The Image Makers section examines how a photo determines our view of reality. This week: nothing special, such a mega luxury yacht.
This photo is nothing special. The photographer repeats it a few times on the phone: nothing special, just his job, done. He thinks it’s nonsense that I call him about it and that I also ask questions, just act normal. There’s nothing to tell.
How did he take the photo? With a drone, but that’s nothing special either; he did so because a view from above offers a bit of an overview. And besides, there were already seven other drones in the air, which probably all took the same picture. So his is… Nothing special, I say. Precisely. I can use the image, but he doesn’t have to pay attention to it.
So yes. I’m on thin ice here.
First the facts. We are all hanging here above a lock in Oss in North Brabant. Nearby, a bit back over the Burgemeester Delenkanaal and then into a small harbor, is Heesen Yachts, builder of gigantic yachts, such as the 80 meter long and 13.5 meter wide superyacht in the photo, the Galactica.
That ship was in the news last week because it was unable to pass under a bridge twice during transport over the Maas. Two different bridges, just to be clear: first the Hedelse Spoorbrug, then the bridge at Heusden.
Of course, that wasn’t the ship’s fault. Rain fell in Germany, snow melted in Austria, there was a storm in France – or all at once – and the water in the Meuse was too high. According to the NOS, it was precisely due to the infrastructure: ‘Again a bridge turns out to be too low for a superyacht’.
The Netherlands is of course also just Madurodam, far too small for people who think and act in boats worth 100 million. And by the way: the Galactica was not even at its largest during transport. There is still a small storey (with sundeck) on it, plus a radar. Will happen when the ship is made ready for sea, in Dordrecht or Harlingen, don’t quote me on that.
How well did that drone capture that Madurodam feeling, huh? The Dutch houses, the dolls along the side, the fresh, green grass – and then that disproportionate aluminum case that seems to have descended between them like the fictional spaceship Battlestar Galactica.
The luxury yacht (which includes an outdoor cinema, glass-bottom pool with waterfall, helipad, crystal glass elevator and an interior designed based on the Fibonacci series) is only here at the beginning of its journey. After the narrow lock, there is another piece of canal, before the ship, including pusher and tug, can sail up the Maas, you know: that Dutch river with bridges that are far too low.
That the photographer captured this moment is undoubtedly a coincidence and not at all special, because photography is his job and he lives in Oss, so: nonsense to attach meaning to it. He was just there, he snapped a picture and headed for the next job.
And that some people see in this perfectly normal, everyday photo something different than what it actually says, something beautifully metaphorical like imagining the idea that maybe it doesn’t always have to be bigger, higher and more expensive, that there might be limits to its growth. (or whether a company like Heesen Yachts would be better off moving), that is of course not his problem, nor his responsibility. That is someone else’s work. Sorry about that.