I originally borrowed @noel.swails (on Instagram) lens to photograph the northern lights but they didn’t show up again so I ended up using it for the Alps instead.

I’m a complete beginner when it comes to landscape photography so I wasn’t expecting much. But looking at the photos now, I’m honestly surprised by how well they turned out. There was something incredibly refreshing about carrying almost no weight and still being able to capture moments that felt special. The snow made everything look softer, brighter, and more peaceful.

It felt good to step out of my comfort zone and try something new especially since I haven’t been in the mood to post animals lately. So here’s a little change of scenery.
I’m happy I took the chance, happy I tried and even happier that these images let me share a bit of that quiet winter magic with y‘all💜❄️

#alps #alpen #mountainvibes #mountainphotography #landscapephotography #landscape_lovers #winterwonderland #snowymountains #naturephotography #discoverearth #earthofficial #ig_mountains #ig_nature #outdoorlife #wanderlust #travelgram #naturelovers #photographyjourney #beginnerphotographer #wintermagic #fromwhereistand #quietmoments #adventuresawait #exploremore #visualsofearth #ourplanetdaily #capturenature #mountainescape #nature_perfection #photooftheday

Exploring Montypix Inspiring Travel Photography Adventures
Immerse yourself in the beauty of travel photography with Montypix. From stunning landscapes to tranquil coastal views, each photo captures the spirit of exploration. Join the journey and be inspired by visual stories from around the world. #TravelPhotography #Montypix #PhotographyJourney
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A 1mm mushroom carrying an almost-as-big droplet

Sometimes nature hides its most extraordinary scenes in places most people never look. While walking through the Kampina near Oisterwijk with my wife Christel and my sister-in-law Hanneke — a birthday walk and lunch gift from last October — I noticed something no taller than a grain of rice. There, growing out of the lush green moss on a tree trunk, stood a tiny Mycena adscendens. Barely 1 mm tall, delicate as a whisper… and balancing a raindrop almost as large as its cap.

Photographing something that small is always a technical puzzle. Tripods were impossible on the tree bark, the light was miserable — wet, grey, and sleepy — and the mushroom itself looked like shiny plastic thanks to the moisture. So I relied on my Canon 5DsR paired with the MP-E 65mm, shooting handheld with a flashlight as an improvised lightsource.
1/250s, ISO 3200, and the fixed aperture of the MP-E — a setup that pushes both the photographer and the camera to their limits. At this magnification even your own heartbeat becomes camera shake.

But somehow, everything aligned. The droplet clung to the cap with perfect surface tension, turning the whole scene into a tiny physics lesson: cohesion, adhesion, and gravity negotiating their delicate balance on a 1 mm stage.

Moments like this remind me why I love macro photography — you don’t just take a picture; you discover a world that was already there, quietly waiting.

#MacroPhotography #MicroNature #TinyMushrooms #MycenaAdscendens #FungiFriday #FungusAmongUs #NatureCloseUp #ExtremeMacro #MacroWorld #MacroMagic #Canon5DsR #CanonMacro #MPE65mm #HandheldMacro #NatureIsArt #ForestFinds #DutchNature #Kampina #Oisterwijk #MossAndMushrooms #RaindropArt #WaterDroplet #SurfaceTension #MicroWildlife #NatureWalks #PhotographyJourney #StoryBehindTheShot #NaturalWonder #TinyLifeBigWorld #ForestMagic #NatureLovers #ScienceInNature #PhotographersOfPixelfed #MacroCommunity #HiddenWorlds #ByMaikeldeBakker

A Rare Sight

While walking through Park Sonsbeek in Arnhem, I noticed a young woman sitting quietly on a bench, reading a book. No phone, no earbuds — just her, the pages, and the sound of songbirds in the background. It felt… unusual. Peaceful. Almost like catching a glimpse of a forgotten behavior in its natural habitat.

I knew I had to take the shot, but I did it from a distance — using my Canon 5D Mark IV paired with the Sigma 100–400mm. The light was soft, diffused by the trees, and I wanted to preserve that calm atmosphere. I shot silently, or at least as silent as a DSLR allows. Still, there was that feeling — the quiet guilt of being a hidden observer. Maybe that’s part of street photography: capturing beauty without disturbing it.

I could have pointed the lens elsewhere — at the noise, the rush, the chaos of everyday life. But I didn’t. I chose this. Because sometimes, documenting stillness says more about who we are — or who we’ve forgotten to be — than all the motion around us ever could.

#StreetPhotography #CandidMoments #ParkSonsbeek #ArnhemPhotography #Canon5DMarkIV #Sigma100400 #QuietMoments #ReadingInThePark #Solitude #UrbanNature #LightAndLife #PeacefulScenes #PhotographyAndObservation #HumanStories #StreetPhotographer #DutchPhotography #MindfulMoments #NaturalLight #DocumentaryPhotography #PhotoStory #HumanBehavior #EverydayLife #Stillness #ObservationArt #StoryThroughLight #VisualStorytelling #UrbanCalm #ContemplativePhotography #PhotographyJourney #PhotographyEducation #ArtOfSeeing #UrbanObservation #PhotographyEthics #StudyOfLight #FieldPhotography #LensAndLife #NatureAndHumanity #PhotographyInNature #RealMoments #ByMaikeldeBakker

Dark waters, white beak, red eye.

At Park Sonsbeek in Arnhem, I spotted something white moving on the dark pond surface. For a second I thought, “what is that?” — and then it hit me. A coot! An Eurasian Coot (Fulica atra, Dutch: Meerkoet). These little water birds always look like they’re in formal wear — black suit, white tie, red eyes, and serious attitude.

The water here was unusually dark, absorbing almost all light. My camera’s metering system had no idea what to do with it and kept pushing the ISO sky-high. So I switched to full manual mode: shutter at 1/250s, aperture f/7.1, ISO locked at 2500. The Canon 5D Mark IV with the Sigma 100–400mm lens handled it beautifully. No flashy post-processing here — just careful exposure control and a bit of patience.

I love how the black feathers blend nearly invisibly into the dark water, leaving only that bright beak and red eye cutting through the scene. It’s one of those moments where light, contrast, and instinct all meet. What a hoot… or should I say, what a coot!

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

#EurasianCoot #FulicaAtra #Meerkoet #BirdPhotography #NaturePhotography #WildlifePhotography #Canon5DMarkIV #Sigma100400 #BirdsOfEurope #DutchNature #LowLightPhotography #ManualMode #ExposureControl #NaturalLight #WildlifeObservation #UrbanWildlife #DarkWater #PhotographyAndScience #LightAndLife #FieldPhotography #OpticsAndArt #PhotographyEducation #NatureDetails #ParkSonsbeek #ArnhemPhotography #BirdLovers #PhotographersLife #WildBirds #ScientificPhotography #NatureStudy #CanonPhotography #SigmaArtLens #WildlifeArt #LearningByObserving #AvianBeauty #ContrastAndLight #PhotographyJourney #NatureThroughTheLens #StoryThroughLight #ByMaikeldeBakker

Arnhem Central Station makes people look small

During my visit to Arnhem — home turf of my photo buddy Kevin — I decided to give street photography another go. Kevin makes it look so easy. With his tiny Fuji mirrorless and a 24mm lens, he just hip-shoots away and somehow always nails it.

Me? Not so much. My Canon 5DsR with the Sigma 24–70 Art isn’t exactly what you’d call “discreet.” Every click sounds like a miniature thunderclap echoing through the station. So instead of blending in, I hide in corners, under staircases, or anywhere people don’t look.

That’s where I found this shot — standing beneath the staircase, drawn first by the sweeping architectural lines. Then came the couple, walking right into the frame. Kevin called it “fishing” — waiting patiently for the scene to complete itself. It’s new to me, but I have to admit… it works.

Sometimes photography isn’t about chasing the shot. It’s about waiting for life to wander into it.

#StreetPhotography #Arnhem #ArnhemCentraal #ArchitecturePhotography #UrbanExploration #Canon5DsR #Sigma2470Art #DutchArchitecture #BlackAndWhitePhotography #ModernDesign #PhotoStory #DocumentaryPhotography #WaitingForTheMoment #CandidPhotography #StreetShot #PhotographersLife #UrbanGeometry #LinesAndLight #HumanScale #PerspectivePlay #StoryInALens #EverydayLife #VisualNarrative #TravelThroughLenses #LifeInFrames #CaptureTheMoment #CreativeAngles #BehindTheLens #CanonPhotography #CityLife #DutchDesign #CompositionMatters #LightAndShadow #PhotoFishing #StreetLens #ThroughMyEyes #VisualPoetry #DocumentingReality #PhotographyJourney #ByMaikeldeBakker

Do not compare yourself with me.

When scrolling through my images, some photographers might feel discouraged. Please don’t. I started just like you. And there are photographers far beyond my level — and that’s fine too. We all walk our own path, shaped by our curiosity, patience, and willingness to learn. Let other people’s work inspire you, not define your limits.

Back to this image — taken from high up in the Spoorpark tower with my Canon 5D Mark IV and the Sigma 100–400. Looking down, everything changed: perspective, composition, and opportunity. The lines of concrete and grass formed an abstract canvas, intersected by light and shadow. A lone figure sat on the raised plateau, looking down at her phone — unaware that she’d become part of this quiet geometry.

Photography teaches perspective — not just through the lens, but in life itself.

#StreetPhotography #Perspective #PhotographyReflection #InspirationNotCompetition #Canon5DMarkIV #Sigma100400 #BlackAndWhitePhotography #DocumentaryPhotography #Tilburg #Spoorpark #UrbanGeometry #LearningPhotography #PhotographyCommunity #VisualStorytelling #LightAndShadow #PhotographyJourney #MindfulPhotography #EverydayScenes #ArtOfObservation #ByMaikeldeBakker

Sometimes the most interesting places are the ones most people pass by without noticing. This narrow alley in the center of Tilburg caught my attention during a small street photography adventure with a friend.

Normally, I work in color, but this time I decided to embrace black and white — something I rarely do. Without color, the eye is drawn to form, texture, and contrast. Every brick, every reflection of light becomes part of the composition.

Shot with the Canon 5D Mark IV and the Sigma 24–70mm Art lens, this scene challenged me to balance light and shadow in an environment where every photon counts. Street photography, after all, is about seeing — truly seeing — and waiting for the light to tell its story.

#StreetPhotography #BlackAndWhite #UrbanGeometry #Tilburg #PhotographyJourney #SigmaArt2470 #Canon5DMarkIV #LowLightPhotography #VisualStorytelling #CityMood #TexturesAndLight #CompositionMatters #StreetScenes #MonochromeMood #DutchStreets #EveryPhotonCounts #ExploringTilburg #UrbanObservation #ArtOfSeeing #ByMaikeldeBakker

Found this incredible monument near the Grand Place in Brussels — the Tomb of Everard t’Serclaes. The mix of strength and serenity in this sculpture stopped me in my tracks. There’s a quiet beauty in how it captures both rest and remembrance, a moment suspended between life, courage, and time itself.

#Brussels #Belgium #PhotographyJourney #TravelReflections #ArtAndHistory #CulturalHeritage #PhotoStory #pixelfed

A Morning in Layers

Yesterday’s morning light was something else — the kind of light that shifts the entire mood of a landscape. I started early, camera in hand, watching as the first rays of sun broke through the horizon at the Loonse en Drunense Duinen. The Canon 5DsR with the Sigma 24–70 Art captured that dance between storm clouds and sunlight — a fiery sky meeting cold, dark clouds above a golden line of dunes.

Later that morning, a flash of movement caught my eye. Perched high in a tree, a Lanius excubitor — the Great Grey Shrike (Klapekster in Dutch) — scanned the landscape. A master of patience and precision, this bird is both predator and poet of the heathlands. Just as I focused, it launched into flight, wings twisting into the sunlight — a single frame of balance between control and freedom, taken with the 5D Mark IV and the Sigma 100–400.

Before heading home, I found a small Mycena mushroom rising from a bed of moss, surrounded by acorn caps and fallen leaves. Humble, delicate — yet part of the same story. The sun, the bird, the fungus — each a layer in nature’s quiet symphony.

#ByMaikeldeBakker #NaturePhotography #WildlifePhotography #MacroPhotography #LandscapePhotography #CanonPhotography #SigmaArtLens #5DsR #5DMarkIV #DutchNature #LoonseEnDrunenseDuinen #GreatGreyShrike #LaniusExcubitor #Klapekster #Mycena #FungusAmongUs #MushroomPhotography #AutumnVibes #ForestMood #MorningLight #NatureStorytelling #ScientificPhotography #EcologyInFocus #FieldObservation #NaturalHistory #Heathlands #SunriseGlow #SkyDrama #BirdInFlight #AvianBeauty #MacroMagic #MossAndMushroom #ForestFloor #NatureDetails #CanonLover #Sigma100400 #Sigma2470Art #PhotographyJourney #DutchWildlife #ByMaikelPhotography