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De Donkere Kamer platform

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De Donkere Kamer platform

De Donkere Kamer is een platform over fotografie voor liefhebbers en professionals.

07/06/2026

A few weeks ago I was pruning trees on our land in France. I’ve been planting trees here for years and every now and then, some branches need to go.
Not because there’s something wrong with the tree.

Quite the opposite because growth asks for space.
Space for more light, for stronger branches and for what wants to develop further.

While working between the trees, I found myself thinking about the photographers I mentor.
Most of them are talented, hard-working and fully ommitted.

Their challenge is rarely a lack of knowledge. More often, they’re carrying too many ideas,
too many possibilities, too many directions at once. Sometimes you need someone beside you who helps you see more clearly.
What deserves your attention, what no longer fits or what is ready for the next step.

That’s also why I’m changing my 1:1 mentoring programme from July 1 onwards.
I’m adding more live interaction and more in-person moments because some conversations
simply go deeper when you’re sitting across from each other, right?

As a result, the investment will increase from July 1.
You can still secure your spot at the current rate until June 30, even if you want to start later this year.
I only work with 10 photographers at a time, so availability is limited.

Curious whether mentoring is a fit for you?
Type MENTOR below and I’ll send you all the information.

07/06/2026

This morning I was pruning trees on our land in France.
I’ve been planting trees here for years and every now and then, some branches need to go.
Not because there’s something wrong with the tree.

Quite the opposite because growth asks for space.
Space for more light, for stronger branches and for what wants to develop further.

While working between the trees, I found myself thinking about the photographers I mentor.
Most of them are talented, hard-working and fully ommitted.

Their challenge is rarely a lack of knowledge. More often, they’re carrying too many ideas,
too many possibilities, too many directions at once. Sometimes you need someone beside you who helps you see more clearly.
What deserves your attention, what no longer fits or what is ready for the next step.

That’s also why I’m changing my 1:1 mentoring programme from July 1 onwards.
I’m adding more live interaction and more in-person moments because some conversations
simply go deeper when you’re sitting across from each other, right?

As a result, the investment will increase from July 1.
You can still secure your spot at the current rate until June 30, even if you want to start later this year.
I only work with 10 photographers at a time, so availability is limited.

Curious whether mentoring is a fit for you?
Type MENTOR below and I’ll send you all the information.

06/06/2026

The photography world is shifting.
And I have the feeling many photographers are still looking at their work, but not really at their position.

You can create strong work. That’s usually not the issue. But if it’s not clear where you stand, who you work for, and why someone would choose you, things stay diffuse. And you feel that. In your pricing, inquiries and in your energy.

What I often notice is that style is seen as something visual but it sits just as much in your choices. In what you do, and what you stop doing.

That’s where it actually all starts.

That’s also what I teach in my free webinar ‘why good photography alone is not enough in this day and age’. You can register for free and I promise you I leave you with a lot of insights 🔥

If you recognize this in your own work, this might be the right moment 💛

Type MORE and I’ll send you all the details.

(here I’m photographing in Patagonia)

05/06/2026

What can a photo book and an exhibition do that Instagram never can?

Three years ago, Dutch photographer Bastiaan Woudt gave the very first online masterclass for De Donkere Kamer. Since then, we’ve built an entire library of conversations with some of the most respected photographers in the world.

On July 23, Bastiaan returns with a theme that feels increasingly relevant today. Photography lives more and more on screens. We scroll through hundreds of images every day. Yet some photographs ask for a different kind of attention: What can a photo book and an exhibition do that Instagram never can?

What changes when work becomes a book?
What happens when photographs enter an exhibition space? How do sequencing, scale and presentation influence the way people experience and remember your work?
…

For this masterclass, there is no presentation and no keynote. For ninety minutes, will answer your questions about photobooks, exhibitions, publishing, authorship and building a body of work that continues to resonate.

Bastiaan’s work has been exhibited worldwide and is included in collections such as the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam and the Getty Museum in Los Angeles.

📅 July 23, 2026 🕓 4PM CET 📍 Online
Can’t join live? For a small additional fee, you’ll receive lifetime access to the replay.

And for everyone attending live or purchasing the replay, we have something special waiting for you 🔥

Comment BASTIAAN to receive all info.

04/06/2026

My bike is my freedom.
It’s where I think, where ideas settle and where I zoom out and look at the bigger picture.

Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about how I want to spend my time.
About the projects I want to invest in, the people I want to work with and about the life I want to build around my work.

These are the same conversations I often have with photographers.
A question about a portfolio often becomes a conversation about direction, a question about an exhibition often becomes a conversation about choices and a question about photography often becomes a conversation about life.

Over the past months, I’ve been rethinking my mentoring programme as well.
Listening carefully to what photographers need and looking at where the biggest shifts happen.
From July 1st, I’ll be adding more in-person moments to the programme and the investment will increase.

If you’ve been thinking about mentoring, you can still reserve your spot at the current rate until June 30th, even if you’d like to start later this year. And if you’re wondering whether it’s the right fit, you’re welcome to book a free 30-minute call.
We’ll simply explore where you are today, where you’d like to go and whether I can help.

Comment MENTOR to receive info.

02/06/2026

Where do we really belong?

I recently sat down with filmmaker and visual artist Tina Farifteh. What started as a conversation about her acclaimed documentary series Tina in Sexbierum quickly became something much bigger.

We talked about home. About leaving. About community. About growing up between Iran and the Netherlands. About the strange tension between wanting to belong somewhere and wanting to remain free.

One quote really moved me:
“I wanted to belong somewhere. Until I discovered I also wanted to be able to leave.”

A thoughtful, moving conversation about identity, empathy and the places that shape us.

🎧 The episode (in Dutch) is now live on The Donkere Kamer Podcast.

Comment PODCAST and I’ll send you the link.

01/06/2026

Last week I spent a week alone in France: photographing, walking, thinking, listening. Mostly listening actually because underneath all the work, all the mentoring, all the podcasts and projects, there was still something asking for attention. My own photography ;-)

What surprised me wasn’t the work itself.
It was the resistance I felt around sharing it.
And the moment I realised that resistance is often a sign that something actually matters.

I see it in the photographers I work with all the time.
The next step rarely comes from pushing harder.
It often starts by paying attention to what keeps calling you back.

So here’s my question:
What is the creative idea, project or obsession that keeps returning to you, that asks for your attention?
I’d genuinely love to know.

And if you’d like to go deeper, I’ve put together a free webinar about the 5 patterns I see in photographers who continue to grow, evolve and create meaningful work.

Type FIVE in the comments and I’ll send you the link.

29/05/2026

What makes a photobook travel beyond your own circle?

Some photobooks stay on a shelf.

Others keep travelling for years.

What creates that difference?

A photobook is never just a collection of images. It’s also about editing, rhythm, audience, positioning, visibility and distribution. About understanding why this work needs to exist in book form, and how it can connect with people far beyond your own network.

That’s the focus of this online masterclass with Dutch photographer .

With more than twenty published books, both independently and with publishers, Rob brings years of experience navigating the realities behind photobooks: funding, grants, self-publishing, publishers, visibility and impact.

This is an honest conversation about what happens after the photographs are made. How books find their audience. How projects build a life beyond the launch. And how photographers can think more consciously about the journey their work takes into the world.

📍 June 23, 3PM CEST
💬 online masterclass + Q&A with Rob, where you can ask your own personal questions
🎥 Replay available with a small additional fee

For photographers considering their first book.

For those working on their next publication.

And for anyone curious about the wider ecosystem surrounding photobooks.

Comment ROB and I’ll send you all the information 🤍

26/05/2026

For more than 20 years, photographed America through war, conflict, nationalism and identity. But what interested me most in this conversation was not only the work itself.

It was the moment he admitted he had hit a creative wall.
After decades of photography, he slowly started feeling the limits of the medium for himself. Not because photography stopped mattering, but because another part of his imagination wanted space too. That eventually pushed him toward painting and more fictional forms of image-making.

We also talk about Magnum Photos, becoming a father, leaving the US for Paris, the collapse of traditional photojournalism, social media fatigue, creative doubt and the strange tension between stability and freedom.

A very honest conversation about photography, ambition, reinvention and identity.

Comment PODCAST and I’ll send you the link.

22/05/2026

A lot of photographers think visibility starts when the work is finally “good enough.” But most of the time, that moment never comes because the real shift happens somewhere else. It happens the moment you stop hiding. The moment you begin showing your work consistently. The moment you start reaching out, applying, speaking, sharing, failing, trying again.

Visibility is not one big breakthrough. It’s movement:
A conversation with another photographer. An open call. A post that actually says something. A small exhibition in a café. A pitch that gets ignored. And then another one.

That’s how people slowly start remembering your name.
We live in a time where images are everywhere. AI is changing the industry fast. And strong work alone is no longer enough. What makes people stop today is not only technique. It’s vision, direction, a clear voice and a reason to care.

And yes, that asks something from you. It’s sometimes not easy and uncomfortable…

I speak about this a lot in my new free webinar: “Why strong work alone is no longer enough”
About visibility, positioning, storytelling and why photographers need more than beautiful images to build a sustainable career today.

Comment MORE and I’ll send you the link.

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