JUNE 1999 – A sailor steps up a mast on a rope ladder for working in the sails of the German tall sailing ship Alexander von Humboldt in Kiel, Germany. © Mark Zanzig/zanzig.com
The story behind the image
Our trip with the Mir during the Kiel Week 1999 resulted in several awesome photos of other large ships. This photo shows a sailor who moves up a rope ladder to work on the sails of the original Alexander von Humboldt.
I love this shot because of the awesome colors of the sails that work well with the faded yellow of the mast and the light blue of the sky.
The green sails of the ship had been its trademark for a long time and well known to Germans from the advertising for Beck’s Beer. The Beck’s brewery is located in Bremen, Germany, at the North Sea and has been using northern and maritime themes in their advertising. The ship would be featured subtly or more prominently in print ads and TV ads. The green sails and body of the ship were a perfect match for the brand color of the brewery (yep, green). The ship could be easily spotted and remembered for this unique feature. It was simply the Beck’s ship.
The history of the ship was mixed, though. It got replaced in 2011 by the Alexander von Humboldt II, and then was pushed here and there without much success. Since autumn 2016 it has found its place in Bremen not far away from the Beck’s brewery. It is being used as a hotel ship, restaurant and event location. More here (in German.)
More on the history of the original Alexander von Humboldt can be found at schiffsspotter.de (in German.)
The high resolution image
| Capture Date | June 1999 |
| Location | Kiel, Germany |
| Camera | Canon AE-1 Program |
| Lens | Canon FD 70-210mm f/4 |
| Image Source | Fuji Slide Film |
| Digital Image Source | EPSON Perfection 4870 Photo |
| Digital Image Source Format | TIFF, 48 bits/pixel, sRGB |
| Edited Image Format | JPEG, 24 bits/pixel, sRGB |
| Edited Image Dimensions | 4282 x 6565 Pixels |
| Copyright | © by Mark Zanzig/zanzig.com |
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