All images by Stijn Hoekstra. Used with Creative Commons permission.
If you’ve seen and loved the faces and scenes of Cuba captured in cinematic style by Stijn Hoekstra, you’ll surely enjoy this featured set. The Amsterdam-based cinematographer and photographer wows us again with his beautiful photography, this time with a series of cinematic snaps of winter in his city.
There’s no doubt that Amsterdam is one of the world’s most beautiful and postcard-worthy cities. Through his eye for colors and details Stijn was able to cement this in his recent collection of cinematic stills in the city. Apart from capturing glimpses of daily life, he also makes the most out of the dreamy mood created by the winter chill.
While it’s not the first time he has captured wintertime in his signature approach, I think he’s always taking us somewhere new with every set. In this collection, there seems to be a more pronounced attention to movement, each shot looking more like stills from a film, giving away Stijn’s movie-making background. As we typically see in his cinematic collections, every photo is well-composed and framed nicely, always leading the eye to where the action happens.
Stijn’s choice of colors also contribute largely to the cinematic look of his photos, and you can say that the colors of winter lend a hand in this set. The misty and somewhat diffused lighting present in this set almost makes the viewer feel the cold pervading around the city at this time of the year. Still, he was able to capture these beautiful pockets of light that warm up some of his frames — and hopefully the people he snapped as they made their way around Amsterdam as usual. In some of the shots, he was also able to create a contrast in the dreary palette with a hint of color in the street lights, the hazy sunset, and even a bright jacket.
If you liked this set of wintertime snaps, I’m sure you’ll also enjoy browsing through the rest of Stijn Hoekstra’s cinematic approach to daily life on his Behance portfolio.
