BRICE ESCARGUEL
Two lit bridge arches in line, cyclists crossing above, a boat threading through beyond, black and white
← PhotographyAmsterdam, Netherlands · 2026 · 17 photographs

Amsterdam — Night walk

Two hours, one 135 mm, from dusk to full dark

One lens, one evening. And a 16 mm, just once. I walk from the Brouwersgracht to the Damrak, from 8:30 to 10:40 pm. As the light drops, the city changes three times. First the water and the boats, in the last of the sun. Then the shop windows, taking over from the sky. Then the people, set apart by the dark. The 135 mm is a telephoto lens: it brings far things close, but it keeps you at a distance. I don't move closer. I wait for the scene to fall into place.

Place
Amsterdam, Netherlands
Camera
Sony A7R VI · Viltrox 135 mm f/1.8 — and a 16 mm, once
Credits
Photographs and text: Brice Escarguel

I — Water

6 photographs

Brouwersgracht and Reguliersgracht. The last light, then blue hour, just after sunset.

Amsterdam canal at dusk, moored houseboats and a small boat, drawbridge in the distance, black and whiteNine pm. On the canal, there was just enough light left for one boat.
Bicycle silhouetted on a bridge railing, tour boat passing below, black and whiteIn Amsterdam, there is always something in the foreground. Whether you want it or not.
Boat heading up the canal toward a bridge, seen through the blurred bars of a railing, black and whiteAt f/1.8, lens wide open, the bars go soft. They stop blocking the view and turn into a kind of haze.
Boat passing under a three-arch bridge, framed inside a bicycle wheel, black and whiteFramed through someone's back wheel. The spokes darken the edges of the picture on their own.
Boat loaded with flowers under a brick bridge lit with bulbs, seen through a bicycle frame, black and whiteA boat full of flowers under a three-hundred-year-old bridge. Seen through a bicycle that had nothing to do with it.
Two lit bridge arches in line, cyclists crossing above, a boat threading through beyond, black and whiteTwo bridges, two arches, one boat going under both. This is why you bring a long lens to a city built on water.

II — Shopfronts

5 photographs

The sky goes dark, the façades light up.

Two lit hat-shop windows, white hats suspended, a streetlamp between them, black and whiteHats spending the night behind glass. Nobody inside, every light on.Art Deco façade of Theater Tuschinski lit at blue hour, AmsterdamThe Tuschinski, at the minute the sky matched the tiles. Opened in 1921. Still the best-dressed building in Amsterdam.
Bartender behind a lit bar window, fringed lamps and green neon, seen from the streetA bartender in the middle of a story, behind his window. He will never know I stopped.
Barber and tattoo shopfront at night, shutter half down, blue bicycle parked outsideShutter half down, lights on. A blue bike parked there like it pays rent.
Two lit brasserie windows in a black brick façade, laid tables and a large painting insideBrasserie Meuwese, after service. Two yellow windows in a black wall, and nobody left to sit down.

III — Full dark

6 photographs

People set apart by the dark. And back to the water.

Old streetlamp in front of the arched entrance of The Grand hotel, two passers-by walking opposite ways, black and whiteFour lanterns for one door. Two men walk past without looking up.Two figures sitting side by side on a bench facing the canal, blurred street lights beyond, black and whiteSame bench, two minutes later. They watched the street instead of talking. And that suited them.
Two people from behind on a canal-side bench, one arm folded behind a head, blurred façades beyond, black and whiteAn arm folded behind a head. That's all I understood of their conversation.
Reguliersgracht bridge with bulb-lit arches, a boat passing beneath, golden reflections on the waterThe light from the arches ends up mostly on the water. The boat just passes through the middle.
Bicycles lined along a canal bridge railing, a bulb-lit arch in the foreground, black and whiteThree bikes parked for the night, above an arch that stays lit.Two women at a canal-side terrace table, empty street and a receding line of lamps beyond, black and whiteThe last open terrace on the street. Next to them, a chair already empty.