Der Blaue Engel Photo

Photographer’s Note

As you see, Marlene Dietrich and her trademark legs and stilettos aren’t here.
The design of this blue-ish coloured train though, was elegant enough for the Dutch public to name it after the movie “Der Blaue Engel”. Marlene Dietrich is the eternal icon of this film. The title doesn’t refer to the actress but to the cabaret where she danced in the movie.
Another background of this name was the wing ornament on the nose of the train.
Yes, I’m operating still a bit in movie mode today ;-).

Der Blaue Engel, or in Dutch “De Blauwe Engel” and its brothers from the DE-1 series, were built in the early fifties of the previous century by the Allan factories in Rotterdam and were targeted at non-electrified secondary lines. Its length is 23 m, it seats 73 passengers and it’s powered by a 270 hp diesel engine which gives it a top speed of 110 km/h. The DE-1 series was decommissioned some 20 years ago.

Pictured here is the immaculately preserved Engel nr 41, owned by the Dutch Railway Museum.
Nr 41 is operational but rarely leaves home. So I was positively astounded when I heard its low rumble when…....it slowly passed under our kitchen window during a late Saturday breakfast.
Maybe some explanation is in order here . We live in the Kop van Zuid quarter of Rotterdam, which is a urban restructuring project in progress and is well underway modernizing the old harbour area on the South bank of the Maas. A part of the rail infra structure of the quarter is still there and is used on very rare occasions, such as for this museum run.
I grabbed the Oly, ran outside and could shoot Nr 41 300 m further from a fly over, while it was powering down the soon to be demolished freight emplacement of the Kop van Zuid in the direction of the Rotterdam-Dordrecht main line.

While PP-ing I could do nothing else then give this sleek fifties design classic centre stage.

Shot with a focal distance of 140 mm. PCS tech: skewed to correct for perspec.dist, saturation (master) boosted/altered, adjusted levels, contrast , USM-ed , frame added saved for the web.

MvS, RGatward, Rinie_Hoff, Peeotr, alvaraalto, jrj, hispic, jhm, Fixfocus, nwoehnl, Hanssie, rudymalou, Tue, digi-mom, pamastro, cgrindahl, carper, orme, Vagabond, alimo3 has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

MvS (4163) 2005-02-08 2:03

Bert,
I like the old look and the train is a beauty. With all the tracks it ends up being excellent.
Regards,
MvS

danielswalsh (13330) 2005-02-08 2:04

Nice shot Bert;

Very vibrant shot with good color saturation and compositon. I like the winding of the track on the left side.

Cheers!
- Dan

olli (2091) 2005-02-08 2:29

Great mix of curvy rails and a beutiful design of the train. The red&white sign in the foreground repeats nicely the colors of the train – and it is a detail that brakes the simplicity and makes this shot really work. Excellent train/train yard shot, Bert.

RGatward (19751) 2005-02-08 2:44

Beautiful shot of this classic railcar. Long lens and ight jsut right here, and I like the way the whisps of diesel exhaust are caught by the side lighting.

Peeotr (2224) 2005-02-08 3:37

Very pure composition as for thi kind of industrial photo. I think I see you did a quite hard postprocessing here but the overall effect fits very well the subject. Good work!

Piotr

alvaraalto (5303) 2005-02-08 7:15

Bert,
I suppose that one can see on the blue smoke that the train has a diesel engine. Blue smoke of a blue angel. It suits.
You had luck that the railway police didn’t see the one light was down otherwise the angel had to stay in the depot.
Great shot, especially with all that rails.
Groetjes Rob

jrj (34779) 2005-02-08 7:24

Hi Bert
Very nice this old train, very elegantely captured in all those tracks. Nice effect from the bluish smoke. Informative, very good notes too.

jhm (83446) 2005-02-08 8:42

Dag Bert,

De vele sporen met hun krommingen maken de foto in iedergeval groot, de trein met zijn diesel motor rookt in zeker voldoende om het mooi in beeld vastteleggen, en de nota maakt allen maar de foto interesanter.
Goed gezien van U Bert!
Groeten,
John.

Fixfocus (9377) 2005-02-08 13:09

I like your cristal-clear style in composition
very much,Bert!
And this one is a very good example for it!
Beautiful colors and interesting note!

antti (0) 2005-02-08 14:10

Hi, very clever sik-sak graphic. Almost amucing view. One "eye" is lighted. Very good composition, great shot. Very fitting frames. Well founded and seen, Bert.

nwoehnl (120) 2005-02-08 14:53

A nice compo you managed here, Bert. The lines and curves of the tracks alone would already have yielded a pleasing result, but the photo is certainly enhanced by the train wagon and its distinctive design. The subtle touch of snow in between the tracks is a nice detail. Good shot.

Hanssie (9133) 2005-02-08 16:32

That's a really old one, Bert !
Nice to see this, I also like the lines everywhere, which way to go....
Interesting note too !

rudymalou (800) 2005-02-08 17:30

Very cool, this old wagon but it is definetively the background (very rich in details) that makes the shot. Great Bertolucci!

Tue (25608) 2005-02-08 18:13

As a frequent trainpassenger, I like this picture of this lovely old train. Nice composition with all the other tracks and good colours as well! Well done!

Rinie_Hoff (9334) 2005-02-08 18:15

Lovely Bert!! The curves of the tracks, and especially that bit of snow in between, which makes it possible to discriminate the crossties. Like Olli says, the red sign is nivelt repeated in the colors of the train, and the smoke is a nice element, fitting the time you wanted to render. The open window is a nice detail.
The lady has a beautiful front, and I think your crop is EXCELLENT!
Update: I'm not sure anymore, it's n ot snow, I guess, I doubted today whether it was snow or light, but now I think it is 'rijp'? Very locally because of the shades?

maphoto (8076) 2005-02-08 23:52

Very beautiful Bert, great point of view and excellent framing, great quality added by beautiful lines and curves, very well done.

pamastro (7213) 2005-02-09 1:34

Wow, when I came to this from the previous photo this popped right out at me. That really gives it an extra touch. The size and the colors and the point of view and contrast make it stick out. I like all the rail lines here, the curved one and the straight ones. And then this lone car out there. I like the sheen off the train car, too, adding to the way this pops out. And all the details are excellent, especially in the rail lines.

cgrindahl (6109) 2005-02-09 2:33

This is great fun Bert! I love the fine graphism, with parallel lines running straight and in sweeping curves. I see the care you've given to the geometry of the composition. First rate. And, of course, you delight us with your colorful frame that picks up on colors within the composition. Wonderful note at well. Very fine offering. Thanks for sharing.

carper (65768) 2005-02-09 3:26

Fantastische foto Bert,
Ik had hem zien staan, prachtig lijnenspel, goede compositie, uitstekende pof, erg goed gezien. Prachtig, mijn complimenten.

Ebbe (9571) 2005-02-10 15:06

A great train shot and quite unusual. The metallic feeling is well brought out. The little sign is a nice repetition of the red on the train. The tracks of the yard makes a fine graphic background, the natural setting for the angel.

orme (6746) 2005-02-13 4:32

Great composition, Bert. The clarity of your shot is excellent. The lines and curves of the track make a wonderful background. After reading your note, I can clearly say 'very well captured'.

Steft (5962) 2005-02-13 8:34

Mooie foto! Het blauw en het rood in deze foto zijn erg mooi. De rails geven het geheel meer diepte. De rook geeft het ook wat extra's. De koplampen zijn net twee ogen;)

Goed werk hier!

Vagabond (5797) 2005-02-14 13:26

Very nice picture of this "Blue Angel" added by a complete and humorous text. High definition, good colours and great composition, congratulations ...

alimo3 (6826) 2005-03-23 19:08

hello Bert,
a nice and unusual picture,
colors are beautiful but here ,it is really the composition and the shapes who makes this image a great one.
well seen.

Tom

drymd29 (448) 2005-10-08 18:09

Hi Bert.
Ik neem afscheid van TE. Dit schreef ik op mijn laatste upload:

Keeping attention to TE and TL is getting too much for me.
With this picture I say goodbye to very good and learning times in here.
My gallery will stay, sometimes - if I choose to copy a picture to TL - I will delete it from TE.
Thanks for your comments and friendly words.

Misschien we elkaar op TL?
Groet
Huub

sergio1 (12150) 2006-04-10 11:14

Hola Bert
Increcible la composición que todo ese entramado de vias cruzandose entre si. Una gran defición un angulo de tiro grande.
saludoa amigo
Sergio

hispic (7399) 2007-11-08 4:04

Hi Bert,
De Blauwe Engel compressed with the telephoto lens of 140mm is something humorous, but feel elegance, too.
Beautiful colors by the side lighting, and interesting note.
Lovely shot!
Have a nice day,
Hisashi