De Donkere Kamer (English)

Afleveringen

1. #74 - From chocolate factory to World Press Photo: How Cesar Rodriguez became a photographer at 30

   4 november 2026 · 55 min

   Afspelen
   At Museum Hilversum I sat down with Mexican photographer Cesar Rodriguez, who won a World Press Photo award this year with his long-term series on climate change in Mexico. He submitted it on the last day, pays for most of his personal work with his own assignment fees, and only picked up a camera at 32. We talk about cold emails, editors who forget you exist, and why there's no rush to publish. Lees meer

   What you'll learn in this episode

   How a single Red Cross assignment on sea erosion grew into a six-year, largely self-funded project on climate change in Mexico, and why Cesar starts projects without a fixed end goal

   How he pays for personal work by combining it with editorial assignments, adding a few extra days on location once the client has covered the plane ticket

   How cold emails, the Eddie Adams Workshop and simply reminding editors that he exists led to steady work with The New York Times, Bloomberg and The Washington Post

   Why he trusts one editor (Musuk Nolte) with all three of his photobooks, and how he deals with too many opinions on his edit

   Why he stepped back from posting on Instagram, and why he thinks stories need time before they go out into the world

   See the exhibition: World Press Photo at Museum Hilversum

   We recorded this conversation at Museum Hilversum, the day after the World Press Photo Exhibition 2026 opened there. You can see Cesar's winning series on climate change in Mexico in the exhibition, together with the other winning stories and photos of this year's contest, until November 29. The museum is open every day from 11:00 to 17:00, so there's no excuse not to go.

   Exhibition info: worldpressphoto.org/calendar/2026/hilversum-the-netherlands

   Museum Hilversum: museumhilversum.nl

   World Press Photo: worldpressphoto.org

   Cesar Rodriguez: https://cesarrodriguezb.com/

   Free webinar

   Want to know what the photographers who keep growing actually do differently? In a free webinar, I walk you through the five patterns I see consistently, in this p…

2. #73 - Organising a photography event: what photographers can learn from a sold-out show

   22 oktober 2026 · 38 min

   Afspelen
   The Amsterdam show was sold out, but only on the very last day. In this episode Kaat gives an honest look at what goes into filling a room, and what you as a photographer can take from it for your own book, exhibition or project: keep looking for what you can do, and know who you're doing it for. Lees meer

   What you'll learn in this episode

   Why people need more touchpoints today before they buy a ticket (or a book, or a print), even when what you offer is really good

   Why you can't rely on the press anymore, and why you need to find your own ways to promote your work

   How to speak to a broad audience without jargon and without getting too technical

   Why every space and every audience asks for a different approach, and how to think about your own means in each situation

   How an ideal client (an avatar with a name and a personality) helps you choose the right visuals, reels and words

   Why small, almost invisible changes pay off more over time than one radical overhaul

   Next stop: show at C-Mine GenkOn November 28th, De Donkere Kamer comes to C-Mine in Genk, Belgium. On stage: Nadav Kander, Michiel Hendryckx on beauty in resistance, Noortje Palmers with La Vie en Rose about homeless people in Antwerp, Pie Aerts with Coirón about the puesteros of Chilean Patagonia, Marieke van der Velde with the image column, a curator (more news soon) and three pitchers (you can submit your project here) Note that most of the evening is in Dutch. Coming with a group of more than ten? You pay half price. Tickets here.

   Partner of this episode

   Cameranu As a photographer you need more than creativity. You also need the right tools, whether that's a new lens or a camera you can rely on during a client shoot. The specialists at Cameranu think along with you and give you honest advice. As a listener of De Donkere Kamer, you get 10% off your next purchase with code DDK10 at cameranu.be.

3. #72 - Being present as a photographer: how to find calm in a busy photography practice

   13 oktober 2026 · 14 min

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   For years Kaat was a pro at racing ahead: after a successful show, her head was already at the next one. During her conversation with photographer Eva Verbeeck she heard a sentence that stuck with her: "We're here now." In this short episode she shares why that sentence brings so much calm, even in a busy photography practice. Lees meer

   What you'll learn in this episode

   Why good planning can actually give you freedom, even when freedom is your biggest core value

   The sentence Eva Verbeeck says to herself, and why so many ambitious photographers will recognize themselves in it

   How to feel in your body what it does when you say "we're here now" out loud

   Why always being busy with the next thing can take away your sense of pride

   How to apply this in challenging times, when your photography practice keeps asking for new solutions

   CTA: show October 16th

   On October 16th, De Donkere Kamer is at Pakhuis de Zwijger in Amsterdam with a full evening about photography, by photographers. With Nadav Kander (The Edge of Things), Bieke Depoorter (The Beds I Slept In), Wilfried de Jong, Robin de Puy, Iris Sikking on the exhibition of Eva Besnyö, a visual column by Marieke van der Velden, and pitches by promising photographers. Tickets at donkerekamer.com/tickets.

   Partner of this episode

   Cameranu As a photographer you need more than creativity. You also need the right tools, whether that's a new lens or a camera you can rely on during a client shoot. The specialists at Cameranu think along with you and give you honest advice. As a listener of De Donkere Kamer, you get 10% off your next purchase with code DDK10 at cameranu.be.

4. #71 - Staying flexible as a photographer: how to adapt your photography business to a changing market

   6 oktober 2026 · 22 min

   Afspelen
   Photography has always been a medium in flux, from digital cameras to the smartphone and now AI. In this episode, Kaat talks about an established photographer who sees his print sales declining and still doesn't freeze up. She also shares the question she asks herself after every setback: what is possible? Lees meer

   What you'll learn in this episode

   Why the question "what is possible?" changes your energy, and how to learn to switch within six seconds after a no

   Why you need to know your numbers, so you can adjust before declining sales become dramatic

   How you can use AI to free up time for your creativity, with the necessary caution around copyright and images

   Why clinging to what worked five years ago can cost you your grip, your revenue and your clients

   The attitude Kaat sees in photographers who last: willingness, commitment and consistency

   VIP review session

   Do you notice your photography business is changing, and do you want to adjust course before it gets dramatic? In a VIP review session you spend 180 minutes online with Kaat. Together you dig into your work and your business model, and you leave with a concrete plan. More info here

   Show October 16th, Amsterdam

   On October 16th, De Donkere Kamer comes to Pakhuis de Zwijger in Amsterdam, with Nadav Kander (exhibition The Edge of Things at Foam), Bieke Depoorter (new book The Beds I Slept In), Robin de Puy and Wilfried de Jong (first photobook Polaroid Man). Three promising photographers pitch their project live, Marieke van de Velde presents the image column, and Iris Sikking from the Fotomuseum Den Haag talks about the Eva Besnyö exhibition. ⁠Get your here

   Partner of this episode

   Cameranu As a photographer you need more than creativity. You also need the right tools, whether that's a new lens or a camera you can rely on during a client shoot. The specialists at Cameranu think along with you and give you honest advice. As a listener of De Donkere Kamer, you get 10% off your next purchase with code DDK10 at …

5. #70 - What if it's already good enough?

   3 oktober 2026 · 22 min

   Afspelen
   How much of your energy do you give away to what others think of you? In this episode, Kaat shares why she started taking her own stage, why copying slows down your growth, and what a mentoring client with a corporate background taught her about the fear of not being good enough. Plus an exercise you can start today. Lees meer

   What you'll learn in this episode

   Why Kaat stopped giving away her stage and became the face of De Donkere Kamer herself, and what it takes to show your true colours

   Why being yourself in your photography feels so much scarier than leading a company: criticism of your work feels like criticism of who you are

   The difference between modelling and copying, and why what works for someone else doesn't have to work for you

   How to stop giving your power away to other people's opinions, and why it has to be good enough for you first

   A concrete exercise for photographers short on time: a daily walk with your camera as a fixed, non-negotiable moment

   One-on-one mentoring

   Do you recognise yourself in the photographer from this episode, who wants to be himself in his work but is afraid of not being found good enough? In Kaat's one-on-one mentoring, you work on your photography and your practice for six months, with someone who looks along with you, is honest, and helps you dare to show your own visual language. You start with a personal kick-off in Antwerp or Amsterdam. More info here.

   Show October 16th, Amsterdam

   On October 16th, De Donkere Kamer comes to Pakhuis de Zwijger in Amsterdam, with Nadav Kander (exhibition The Edge of Things at Foam), Bieke Depoorter (new book The Beds I Slept In), Robin de Puy and Wilfried de Jong (first photobook Polaroid Man). Three promising photographers pitch their project live, Marieke van de Velde presents the image column, and Iris Sikking from the Fotomuseum Den Haag talks about the Eva Besnyö exhibition. Get your here

6. #69 - From Belgium to 28 American States: Eva Verbeeck on the dream behind America's Girls

   26 september 2026 · 1 uur 3 min

   Afspelen
   What happens when a girl from a small Belgian village chases her American dream, and then spends six years listening to the dreams of American girls? My guest today is Belgian photographer and filmmaker Eva Verbeeck. She had visited more than 45 countries before she turned 25, lived in the US for many years and now works from Amsterdam. Her portraits have appeared in Le Monde, National Geographic, The Washington Post, Der Spiegel and The Telegraph. Lees meer

   We recorded this conversation at CC De Factorij in Zaventem, days before her exhibition America's Girls opened there. Eva photographed close to 400 girls and young women aged 6 to 18 in 28 states, always with a large format camera and never more than two negatives per girl. We talk about the claustrophobic feeling of growing up in a small town, why a war photographer's advice made her turn to a story of her own, why she chose not to publish the girls' personal stories next to their portraits, and why she cried at the printing press in Italy. She also shares how she deals with the loneliness of photography, why she chooses film over photography (or the other way around), and why she stays hopeful about the medium in times of AI.

   What you'll learn in this episode

   How a teenage dream in Tessenderlo, fed by magazine collages and pop culture, grew into a six-year project in the United States

   Why the advice "tell a story that is of yours" made Eva step away from heavy photojournalistic assignments and turn to her own fascination

   How she worked with a large format camera: self-selected participants, no Polaroids, and a strict rule of two negatives per girl

   Why she chose to keep the girls' written and spoken stories private, and how that choice created a safe space for them to speak openly

   What photography can do that film cannot, and why she still chooses to be hopeful about the medium in a time of AI

   Free webinar

   Want to know what the photographers who keep growing actually do differently? In a free webinar, I walk yo…

7. #68 - Intuition in photography: lessons from Peter van Agtmael and Bastiaan Woudt

   23 september 2026 · 32 min

   Afspelen
   If intuition is so central to photography, why do we give it so little room? That question stayed with me after my masterclass with Magnum photographer Peter van Agtmael, in which he called intuition the core of his work. Lees meer

   In this episode I look at what intuition is for a photographer, what drowns it out, and how you can call it up. I talk honestly about how I slip into autopilot during podcast interviews myself, and what happens when I let go of my preparation. I share what a photographer from Antwerp told me during a review: things are going well, the assignments keep coming in, and yet so much of it is autopilot.

   From there I take you to Estancia El Condor in Patagonia, a five-hour drive from civilization, where I've been twice and came home different each time. I talk about the gauchos, about seven condors circling above our heads, and about Bastiaan Woudt, who, just like Peter, works from looking, feeling and letting it happen.

   Workshop in Patagonia with Bastiaan Woudt (February 13 to 20, 2027): more infoQuestions, or want to spar about it? Send me a DM or email info@donkerekamer.com

   Replay of the Peter van Agtmael masterclass: sign up hereMy episode with Bastiaan Woudt (in Dutch): listen here

   Partner of this episodeCameranuBesides creativity, as a photographer you also simply need the right tools, whether that's a new lens or a camera you can rely on during a client shoot. The specialists at Cameranu think along with you and give honest advice. Go to cameranu.be and use code DDK10 for 10% off.

   More on mentoring, masterclasses and workshops, go to

   What you'll learn in this episode

   What intuition really is: accumulated experience that works faster than your thinking, which is why you can only explain afterwards why an image works

   What drowns out intuition, from your smartphone and inbox to other people's feeds, and why you then mostly end up making what you already know

   What autopilot looks like in Kaat's own interviews, and why the conversations in wh…

8. #67 - Live from Arles: Harry Gruyaert on the love affair with photography that never ends

   17 september 2026 · 56 min

   Afspelen
   My guest today is one of the first photographers in Europe to work entirely in color, and the first guest to return to this podcast for a second time. Harry Gruyaert once dreamed of becoming a film director, until pop art and a trip to Morocco in the late 1970s pulled him toward photography instead. He has been a member of Magnum Photos since 1982 and has photographed the United States, Morocco, Europe, India and his own country, Belgium, in books including Made in Belgium and Roots. Lees meer

   We recorded this conversation at Hotel du Forum in Arles, where he has been coming for more than forty years, with his daughters and his seven-year-old grandson Elio close by. Harry is currently showing Sense of Place at Les Rencontres d'Arles, alongside a new book, and a second, more retrospective exhibition is running at Camera in Turin. We talk about what it means to stay excited about a place you already know, why he calls photography a love affair with its own ups and downs, and why the pictures he missed, a scene he saw without a camera, a roll he shot with no film in it, still stay with him decades later. He tells me about the printing process he shares with his assistant Albin, why he moved from Kodachrome to digital, discovering jazz at the 1958 Brussels World's Fair, and why he still calls himself a professional rather than an artist. We also talk about the coincidences that keep finding him, from Bieke Depoorter to Saul Leiter, and about the trust he puts in instinct over words.

   What you'll learn in this episode

   Why Harry finds it harder to stay excited about a place the longer he knows it, and how he keeps rediscovering Morocco, India, New York and Belgium after decades of returning

   Why he insists he is a professional and a craftsman, not an artist, even after more than forty years as a Magnum member

   How the printing process with his assistant Albin, and the recent switch from Canson to Hahnemühle paper, is as much a part of the work as taking the picture

   Why the phot…

9. #66 - Pattern recognition for photographers: how to spot your stuck patterns and flip them (part 2 with Tony Robbins)

   15 september 2026 · 28 min

   Afspelen
   Last episode I took you through five insights from Tony Robbins' seminar Unleash the Power Within. By popular demand, here's part two, because there's one insight I wanted to unpack much further: pattern recognition. Lees meer

   In this episode I zoom in on two patterns I recognize in myself, patterns I also see constantly in the photographers I work with. The first is about control and safety, and how I build up resistance before I've even had the chance to feel anything. The second is about how hard I find it to truly close something off before starting something new, from an exhibition to a shoot to an entire season of my life.

   Patterns aren't always big, but once you learn to recognize and flip them, they can have huge consequences, for your life, your business and your photography.

   What you'll learn in this episode

   Why pattern recognition is, according to Tony Robbins, the foundation of every major transformation, and how that applies just as much to your photography practice as to your life

   How Kaat recognizes her own pattern of control and a strong need for safety, and how she learned to feel first and judge later

   Why Kaat finds it so hard to truly close something off before starting something new, from an exhibition to a goodbye to a new season of shows

   How to build in a moment, as a photographer, to consciously close off a project or a shoot, and why that shows up in your photos if you skip it

   Why small patterns can have the biggest consequences once you learn to recognize and flip them

   Free webinar, five patterns of top photographersWhich patterns keep showing up in successful photographers? Kaat bundled five of them into a free webinar (just refreshed, with new examples), based on conversations with internationally renowned photographers. Sign up here for free

   Show October 16th, Amsterdam

   On October 16th, De Donkere Kamer lands at Pakhuis de Zwijger in Amsterdam, with Nadav Kander, Bieke Depoorter, Robin de Puy and Wilfried de Jong. Three up-and-coming ph…

10. #65 - Carolina Arantes, National Geographic Explorer, on First Generation, post-colonial identity and photographing women in France

    10 september 2026 · 46 min

    Afspelen
    My guest today is a Brazilian visual storyteller who lives between France and Brazil. Carolina Arantes grew up in São Paulo, studied photography and journalism, and later earned a master's degree in cultural project development. Questions of gender identity and the lasting effects of colonial history run through her work, which she develops in personal projects alongside the communities she photographs. She has received the Firecracker Grant and the Jean-Luc Lagardère Foundation Grant, was invited by the Centre Pompidou for the thematic year Elles Font l'Art in 2020, and has been a National Geographic Explorer since that same year. Her work is part of the BNF collection and has appeared in the New York Times and National Geographic. Her book First Generation was shortlisted by LensCulture for best photobook in 2023, and her project Tombamento won the Human Rights Grant from Fundo Brasil. Lees meer

    We recorded this conversation live at Les Rencontres d'Arles, where her exhibition First Generation was on show for the first time in its complete form: eight years of portraits, interviews and found family archives, built around the daughters of African immigrants in France. Carolina tells me how she only allowed herself to call herself a photographer at 27, how a workshop with photographer Christopher Morris changed the course of her career, and why she built the project around listening before shooting. We talk about growing up between an artist mother and a business-minded father, what it means to belong to a country that doesn't always recognize you as part of it, and why editing, not shooting, is the hardest part of her process. She's also honest about the financial reality of staying in documentary photography, and what she still hopes to have contributed in five years.

    What you'll learn in this episode

    Why it took Carolina until she was 27 to call herself a photographer, even though she'd been shooting since her teens, and what changed when she moved to France

    How a cha…

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