The Light on Katendrecht
by Pieter · 18 June 2026 · Biography & Memoir
November 2016, no camera: the light on Katendrecht's old warehouses does something unrepeatable for four minutes. Pieter watches. A photograph exists after you do. The light exists only in his memory. It was his light on his buildings — and he didn't keep it.
In November 2016, on a Tuesday evening, I was walking across the Rijnhaven without my camera — I'd left it at home, which I almost never do — and the light on the old warehouses of Katendrecht was doing something I'd never seen before and haven't seen since. A combination of cloud and low sun and the angle of the water underneath. It lasted about four minutes.
I watched it. I thought: this is fine, you're seeing it, that's what matters. I've thought that many times since and I still don't entirely believe it.
A photograph exists after you do. The light on Katendrecht exists only in my memory, which means it will last exactly as long as I do and not a moment longer. I find that uncomfortable in a way I can't quite justify. It was just light on some old buildings. But it was my light on my buildings, and I didn't keep it.
Read in the app, leave a resonance, discover more stories.