While waiting for a meeting in the famous governmental district of Den Haag, I was browsing through a local magazine stating that the market in the city is the largest one to be found in Holland. Remembering what a professional photographer once told me “Whenever I get to a new city, the first think I do is grab my camera and go to the local market”, I decided to follow.

Arriving to the market was definitely not a disappointment, it has about 500 stands, covering everything from food, home appliances, clothes, shoes, music and more. I started wondering around, waiting for some nice photo opportunities.

Photo opportunities in a market are plentiful, but I did encounter two main challenges. The first was picking human subjects- walking around with an SLR isn’t very low profile, and while some people don’t mind it at all, a lot will prefer to stay out of your frame, and will either politely move away or simply tell you so. One of the solutions was to focus on hands and transactions,  the other was to put people in the background.

Less challenging but just as satisfying, some of the commodities in the market make for excellent photographic subject, and when it comes to fruit and vegetables, they hardly ever protest. Color and textures of different products are easily accessible and supply great compositions to play with.

As for the gear, I was using my solid entry level Olympus e-420 with its 14-45 kit lens. I’d recommend sticking to either your mid range zoom lens or switch to a wider one. If you want to come closer to an object, you can just walk up, and using a tele-lens will limit your wide angle snap shots.

Markets to give a glimpse into local culture, and if you don’t find cultural enlightenment, you can at least catch a glimpse of the local commodities. I have to say my strongest memories from the Den Haag market were food, and shoes.

Did you find an interesting market and photographed it? Post it on The Wide Lens