Windmill in the FogVisited Kinderdijk on a very rainy and cold day and we could only really see 1 windmill at a time because it was so cloudy. However, I really loved the way the light filtered through the clouds with the dying tall grasses in front. Prints available, click the image to go to the store.

Welcome to the first in a series of posts I’m calling Travel Stories. In each one, I’ll share an image from my travels—photos I find interesting and hope you will, too.

A couple of years ago, my wife and I took a cruise down the Rhine river to visit the famous Christmas Markets in Germany. The trip began in Amsterdam and ended in Basel, Switzerland. Our very first stop in the Netherlands was Kinderdijk, a Unesco World Heritage Site, famous for its historic Dutch Windmills.

On a typical day, visitors can see several windmills at once, lined up along the waterways. But the day we arrived was cold (35°F / 2°C), rainy, and wrapped in thick fog. The mist was so heavy that you could only see one windmill at a time—and only when you were almost right next to it. As a tourist, I was a little disappointed. But as a travel photographer, I was thrilled. The unusual weather transformed this famous Dutch landmark into something rare and atmospheric.

It’s always a balance: tourist versus photographer. Sometimes the tourist wins, sometimes the photographer does. That day, the photographer won.

In this image, the sun is just starting to break through, casting soft, golden light into the mist. It’s my favorite photo from that day, and it now hangs in my living room as a 3-foot by 2-foot canvas—a reminder that some of the best travel photography happens when the weather doesn’t cooperate.

If you’d like to bring a piece of this moody Dutch landscape into your own home or office, this photograph is available as a print. Simply click on the image to see purchase options.