Hyperbolae in the Polder Photo

Photographer’s Note

Hyperbolae in the Polder

A family visit yesterday brought me to Nieuw Vennep, close to the Calatrava bridges. I of course seized the opportunity to take a long overdue look @ them.

I was quite impressed. The three bridges of Calatrava in the Haarlemmermeer in Holland are already well documented by Rob (Alvaraalto) and Hans (Hanssie).
Looking at his bridges in the polder and experiencing them, introduces us to marvelous conceptual tension, induced by the smart and elegant high tech ‘engineering art’ of Calatrava, set of against the low tech, rural green polder-landscape of the Haarlemmermeer polder. This clearly shown: here.
In the eyes of the ones critical of his creations this tension isn’t resolved. According to them these bridges stay ‘fremdkörper’, alien elements in the landscape because of the lack of the urbanity in their context. The truly cynic dismiss them as empty gestures, the result of the actions of an over-ambitious municipality.
In my eyes the tension indeed isn’t resolved but this makes for a very enjoyable experience. Things shouldn’t always have to be compatible. And apart from that, in due course these bridges will get their urban context because of the rapid economic development of the region.

The bridge pictured here is the most near to the centre of Hoofddorp and has the highest level of integration in its environment, due to the railway-infrastructure and advancing Hoofddorp. This most clearly shown in the pic added as a WS.
The design feature that sets this bridge apart from its brothers is that it consists of two separate decks, suspended from the rakish Calatrava-trade mark single pylon between them.
Considering the discussion about the relation between the bridge and its environment, another design trade mark of these bridges is of interest: the geometric pattern that the tuien (suspension cables) form: this pattern is a ‘hyperbola’, which is close to ‘hyperbole’ – overstatement. Perhaps Calatrava was symbolically commenting on himself by designing these bridges ;-)

PCS tech: corrected perspective distortion, cropped, contrast, curves & saturation adjusted (the sky separately), USM-ed frame added and saved for the web.

Hanssie, jhm, Fixfocus, carper, nwoehnl, alvaraalto, Rinie_Hoff, pamastro has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

Hanssie (9131) 2005-04-30 11:06

Heeeeyyyyy !
The finally family-visit you already waited for ! Great angle on one of the well-known bridges, the smallest one, funny to see this through your eyes !
Great shot, great perspective and very clear and as said....... funny !
Thanks for sharing your contribution, my friend !

devimeuxbe (54043) 2005-04-30 11:21

Hi Bert
Nice graphism. This picture is elegant. great light and colors.
Bertrand

dkeus31 (24546) 2005-04-30 12:15

Hi Bert,
Nice framing and graphism.

jhm (76890) 2005-04-30 12:36

Het bijzondere aan deze foto zijn inderdaad de Tuikabels Bert, en zeker de wisseling op de foto die alles zo spectaculair maakt, u heeft de perfecte hoek gekozen op dit in beeld te brengen, het schijnt eenvoudig tot het ogenblik dat men het zelf moet maken.
mooi werk Bert!
Zonnig weekend toegewenst,
John.

Fixfocus (9565) 2005-04-30 13:06

Hoi Bert!
Your compo gives justice to the modern and clear architecture of the bridges!Very good centered composition with strong graphism.Colors and contrasts are great!
Goed werk!

carper (60991) 2005-04-30 14:22

Hij is erg mooi Bert,
erg goed lijnenspel uitstekende crop,toch nog een lage horizon, erg goede foto Bert,
gr. jaap

nwoehnl (61227) 2005-04-30 16:08

Wow. Very precisely framed photo of these bridges, Bert - the hyperbolic shapes of the cables provide an excellent graphism, and if ever I saw a motive that called for a symmetric compo I guess this is the one. Technically as impeccably presented as any of your work, with great colors and nice light. The WS is an intersting add and could well stand as a TE posting in its own right.

MvS (4163) 2005-04-30 16:34

Nice POV Bert. Great colours and symmetry.
Thanks,
Magnus

alvaraalto (4345) 2005-04-30 18:14

Hi Bert,
Inspirerend om jouw visie op deze brug hier te zien. Mooie symmetrische foto. Ik ben benieuwd of we nog meer te zien krijgen.
Groet Rob

Rinie_Hoff (9332) 2005-05-01 5:39

Hi Bert, very nice composition! You were lucky with such a sky as well.
The colors are so nice, I like those small red dots of the traffic light somehow very much, it goes together evry well with those green white (grey) and blue.
Really nice bridge, of course I have seen it on TE before, but I now I really think I got to go and see them in real life,

jiherka (4439) 2005-05-01 14:26

It is always spectacular this kind of bridge. You concentrate to the pylon, also a not usual way to show a bridge.
Well done Bert.

MoosicMan (1215) 2005-05-01 14:37

Bert! Excellent shot, really one of your best. The PP work you did on this shot really paid off. Great clarity and composition. Way to go, my friend.
Best wishes,
Matt

Stepan (27163) 2005-05-01 14:41

A very interesting symetry and compos. And I like the red car and the traffic light that break the symetry too !
Stéphane

Tue (25367) 2005-05-01 19:15

Ah, de welbekende brug! Zeer fotogenieke is-ie door al die lijnen! Mooie foto ervan! :-D
Groetjes,
Lars

gepall (1808) 2005-05-03 20:43

Very well balanced and with good symetry.
I wasn't aware of Calatrava constructions until he was the one that also made bridges here in Greece for the 2004 Olympiad

pamastro (7211) 2005-05-04 0:22

This is a nice point of capturing the pylon. It sort of seems like a monument with steps leading to it and the cables directing ones attention to it. I like the contrast between the bridge architecture and the green field behind. To me they go together very well, both being very clean looking seen like this and also a couple of other marks of the town. I just think I would have liked a wider view, maybe a stitch even to get more of the bridge decks and really create this horizontal feel that I get from this. i think it would make the pylon stand out more as it really would break with that horizontality. The clors are nice, here, though and I like the bit of reflection we get in the water. And it certainly is a great angle. Well done.

magda_indigo (22) 2005-05-23 19:29 [Comment]