Photober 2026: week one

Over on my photography Instagram I'm doing a little October-challenge where I share a photo a day from my archive. I figured instead of the photos collecting digital dust, I best do something with them and share them with the world. Because I don't want the photos to be locked inside a platform not everyone uses, I'm also doing a weekly recap of the photos here on my website.

Here's the the first week's photos!

Kitten with a white body and gray/black striped head laying on a piece of pavement. Several trees can be seen in the blurry background.

I saw this kitten near the entrance of the Delphi ruins in Greece while vacationing there. It was just so chill, accepting all kinds of attention from passing tourists. I wish I could've taken him with me.

Close-up of a Komodo dragon. His head is turned so you can only see its right eye, which seems to be looking right at the camera. Its tongue is sticking out.

This wild Komodo dragon was wandering a sandy area on one of the many islands in Komodo National Park, Indonesia. We were told not to wave our arms around too much, or the animals would see us as food and come charging. One hell of an encounter with what seems like the closest thing to an extant dinosaur.

A mother elephant and her young calf side by side, photographed from behind as they travel into the green grass.

Being able to see elephants this up close in Kruger National Park, South Africa, and everything lining up just right for me to take this shot of an elephant and her calf (who's barely taller than the grass they're walking in) was incredible. What amazing animals.

A pug with one eye photographed from the side. They're looking just off to the left of the camera.

This photo was taken on a local photo walk where we went into the forest, and this absolute diva showed up. They would just refuse to look directly into the camera, and constantly turned their back to me. Eventually I managed to get this shot, which I think captures that exchange pretty well.

A young male lion photographed from the side as he looks off to the left. His manes are just starting to grow in.

Another one from Kruger National Park in South Africa. We saw a group of 3 young male lions sneaking up on a couple of antilope, and I snagged this shot of one of them waiting for his moment to pounce.

A road featuring a single safari truck during golden hour. A handful of trees is dotted about the hill that the road runs up, silhouetted by the sun in the top right of the photo.

This might be one of my favorite photos from the South Africa trip. We were just returning from visiting a watering hole when golden hour fell over the park, painting the whole landscape this golden-yellow. I'm pretty sure any photo you take in this light becomes a banger.

A girl in a bright pink shirt playing with bubbles. The foreground contains blurry lavender stalks obscuring part of the view.

I encountered this scene while walking around Warsaw with my camera. Bubbles are always a winner to take photos of, but the girl playing and the lavender in the foreground really solidified this as a share-worthy shot if you ask me.

That's it for week 1! To keep up as I post these photos during the month of October, follow me on Instagram (@luijten.photography). Of course I'll post the week 2 photos here towards the end of the week, so you won't miss out.