Everybody familiar with the ‘icons’ of the Big Flood (such as the photo by Ed van Wijk shown here) will wonder which photographs did not stand the test of the photographer or the newspaper or journal editors.

Not only are the different approaches of the various photographers evident, but also the influence of the patrons, including a press that was strongly compartmentalized along socio-political lines. Dolf Kruger worked for the communist newspaper De Waarheid, Kees Molkenboer's photographs appeared in the 'neutral' Rotterdamsch Nieuwsblad, Ed van Wijk published in the liberal newspaper Het Vaderland and Aart Klein in the Christian journal De Spiegel. The book De Ramp (The Disaster), published by the Nationaal Rampenfonds (National Disaster Fund), includes pictures by Ed van der Elsken.