Dutch street photographer Piet Versteegden has been working under the lee of his own darkroom for over fifty years. In those fifty years he has seen and captured intimate moments around the world. Now it is time for the public to see him.

Drawing on an archive of more than 10.000 self-printed photos, Ooggetuige collects the very best of Versteegden’s work. Taken over the course of fifty years, they take us to various street scenes, impressive forces of nature and idyllic corners of the world.

In the spirit of legends like Ed van der Elsken, Henri Cartier-Bresson and William Klein, Versteegden has taken his Leica cameras all over the world to capture beauty, hardships, sorrow and happiness on the street in striking black and white photographs that seem to pierce through their subjects as well as through their viewers.

His work has a sense of melancholy and loneliness, showing his ability to come close without ever becoming invasive.