A Photographer’s Nostalgic Journey
As a commercial photographer based in Spain since 2000, the vast majority of my assignments come from international clients. Being fluent in five languages provides a distinct professional advantage, opening doors to global photography projects that frequently require international travel. On a recent assignment (2010), work brought me back to my home country of the Netherlands to shoot a specialized landscape photography series for a client. Whenever I visit, I prefer navigating the country using the Dutch public transit system. The train and tram networks offer an incredibly efficient way to move between major cities, even if ticket prices feel noticeably steep compared to Spanish standards.
Rediscovering Utrecht Lunetten by Train
After wrapping up a productive client meeting in Amsterdam, I realized I had several hours to spare before heading south. On a whim, I decided to take a nostalgic detour to Lunetten, a residential district in the city of Utrecht. Utrecht remains deeply special to me; it is the city where I studied at the university, spending most of those formative student years living in a local student house in Lunetten.
I boarded the intercity train from Amsterdam to Utrecht Centraal, transferring to a local sprinter toward the city of Den Bosch, where Lunetten is the very first stop. Stepping onto the platform was a surreal experience, as I had not set foot in the neighborhood for over fifteen years.
The Architectural Evolution of a Student Haven
Revisiting my old neighborhood felt like stepping back in time, though the physical environment had clearly evolved. The original student house was still standing, but the surrounding landscape told a story of urban development. During my university days, we could watch and hear the trains speeding past through an open meadow directly facing our house. Today, that once-empty green field has been built over with new housing developments, transforming the open view into a suburban streetscape.
After taking a walk down memory lane and taking two phone calls from prospective clients, it was time to return to the platform to catch my train south. Before leaving, I took one final photograph of the station. In landscape photography, you learn that environments are never truly static. As I framed the shot, I was left wondering how many years would pass before my photography work brings me back to Lunetten station once again.
the Lunetten train station in Utrecht
