Photos of Empty Amsterdam Canals Creating Perfect Mirrors
I had not been to the city center of Amsterdam in a while, even though I only live a 5-minute bike ride away. Yesterday evening, close to sunset, I decided to take a look.
I decided to take a walk along the Amstel river. There was not much wind and I noticed that the water of the Amstel river was very still. I had really never seen it like that.
The Netherlands is not on full lockdown, meaning we can still go out for a walk, responsibly. However, all the shops, restaurants, bars, etc are closed. The canals in the city are closed for boat traffic as well. And this is exactly what caused the Amstel river to be so still (combined with almost no wind).
In my whole life living in this country, I have never seen this. Normally this river is super crowded with lots of boats going through, even at night. The Amstel being so still offered some unique photo opportunities. I have photographed the canals of Amsterdam countless of times, but I never had the opportunity to photograph the Amstel river with the reflecting canal houses in the water.
I documented this moment in this small photo series. I took all of the images yesterday during sunset to when it got dark.
We are living in sad times but there is also a lot of uniqueness to it. I guess we are lucky that we’re still allowed to go outside and do things like this, as many countries are in complete lockdown and are not allowed to go outside of the house. Being able to document these unique times with photo series like this one will be something to remember forever.
About the author: Albert Dros is an award-winning Dutch photographer. The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author. His work has been published by some of the world’s biggest media channels, including TIME, The Huffington Post, The Daily Mail, and National Geographic. You can find more of his work on his website, or by following him on Facebook and Instagram. This article was also published here.