Breda, this city close to Eindhoven in the south of the Netherlands – I stumbled across by accident. The “pearl of the south” locals keep telling me, so I used the chance to explore this place for myself.

Roughly 170.000 citizens does the city count its own – admittedly it feels smaller. It feels compact, cosy, very much like a place you can walk around and explore in one day easily.

So I did today, on my “free” day. Sadly it was an overcast day, not particularly exciting for photography. A bit chilly too, a cool wind ensuring that there were no spring feelings in the air.

I was already home at half past five in the afternoon, putting the feet up after a day on the go, with a hot coffee in my hands, when suddenly this strange yellow thing squeezed through the thick layers of greyish clouds…. a signal!

So I got my cam and went out again, back to places I saw and shot throughout the day, but when checking the outcome on my laptop I had to admit the photos looked flat and dull, mainly because there was just no light.

In my head I always had this idea of shooting a stereotypical photo of the Netherlands. A canal, boats, cute little houses reflecting in the water…. here I got it, tonight, finally!

Though you can see dark clouds threatening on the right hand side of the sky. I’m happy that It got my arse up and went out again after a full day on the go, to get the one shot I REALLY wanted.