Creepy Atmosphere, International Group
You’re invited to Speulderbos. Home of the trees that walk at night. 🧟
In a nutshell
- Available seats: 8 of 8 available.
- Duration: 4-5 hours.
- Date: Samhain. Saturday November 1st, 2025.
- Lead by: Daniel Laan.
- Price: 170 EURO p.p.
- Starts at: 07:15 AM.
- Ends at: 12:00.
- Includes: Tuition for cinematic Forest Photography. Roundtable informal conversation on inspiration.
- Excludes: Transportation to and from Speulderbos area (free parking). Snacks or beverages. Post-processing (this is a separate online class that follows the next day).
- Optional: Overnight stay in 4-star hotel before the workshop on Halloween, Friday evening. Location is ideal: you'll walk right into the forest and it's 10 minutes walking to the workshop meeting area.
- Restroom information: I've been asked to add this: no restroom stops until we reach the café at 12.00.
Tread lightly in Speulderbos (Forest of Speuld)
This Halloween season, step into the haunting beauty of Speulderbos, where autumn fog, fiery colors, and eerie light create the perfect stage for a mystical photo adventure. Join me for a chilling morning walk through the forest, and learn first hand how to capture sharp, atmospheric images that come straight out of a ghost story.
Small group (max 8 participants) for a more personal, immersive experience.
A relaxed, unhurried walk through one of the Netherlands’ most enchanted forests.
4-5 hours of hands-on photography with professional landscape photographer Daniel Laan, known for his dark, moody style and haunting compositions.
Bring your camera, your curiosity, and perhaps a flashlight. This forest has stories to tell...
Why Choose this Workshop?
Seeing through the eyes of Daniel
I’ve been told during my workshops that I see things others do not. Where others see a bunch of trees, I see potential. Advice like: “Change to a longer lens”, “Take one step to the left”, and “See how that almost look like a person coming in for a big hug?” is my bread and butter. I have a crazy amount of fantasy fueled by 40 years of pop culture reference.
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An introduction through the forest of Dancing Trees
Speulderbos is huge. In Dutch terms that is. Here lies the largest forest plot in the Netherlands. This morning, I’ll show you some of the hotspots. Occasionally I’ll announce that we'll move on to the next spot, but that might mean stopping for photos 100 meters down the road depending on conditions.
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Calm and Personal Attention for Everyone
There’s no rush, only the quiet whisper of leaves and the distant creak of old trees. I let you take your time, but be aware that others might be waiting. Juggling this and finding the balance between photographic opportunity here or at the next location is my job. Your only task is letting go of expectations as we let the eerie stillness of the forest guide us. Thoughtful, deliberate teaching of photography is at the heart of this haunting experience.
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Why this Halloween Special?
To give you an idea of my cinematic approach, I’ve decided to theme this workshop and the post-processing live stream that follows it. I love the idea of Halloween. The rustling leaves, the crackling fireplace, the Jack-O-Lanterns and the ghost stories. But it’s the supernatural that’s always attracted me. I’m agnostic to the paranormal. I love a good story, but I’m not easily convinced.
This workshop is honoring the cinematography of (creepy) movies using nothing but natural light and the absence of it. Here’s a list of recommended films and episodes to get a sense:
Game of Thrones - the very first episode’s opening. It sets the bar in a stylistic sense for what’s to come. I love the blues here and you see me using a cool white balance in-camera intentionally to get this mood.
The Batman. Not a very creepy movie, but an exercise in dirty framing. You’ll learn more about that during this workshop.
The Fellowship of the Ring. The scene where the Hobbits “get off the road” for the “black rider” changes as the Nazgûl looms over the scared Hobbits. Look at how this part is visually different from the rest of that scene.
Prometheus. When they approach the planet, it’s Iceland on steroids: it’s vast. It’s empty. It’s scary in the sense that it’s completely foreboding.
The Babadook. Highly underrated supernatural horror film.
The Witcher. Those forests and the horrors that lurk within it are stunning.
Sunshine. A dystopian sci-fi that turns into a space adventure and then a thriller, with fantastic cinematography.
Nosferatu. I mean, this film is beautiful. It’s an inspiration for many of my black and white stuff.
The VVitch: A New-England Folktale. I hated this movie because I got caught up in how they talk. But here’s how you make it look bleak and creepy by purposefully de-saturating your palette.
Bonus: the indie video games Limbo and Inside.
Where is Speulderbos?
Bookings and Payment Options
Payment options include iDeal, various credit cards, PayPal and Bank Transfers.
The Process in 6 steps
Supply your information through the form at the top of the page and add to cart.
Go to your cart and pay the amount due.
You will receive a booking confirmation upon prepayment in full.
If there are no extra’s booked with this workshop, you will not hear from me until:
You will receive 1 email 2-3 days in advance. That email is sent out late for the sole reason of the weather forecast models HARMONIE and AROME giving weather reports that I trust. It includes additional tips, my phone number, additional considerations and the actual place we meet.
We’ll meet each other face to face in Speulderbos on November 1st.
Cancellations and Returns
Find my cancellation policy here.
What skill level do I need?
As long as you can operate your camera independently and understand shutter speed, aperture and ISO, you're very welcome to join this workshop. This basic requirement ensures that we spend as little time as possible discussing specific camera models and focus instead on the art of photography.
What should I bring?
Required:
Tripod
Telephoto lens - A 70-200mm or 100-400 is ideal, but a 200-500mm or even an 85mm f/1.8 can also work well.
Wide-angle lens - The wider the better.
Questions about additional lenses: I don’t use them. No normal lens for me. I bring 2 lenses. A 14-24 and a 100-400. You decide if you want to carry the additional weight.
A camera with interchangeable lenses is recommended, but a superzoom bridge or mirrorless camera is also welcome—so long as you can manually control exposure settings.
This photo received an honorable mention in the book International Landscape Photographer of the Year 2017. Only 101 images were selected for this prestigious publication. You could capture a photo like this too—during the workshop in Speulderbos!