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

08/10/2026

Every year I meet photographers with strong projects who go quiet the moment someone asks: “So, what is it about?”

I get it, because many of us chose photography so our images could speak for us. Still, a project that only lives on your hard drive rarely finds the publishers, curators and funders it needs, and they all want to hear from you why your work matters.

That’s why the pitch has been part of every De Donkere Kamer show for ten years. I’ve seen so many photographers walk on stage nervous and walk off with a clearer view of their work than months of thinking alone ever gave them. Explaining your project to people who have never seen it forces you to find its heart, and you’ll use that skill for the rest of your career.

So dare to take your stage November 28 at our show in C-mine 💛

What the selected photographers receive: → a €200 cheque from Profotonet for the winner → a coaching session with publisher Bruno Devos of HOPPER&FUCHS  → a €100 cheque plus 10 ultra scans and developments from Mori Film Lab  → publication in the “Ooggetuigen” section of De Standaard  → three months of Masterclass Pass, our masterclass library → and real stage experience that stays with you

To apply, tell us what you want to make and how you plan to do it, and add your CV and portfolio (max. 10 photos) in one PDF of up to 8 MB. You can pitch in Dutch or English. The deadline is November 13 at 11:59 pm.

Comment PITCH and I’ll send you the link to the form. Know a photographer who belongs on that stage? Tag them below 👇

07/10/2026

Every poster and ticket for this edition carries an image by Nadav Kander Studio . In ten days, the man who made it takes the stage himself.

His portraits hang in the National Portrait Gallery and the V&A in London, and he won the Prix Pictet for Yangtze: The Long River. What stays with me in his work is the room he leaves for you as a viewer, because his pictures never quite finish the story on your behalf. When I asked him about it, he put it like this: “I don’t tell stories, I make stories.”

At Pakhuis De Zwijger he’ll talk about the work behind The Edge of Things, his exhibition at Foam and his new book with Thames & Hudson. And yes, we’ll ask him about the campaign image too.

He shares the stage with Bieke Depoorter , Robin de Puy and Wilfried De Jong , along with three young photographers pitching their projects live, an image columnist and a curator.

🎟️ €20, link in bio or comment SHOW to receive all info 📅 October 16, Pakhuis De Zwijger, Amsterdam, 8pm

06/10/2026

HOW TO KEEP SEEING: Finding Your Voice in Street Photography
 Live online masterclass with Julie Htudová.

Some weeks the street hands you a photograph. Other weeks you walk for hours and come home with nothing, and it starts to feel like everything has already been photographed anyway.

Julie Hrudová knows both kinds of weeks well. She delivers a street photograph to Het Parool every week, whether the city cooperates or not. That rhythm shaped how she works, and it helped her find her way back to photography after her inspiration had disappeared.

In this live online masterclass Julie Hrudová takes you through her own path: how her voice developed, where she looks for inspiration and how she deals with “it’s all been done before”. She also shows StreetRepeat, her collection of patterns and repetitions in street photography, which turns that feeling into something you can actually work with.

What you’ll take away: → A look at Julie’s process, from the first walk to the final photograph → The photographers who shaped her eye, and what she learned from them → A new way to deal with “it’s all been done before”, with examples from StreetRepeat → Ideas for developing a style that feels like yours in a world full of images → How she finds a good photograph every single week on assignment → Practical ways to get your photography going again when your inspiration is gone

Julie presents solo and keeps it personal. At the end there’s room for your own questions.

📅 Wednesday 28 October, 16:00 CET 💻 Live online, 90 minutes (including room for your questions) 🎟 €25 (replay available as an add-on)

Comment JULIE and I’ll send you the link.

05/10/2026

Two hundred years ago, a man in France spent eight hours exposing the view from his study window. The result barely looks like a photograph to us today, yet it was the first proof that the world could be held still.

Today I can finally share what and I have been working on: ICONOBELGE, 200 years of Belgian photography with impact.

We selected twenty Belgian photographers who have left their mark on the medium over the past decades and still do today. We added five promising names we’re convinced you’ll be seeing a lot more of, and we went back to the pioneers who brought photography to this country in the first place.

Choosing hurt. Any list of Belgian photographers with impact quickly runs into the hundreds. There were discussions, one name disappeared and another was added at the very last moment.

What matters most to me is that photographers from Flanders, Wallonia and Brussels stand side by side in this book, without a language border. That’s how it should be.

A big thank you to Pelckmans Uitgevers for believing in this book from the start, and to Tim Bisschop for a design that gives every image the space it deserves.

🗓 Book launch on Thursday October 29, the opening night of the 10-daagse van de Fotografie at Het Predikheren in Mechelen. Rik and I will talk with Lisbeth Imbo about the book, followed by a live podcast recording with willyvanderperre . Tickets are €12.

Comment ICONOBELGE and I’ll send you the link to get your ticket.

The book itself (hardcover, 200 pages, €49.50) is available from October 21, preorder via the link in bio.

04/10/2026

In 1931, a young Hungarian photographer held her Rolleiflex up to a mirror in Berlin. Almost a century later, that self-portrait still feels astonishingly modern.

Her name was Eva Besnyö.

On 16 October, curator .sikking of Fotomuseum Den Haag joins us on stage at Pakhuis de Zwijger to introduce Eva Besnyö: De bevrijde camera, one of the largest retrospectives of Besnyö’s work ever shown.

Around 200 vintage prints from the largest Besnyö collection in the world, every one of them printed by Besnyö herself or under her supervision in the darkroom. You can imagine why that detail speaks to us 😉

The exhibition follows her from her first steps with a camera in Budapest to the raw Berlin of the thirties and her life and career in Amsterdam. It also covers the war years, which left deep marks because of her Jewish background, and her involvement with the Dolle Mina movement in the seventies. Throughout, you see the bold diagonals and unexpected camera angles of a photographer who chose to look at reality up close.

Iris will give a short presentation, the kind of introduction that makes you want to take the train to The Hague the next morning ;-) The exhibition runs until 31 January 2027.

The rest of the evening: Nadav Kander Studio with his new book and exhibition The Edge of Things Bieke Depoorter with The beds I slept in Robin de Puy on her long-term project in the US Wilfried De Jong with Polaroidman, his first photo book Marieke van der Velden as our visual columnist Three young photographers, selected by a jury, pitching their project to you

📅 Friday 16 October 🕗 8 PM 📍 Pakhuis de Zwijger, Amsterdam 🎟️ Tickets €20, comment SHOW to receive the ticket link

Last year’s evening at De Zwijger sold out, so don’t wait too long.

02/10/2026

Today’s the day. Submissions for Pitch Your Photo Project close tonight at midnight.

Our jury picks three finalists from everyone who applies, and on October 16, those three pitch their project live. The audience in the room decides who wins, and takes home:

* A €500 cheque from Fotolab
* A €200 cheque from Profotonet
* 10 developments and scans from Mori Film Lab
* A coaching session with publisher Bruno Devos
* Publication in De Standaard
* A free year of Dutch Photographers membership, a workshop voucher and a Dutch Photographers Day ticket
* A quarterly Masterclass Pass subscription

The jury consists of: Jasper Bode (Ravelijn Gallery), Jan Desloover (De Standaard), Veronique Smedts and Kaat Celis (De Donkere Kamer).

If you’ve been telling yourself you’ll send it in later, later is now.

Comment PITCH and I’ll send you the link to the form before midnight.

01/10/2026

In two weeks, Wilfried De Jong takes the stage at De Donkere Kamer. He’s presenting his first photo book, Polaroidman: five years of polaroids, shot with no plan, just to keep looking.

You might have already seen his work hanging at gallery Weisbard in Rotterdam. On October 16, he talks about it himself, live, on stage.

That’s what has driven these shows for ten years. Photographers who just made something new get the stage, alongside three young photographers pitching their work to a full room for the first time.

On October 16, I’m a guest at Pakhuis de Zwijger in Amsterdam, alongside Nadav Kander Studio , Bieke Depoorter , Robin de Puy and those three young talents.

Want to be there? Comment SHOW and we’ll send you the ticket link. 20 euros, Pakhuis de Zwijger Amsterdam, October 16.

Photo Wilfried: (c) Stephan Vanfleteren
 

30/09/2026

Spots for our Patagonia workshop with BASTIAAN WOUDT are filling. And I am soooo grateful! 💛

Eight days on an estancia at the edge of Lago San Martín, Patagonia. His prints hang in the Rijksmuseum and the Getty. He’s shot for British Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar, and this is the first workshop he’s ever agreed to teach.

Five hours from the nearest airport. No phone signal outside the estancia once you arrive. Real gauchos who still work this land, time on horseback alongside them, and daily reviews with Bastiaan on everything you shoot.

I’ve visited this estancia myself, twice. Both times, the remoteness made me slow down and actually see what was in front of me.

February 13 to 20, 2027. Space for eight photographers, and spots are filling.
If you’ve been circling this, wondering whether it’s really for you, this is your sign to send in your portfolio.

Comment PATAGONIA and I’ll send you everything you need to apply.

30/09/2026

Have you listened to this podcast yet?

25 years by his side. And two years after his death, his lifelong dream finally came true 💛

This is , and this photo was taken right after we recorded together in the studio of Estate Erwin Olaf in Amsterdam. Shirley was Erwin’s manager, and one of his closest friends, for 25 years. She took care of the business. He took care of the art. And when he passed away, she became the one carrying his voice forward.

We talked about the exhibition Freedom at the Stedelijk Museum, the dream Erwin carried since he was a young photographer biking past it every day. About what it means to make decisions for someone who isn’t there to ask anymore. About trust, protection, and why she still asks herself, before every choice: what would he have wanted?

This is one of those conversations that really accompanies you long after you press stop.

Type ENGLISH and I’ll send you the link.

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