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

Another protégé. Another lesson.

This time high above the Spoorpark in Tilburg, standing on a viewing tower swaying gently in the wind. Kevin is already a capable street photographer, comfortable in the rhythm of the streets below. But this lesson was about something different: perspective.

As we looked out over the city, I told him something unexpected.

“Look down.”

You could almost see the question marks appear above his head.

From a bird’s-eye view, the city changes completely. Streets become lines, people become patterns, cars become movement through geometry and light. A perspective many street photographers rarely explore, because we naturally see the world from eye level.

And that’s exactly why it matters.

Photographing from that height wasn’t easy. The tower moved with every gust of wind, making stability a challenge—especially with longer focal lengths. While I prepared a camera with a telelens for Kevin to use, he started experimenting on his own. That moment—his curiosity, his concentration—is when I took this shot.

When I handed him the camera, I showed him some of the compositions I had seen from above. And almost immediately, he understood the lesson.

Not just how to photograph a city.

But how changing your position changes the story entirely.

Sometimes growth in photography is not about better gear or settings.

Sometimes it’s simply about standing somewhere different.

#StreetPhotography #Spoorpark #Tilburg #PhotographyMentor #LearningPhotography #UrbanPhotography #BirdsEyeView #CityPhotography #Perspective #Composition #CanonPhotography #Telephoto #VisualStorytelling #PhotographyJourney #StreetPhotographer #CreativeGrowth #UrbanGeometry #LeadingLines #CityLife #OutdoorPhotography #ExploreTilburg #PhotographyLessons #InTheField #ArchitecturePhotography #SeeingDifferently #HumanPatterns #ThroughTheLens #ByMaikeldeBakker #MaikeldeBakkerPhotography #WonderingLens

🐒📸 Oh, joy! Another backyard wildlife photography lesson no one asked for, featuring mongooses and the zen art of staring blankly into the bushes. Remember, if you can't pronounce "Gundmi," you're clearly not enlightened enough for this 🧘‍♂️✨.
https://wildgundmi.com/meditating-with-mongooses #wildlifephotography #backyardmongooses #zenart #humor #photographylessons #HackerNews #ngated

A video giving tips on how to stay invisible while you’re out on the street taking photos of people and stuff.

Do you know how hard it is to go unnoticed when you’re six foot four inches tall? It’s really tough to do.

https://robertjames1971.blog/2024/05/20/invisible/

#photographyLessons #photographySkills #photographyStuff #photographyTips #photographyVideo #photographyYoutube