The parliamentary photographers knew that the images would end up under the heading ‘End of an era’

At the end of a warm afternoon in The Hague, Volkskrant photographer David van Dam (44) and a few of his colleagues are standing on the edge of the Hofvijver. It is Friday 7 July and a cabinet crisis is in the air. The photographers’ attention is drawn to the windows of the Trêveszaal on the opposite side, where you can only look inside with the largest possible telephoto lens. ‘The meeting was held in the next room, but the curtains are drawn there. Individual conversations took place in the Trêves room.’ The alternative was to take a seat in front of a closed door at the Binnenhof itself for many hours. It was a reasoned gamble to stand at the pond, hoping that luck could be forced here.

At 6.41 pm Van Dam takes a photo of Eric van der Burg, State Secretary for Justice and Security, with asylum matters in his portfolio. From a great distance and through ribbed glass we see how he has put his hands in front of his face. The fourth Rutte cabinet has fallen over the asylum file, his file. It is easily named, the dramatic political moment, but it has rarely been portrayed so clearly. Van Dam put the image on his Twitter account on Friday evening (cropped, so that the historic window of the room forms a perfect frame). The photo has since been viewed more than a million times and liked thousands of times. On Monday morning he is on the front page of de Volkskrantwith the headline: ‘Rutte’s gamble’.

Van Dam took more photos from the other side that Friday afternoon. On his Twitter account @Daphid he also put a picture of Minister Dilan Yesilgöz staring over the pond with a phone to his ear. Here he has chosen the entire high window as a frame. It is a photo that gains significance in the following days when it appears that Yesilgöz is positioning himself as the successor to Mark Rutte, and thus seems to become a serious contender for the upcoming premiership. That is precisely the reason why you make them all, says Van Dam, even if photos only take their place in the story afterwards.

And for the reader and viewer who does not trust her pose in front of this window (and who perhaps sees a strategic choice in every position and location of a politician), Van Dam does not believe that: ‘We stood there with a few men a long way from, among all kinds of passers-by and tourists. In fact, I think she made some kind of retreat into the shadows when she spotted us.’

And then it was Monday morning. The historic moment would become even more historic. Van Dam experiences great collegiality among the journalists and photographers at the Binnenhof. ‘They certainly look at each other, but you keep the real gold to yourself.’ And at such a moment you have to steer your own course.

In a statement, Mark Rutte announces that he will leave politics. Reporter Natalie Righton writes of this moment: ‘Faces go white. Heads that look at each other in horror.’ Photographer Van Dam, meanwhile, exchanged his long lens for a shorter one. He no longer needed close-ups of Rutte. He knew he had to watch the corridors now. The short-lens work, with which he could better capture the encounters, the body language, the shock and possibly other suppressed feelings.

The photographers present knew that the photos they took on Monday morning, July 10, would end up under the headline ‘End of an era’. And at such a moment, detailed knowledge of the floor plan of the Chamber Building is worth its weight in gold.

Van Dam very quickly had the idea that he wanted to photograph Rutte on his back on this memorable day. ‘Rutte is very much a media man, who wants to appear smiling as soon as he sees a camera.’ He had sometimes cycled after him to take a moody photo in the Haagse Bos. He overtook the cycling prime minister, turned around, and there he was again: the broad grin. Not quite the intended effect of the lone cyclist with the fate of the country on the luggage carrier. That was not going to happen to him again.

Van Dam aimed for a stairwell with brutalist features, connecting the VVD faction room with the large conference room, and below that with the parking garage, where the official car was waiting. The photo that ended up on the front page of Tuesday, July 11 de Volkskrant (with the headline ‘The Rutte era is over’) was taken after the statement in the House and the consultation in the party room.

A man who we recognize in the blink of an eye by his back in a stairwell, but also someone who turns the corner and will disappear from view. A moment that is banal and historic at the same time. Of course you also have to be lucky, but Van Dam knows one thing for sure: ‘If he had taken the lift, I wouldn’t have had this photo.’