Every ugly has a pretty.

That thought crossed my mind while waiting for my camera buddy at the Tilburg Central Station. In front of me stood one of the newest buildings in town — and arguably one of the ugliest. It looms over the Burgemeester Stekelenburgplein, even blocking the view of our beautiful library.

But as I stood there with my Canon 5DsR and the Sigma Art 24–70, I started to look differently. Lines, angles, contrast — they all began to form something unexpected. The vertical structures reached upward, cutting through the morning sky like strokes of graphite on paper. Suddenly, it wasn’t an eyesore anymore, but a study of geometry and tone.

Photography, after all, teaches us to see — even in the places we’d rather look away from.

#BlackAndWhitePhotography #ArchitecturePhotography #UrbanLines #Canon5DsR #SigmaArt2470 #GeometryInNature #CityPhotography #Tilburg #TilburgCity #ModernArchitecture #FindingBeauty #LightAndShadow #PhotographyStudy #EveryUglyHasAPretty #CompositionMatters #MonochromeMagic #ArtThroughTheLens #StreetComposition #BuildingDesign #ByMaikelPhotography

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

Zoutelande Through My Lens — Stories in Stillness

Photography is often about more than light and focus — it’s about perspective, emotion, and timing. These four images, taken with my Canon 5D Mark III and Sigma 100–400mm lens, represent a quiet but powerful narrative from last Sunday in Zoutelande.

📸 Image 1: My wife walking away between the wave breakers, avoiding the deeper water where I stood. A moment of everyday humor and love — where practicality meets poetry in motion.

📸 Image 2: A young girl standing alone on a small, sandy island surrounded by water. She gazes out toward the ocean, her solitude and wonder mirroring our own curiosity about the world beyond.

📸 Image 3: Here, lines take over the story — the towering dunes on one side, the endless sea on the other, and a wooden walkway that leads the eye straight to the horizon. Composition meets contemplation.

📸 Image 4: A solitary blue beach cabin, perfectly framed by sand and dune. It stands quiet and grounded — a symbol of stillness amidst the natural elements.

Each photo is a reminder that beauty lies in how we see things — and sometimes, in the space between what is and what could be.

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