Some mornings feel like stepping into a story long before you take the first photograph. A week ago, after a long cold night, I woke up long before sunrise with that familiar excitement buzzing under my skin — the kind that only a camera, a quiet landscape, and a promise of light can create. I pre-heated the car, stepped into the darkness, and let the road guide me toward the Kampina in Noord-Brabant. While most people were on their way to work, I was on my way to chase a sunrise.
And nature delivered.
After a 30-minute walk through the dim early light, the world suddenly shifted. The entire atmosphere turned black and yellow — not just the sky, but the mist, the air, the ground. Low winter sunlight scattered through moisture particles, a phenomenon called Mie scattering, which often produces this rich, glowing yellow hue under the right angle and density conditions.
In the foreground stood an old, gnarled tree — twisted by years of weather and time — silhouetted against a backdrop of dark, leafless woodland. It felt like a character stepping forward from the shadows.
Captured handheld at f/6.3, ISO 640, with my Canon 5D Mark IV and Sigma 100–400mm, this image is a reminder that sometimes you don’t just photograph a sunrise… you walk into it.
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Theo A. Kamphuis
7 Foot Photographer
Maikel de Bakker
Matthias Wunderl
Sam Prok
Luigi Morbidelli
