay #WanderingWithACamera #DailyExploration #MomentOfCalm #VisualPoetry #CreativeVision #PhotographersLife #ArtOfSeeing #NatureMood #WinterVibes #FieldNotes #MindfulPhotography #NatureIsArt #ChasingLight #StoryThroughLens

I can’t even put into words how last night felt. It was the second time in my life that I saw the northern lights but somehow it felt completely new.
The forecast showed a solar storm, barely a 1% chance for my region. I set an alarm for 3AM. I jumped out of bed, looked out my kitchen window and froze.

My heart started racing. I grabbed my camera, ran out into the night across empty fields. -1°C, silence all around me, just me and the sky.

This time I could actually see the lights with my own eyes. For a few minutes I forgot the cold, forgot how tired I was. I just stood there completely still, smiling like an idiot at 3:30AM.

The photos aren’t perfect. The lens wasn’t right (first to pics made with my phone) But that moment. that feeling of being so small, yet so connected - that’s something a picture could never truly capture.

Two nights in my life that I’ll never forget.
And last night was pure magic💜

#northernlights #auroraborealis #aurora #nightphotography #skywatching #grateful #naturemagic #aurorastory #aurorahunting #germany #auroranight #chasinglight #onceinalifetime

Experimenting with Double Filters

Yesterday morning I woke up at 5 a.m. It was dark, cold, and quiet — the kind of silence that makes you wonder if you should just crawl back into bed. But the sky was clear with some clouds forming near the horizon, and experience told me this could become one of those fiery sunrises worth losing sleep over.

So I packed my Canon 5DsR with the Sigma Art 24–70 mm and headed to the Loonse en Drunense Duinen. Besides chasing light, I had something else in mind — a little experiment. I wanted to see what would happen if I combined a polarizing filter with a transparent plastic petri dish (from Corning).

If you’ve ever looked at a car’s rear window through polarized sunglasses and seen those oily rainbow patterns — that’s birefringence at work. When two polarizing surfaces interact with certain plastics, they reveal hidden stress patterns in vivid colors.

So I rotated both filters until the sky exploded into gradients of purple, turquoise, and gold. No Photoshop tricks here — just light, plastic, and curiosity playing together.

Sometimes, science and art meet right in front of your lens.

#ExperimentalPhotography #CreativeFilters #PolarizerEffect #OpticalPhenomena #Birefringence #PetriDishExperiment #ScienceInArt #NatureAndLight #SkyPhotography #ColorPlay #OpticsInNature #PhotographyExperiment #LandscapePhotography #AtmosphericLight #SkyMagic #MorningGlow #NaturalLight #PhotographyArt #ExploringLight #CreativeProcess #FieldExperiment #AbstractNature #PhysicsOfLight #Canon5DsR #SigmaArt2470 #DutchLandscape #LoonseEnDrunenseDuinen #NaturePhotography #VisualExploration #CuriousMind #ArtOfSeeing #PhotographyIsScience #ChasingLight #SkyWatcher #ExperimentalArt #BehindTheLens #ColorInspiration #LightAndShadow #OpticalArt #ByMaikelPhotography