Photographer Ludwig Rotthowe, who passed away on October 18, 2017, at the age of 80, is considered one of the most important and significant railway photographers in Germany. At the age of 15, he began an apprenticeship as a photographer in his hometown of Telgte, and that same year he took his first railway photos. Inspired by railway landscape photography from artists like Toni Schneiders and Jean-Michael Hartmann, Ludwig Rotthowe soon developed his own distinctive style of photography, showcasing the railway in the landscape through the interplay of light and shadow. He had a particular interest in railway operations in his immediate surroundings in Westphalia, capturing them in countless images. As early as the 1970s, he was able to compile a selection of his work in a dedicated photo book published under the title "Dampflo.".