Doel

A village that refuses to disappear

Doel is one of the most remarkable places you can visit as a photographer in the Low Countries. The village inside the port of Antwerp has officially been earmarked for demolition for decades, yet it is still standing. Most houses are empty, windows are boarded up or smashed, and street art covers facades, doors and walls throughout. Not the dull graffiti you find along a railway embankment, but work by artists who came here deliberately to leave something behind.

In the background, the cooling towers of the Doel nuclear power station loom large. That combination, an abandoned village with colorful murals and heavy industry as a backdrop, is almost too good to be true from a photographic point of view.

What you will find here photographically

Doel is ideal for street and industrial photography with an urbex atmosphere, without having to enter anywhere illegally. The public streets are freely accessible. You walk through a village where time has stood still, yet one that is full of visual restlessness. Decaying interiors behind broken windows, street signs with no residents left, a church that has been empty for years.

For compositions, a slightly longer focal length works well if you want to isolate details in facades, but a 28mm or 35mm captures the relationship between the buildings and the industrial background more effectively. The cooling towers can be brought into frame from almost any street. Use that.

Light and season

Overcast weather works surprisingly well here. The colors of the street art read better without harsh backlight, and a gray sky reinforces the abandoned atmosphere. With low sun in the morning or evening you get warm accents on the brick facades. The village is photogenic all year round, but in fall and winter the atmosphere feels particularly raw.

Practical

Doel is located in the municipality of Beveren, right beside the Schelde. You can park along the dike or in the village itself, and there is no parking fee. The village is freely accessible to visitors during the day, but entering private buildings is not permitted. A handful of people still live here, so treat the place with respect. On busy weekends in spring and summer a lot of visitors can arrive at once, so if you want to photograph in peace, come on a weekday or early in the morning.

Sources and further reading

• Gemeente Beveren
• Doel 2020 (actiegroep met achtergrond en geschiedenis)
• Wikipedia: Doel (dorp)