It’s been a while since I shared something new. Not because I haven’t wanted to go out… but because the world outside feels unfamiliar lately. December in the Netherlands, normally a time of frost, quiet forests, and the promise of winter, has instead been hovering around 13°C — for weeks. No snow. No frozen ponds. Just rain and warm winds.

And it shows. Trees dropping their leaves later every year. Flowers blooming earlier. Birds already practicing mating calls they shouldn’t be singing in mid-winter. This isn’t “just the weather.” This is a system signalling distress. And after 35 years of fighting climate change — 25 of them actively through Greenpeace, Fossil Free NL, and the Partij voor de Dieren — it weighs on me. I’m angry. I’m tired. And yes, I’m in a depressive episode.

But even in that darkness, light sometimes breaks through.

About two weeks ago in the Kampina, the sun managed to pierce through the dense trees for a brief moment, sending pale golden rays across the forest path. A rare, fragile moment of beauty in a warming world. I captured it handheld with my Canon 5DsR and the Sigma Art set at 44 mm — f/2.8, 1/500s — in the soft, misty morning light around 09:00.

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Tilburgse Kermis by Night – Light, Motion & Memory

Each year, I return to the Tilburgse Kermis to photograph the fair by night. There’s something captivating about artificial light painting the darkness — spinning wheels, streaks of neon, and brief moments of chaos frozen in time. But every year, it gets harder.

As the fair becomes more crowded and compact, finding clean compositions and unobstructed views for long-exposure shots has become a true challenge. The iconic rides are now surrounded by a tangle of signs, people, and modern clutter. That’s why, this year, only three images made the final cut.

Still, those three tell a story.

Long exposure photography is, at its core, about time — compressing seconds into stillness, revealing movement that’s invisible to the eye. It’s a small act of control in an overwhelming scene. And with my Canon 7D Mark III and the versatile 15-85mm lens, I tried to distill the heart of the fair into a few fleeting frames.

The fair is changing. But in every blur of light, I see memories, tradition, and the evolution of public space.

Let’s not forget to look — even when it gets harder.

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