I always like to look back on the photos I take. It takes me back to the moment and relive the memories. For me, that’s an important part of photography. Last January we had lots of snow in the Netherlands. In a month where I was supposed to be in Antarctica but couldn’t go because of an urgent family matter, winter was brought to my own doorstep. I normally do not talk much about my personal life, but January was a whirlwind of the darker side of life, and the brighter beauty of the snow. When I am feeling not at my best, I just like to be out photographing. It’s my kind of therapy.
Back to the snow. For some of you readers snow is probably a very ordinary thing. For us in the Netherlands it’s not (anymore). When I was a little kid I remember seeing snow almost every winter. But nowadays it’s getting rarer. I created my book ‘the Beauty of the Netherlands’ which includes my best photos of 10 years of photography in my homeland. And yes, there are definitely some snowy photos in there, but If I look back on it: there were only a handful of moments with ‘real’ snow that didn’t melt the next day. That was different this January 2026 where we had quite a lot of snow for multiple days in a row, making the Netherlands a winter wonderland.
In this article I share some of my favourite moments in the snow.
Dutch cities and villages covered in snow
I always really enjoy photographing our dutch towns and cities. The preserved old architecture always looks beautiful and I can never get enough of photographing them in different seasons. So with the snow I visited some of them to photograph them in their winter coat.
Wijk bij Duurstede early morning during snowfall. There’s a windmill in the city with a gate in it. Fun fact: It’s the only windmill in the Netherlands that has this feature.
Utrecht : The famous Dom Church tower. In my opinion one of the most beautiful church towers of the country. Utrecht looks absolutely beautiful with snow. In this photo I tried a bit of creative framing with the church.
Zaltbommel. A beautiful clear evening after snowfall. The light was just so dreamy. I put my drone up a little bit to photograph the people sledding from the dike surrounding the city. I love the ‘romance’ in this shot with the people enjoying the snow in the foreground with the beautiful city as a backdrop.
Garnwerd, a tiny town up north in the Groningen Provence. Groningen has lots of these beautiful towns that looked just magical with snow. Fun fact about this street: it’s the smallest street in the Netherlands in which cars can still drive!
Niehove, another town in Groningen. This town has a population of only about 150 people! I lifted my drone up just about 10 meters to get a slightly higher perspective of village. The light was hitting the village from the right side, casting a beautiful glow over the houses. Everything just looked like a winter fairytale.
Amersfoort, my town of birth and current hometown. I have a special connection with this city and have been photographing it for many years. I explored some different angles with the snowy roofs during the early mornings.
Rhenen is a city next to the Rijn river. For this photo I was flying my drone to capture the people enjoying sledding on the outskirts of the city. The completely white snowy foreground with the people and the church as a backdrop really give it that winter fairytale feeling.
Naarden Vesting always looks spectacular from the sky. It’s a city not that far from my house and I often use the city as a canvas for interesting weather conditions. I knew it had to look interesting from the sky with the snow and I was not disappointed. This late afternoon the sun casted beautiful light, making all the trees look golden in combination with the white snow.
Amerongen when big flocks of snow made the entire town white in just a couple of hours. I absolutely love the atmosphere of this photo. There was so much snow falling that the whole atmosphere turned misty and mysterious.
Oldenove up in the North, completely covered in snow and frost on a very cold winter morning.
People that know my work now I have a soft spot for forests and trees. Forest walks are meditating and it’s no different with snow. My favourite time to stroll around the forests in my neighbourhood is autumn because of its beautiful colour palette with bright yellows and oranges. That’s different with snow. It’s absolutely magical to walk around some of my favourite forests in snow, but it’s definitely not easy to photograph as everything is very monotone. Strong compositions and creative angles are key.
I considered myself lucky to walk in my absolute favourite forest ‘The Speulder Forest or The Forest of the Dancing Trees’, covered in snow. Not only that, on this particular morning there was also fog making the atmosphere even more magical. If you look closely you will still see some orange leaves popping through the orange.
Other dancing trees in a different forest. I was lucky to catch some sunlight here, creating beautiful separation between the warm light and the cold white snow.
Another photo of the Speulder Forest. This couple walked by me with their 2 dogs. The trees around them seemed like they were dancing. By using the couple and their dogs in the photo, you can really see how big these trees are.
The Grebberg on a snowy morning. On this particular day there was probably around 30+ cm of snow and I was sometimes walking in the snow up until my knees. In this photo the light was incredible. The sunlight peaked through the trees from the other side, casting warm light onto the orange leaves. As a result, the backdrop turned dark and blue. A beautiful colour contrast and light play.
A European Robin sitting in the snow. I saw lots of these but it wasn’t that easy to photograph them 🙂
The Speulder forest with about 20-30 cm of snow. In this scene I noticed all the orange leaves still making their way through the snow. There was this moment when the sun tried to peak through, casting a bit of a magenta yellowish colour tone. It never pulled through completely, but still gave this scene some very subtle light.
When photographing the forests, I often tried to find some remaining autumn colours. I would then wait for snow to fall (checking the local snow radars) and then take the shot. The falling snow gave extra atmosphere for these already beautiful scenes.
Dancing tree of the Speulder forest after 25+ cm of snowfall. They were in the snow up until their knees, but they kept dancing.
One of my favourite tree lanes not too far from my house. These hedges are so photogenic I have photographed them multiple times with different conditions. But I was still missing a shot like this, all covered in snow. The person the photo is myself.
Another location that I have photographed multiple times. I love these trees in autumn but had never seen them like this in winter.
I often photograph the windmills on the Dutch countryside. The Dutch countryside is quite unique. It has interesting lines and patterns from the sky, has many cute windmills and is extremely flat. You’ll also often see fog in the morning on the Dutch countryside. I
The ‘Noordernmolen’ literally translated ‘northern mill’ is a windmill near Groningen up in the north of the country. I absolutely love this windmill as it’s always in this position with its blades in an X. And it didn’t disappoint with its winter coat.
A surreal sight of a completely white countryside from the air, around the town of Oldenove
A different perspective from the sky of the Noordermolen when the first light hit the landscape, casting a subtle glow of warmth over the countryside.
The A1 highway with the countryside on both side, completely covered in snow.
The countryside up north completely frozen and covered in snow. A windmill is popping out of the frozen world.
On this particular morning there were so called ‘snow dunes’ from strong winds. You can see one a little bit in the foreground. Everything was completely frozen and when the line came through, it almost looked like an infra red world.
A family enjoying a winter afternoon on the snowy countryside.
While there are quite a lot of photos in this article, I should mention that I took these over a period of just several days. By carefully planning locations close to each other I was able to maximise my time in the snow. These are all moments I will not easily forget. And by writing this article and curating all the photos, I will relive these moments forever.
If you love my work, consider checking out my book the Beauty of the Netherlands. When you order from me I will personally sign it!
