Opa Gaat Op Reis

Joe's Juice

In Which a Newly Minted Opa Flies to Denmark to Make that ONE Image (and maybe a few others too)

"An Opa? You mean as in grandfather?"" asked gin and tonic across the table.

"Ayup, as of November 23 of last year." 

"Gorn," said Red Ale. "You? Lord help that kid."

Lager Lou nodded. "Next thing you know you'll be having him make horrid puns in Danish, as well as Dutch and English."

"Have you seen the lad then?"

"Ayup, February, just before the virus hit the fan."

"Took him to a blues bar then?"

And so on...

That dear reader, is the level of intellectual repartee at the local; a right lot of charlies they are. But it is true, I am now a grandfather. And yes, I was lucky enough to see the lad before the world came to halt comma grinding. As the subtitle says, I only wanted to make that ONE image, that one image that captured what I thought having a child was all about. I made one of my wife and daughter when my daughter was but a week or so old and I wanted to see if, some 20 years later, I could turn the trick again.

Getting to Denmark from the wilds of the Alberta Foothills is a bit of a trek. You have to (if you're flying WestJet) transit through Mordor, or London Gatwick as it is known to the local jobsworths. Little did I know that we would be staying at the Barad-dûr Inn and Suites

Courtyard, Premier Inn, London Gatwick (LGW)

All joking aside, the Premier Inn is a pleasant hotel for a passenger in transit – even with Sauron as the architect. Thankfully the only Orcs I could detect were over in airport security.

Copenhagen in February is a different kettle of hygge than Copenhagen in May or June (when I was there last). Remembering that it is farther north than Grande Prairie, Alberta (where I used to work when dinosaurs roamed the Earth) the sun in February rises late, sets early and doesn't go that far above the horizon (18 deg or so at noon) which makes for some interesting lighting challenges but also some fantastic opportunities.

Seven to 8 hours of daylight and a low sun is just the start. With an average of 11.4 days of rain and 2.4 hours of sunlight in February there's good reason for Kierkegaard being referred to as "that gloomy Dane".

So, when it's not raining you have to usually work in an overcast. But when the sun does appear, even through scattered clouds, the quality of the light is just, just... wow. I can't describe it. The colours are saturated, the detail is sharp, even to my aging Mark I eyeball. In short, a delight (hah!) to work with!

Harry's Place

Miss Ruth is not at home today

With light like that, that ONE image would have to wait for just a bit. 

It had rained earlier in the morning and I was out for wander and ended up at Kødbyen or the Meat Packing District. I like to go there every trip because this is where you can find The fotographisk centre (http://fotografiskcenter.dk/). A great gallery with the greatest people working there: they really care about photography. This image is an example of what I was talking about when I said that the low sun angle made for some interesting lighting challenges. 

Here, you're not only shooting into the sun, but the sun in this case is at about 18 degrees above the horizon, just out of frame to the right. I had to do a lot of dodging and burning to get the clouds in the sky to balance with the brooding gateway. It wasn't until I started processing that I noticed that the lines leading up to the gate reminded me of railway lines leading up to another gate that is known for something much, much darker. When that hit me I reprocessed for a much more grainy and turbulent image. 

Øksnehallen

Brown Market Slaughterhouse

One system was passing and another was to come (say hello Storm Dennis) but in spite of that we went up to Gilleleje to have lunch at one of my favourite restaurants (Restaurant Gilleleje Havn & Krostue) and to walk along the ocean. The wind was up and the clouds where racing along in eager anticipation of dumping another metric butt-ton of rain on an unsuspecting Copenhagen.

Conveyor, Gillelejehavn

Figure and Dunes

OK, OK; I've been blithering long enough; on to the money shot. Unfortunately this term has been corrupted by the Internet (see Rule #34) (if you don't know, look it up). As far as I'm concerned it's that image the client pays you for or is iconic in it's ability to communicate. It could be Bobby Orr diving across the crease after scoring the winning goal for the Stanley Cup, the sailor kissing the nurse in Times Square, or Ghandi sitting by the spinning wheel; it's that ONE shot.

I was lucky that my son was at work and that my wife had slept in so I was able to spend some time with my daughter-in-law on my own. After chit-chatting about this and that I casually pulled out my trusty E-P2 and with the 45mm (that makes for a nice 90mm equivalent portrait lens). I noodled around a bit while Stine was putting on the baby sling so she'd get comfortable with me and the camera. Click, nope. Click, nope. Click, nope. I was starting worry that I might "Hungry Joe" this shoot. How about we move here. Click, nope. And then: click, click, click – magic. Three shots, three images that captured the bond between mother and child.

Mother and Son

So, I did get that ONE shot. And made, I think, some other nice images as well. The whole gallery is here

https://tomservoca.smugmug.com/Other/Copenhagen-Spring-2020/n-6LgdXj/i-zp8LJth

Photographing Copenhagen: Getting hygge with it

Been looking at my blog and it's been over a year since I've written anything. There's a reason for this. See, I've got this gig re-doing training materials for an old employer. Sure, it's just 20 hours a week, but at the end of a 4 hour stint in Powerpoint, LibreDraw and diety of choice knows what other software you really don't have that much creative mojo left especially when you're up to your armpits in the Canadian Air Regulations, a soul stifling document if one ever existed. I think only Lord Vetinari's clerk Drumknott's soul would take flight reading that benighted document. I digress.

I was fortunate enough to visit Copenhagen this past May. My eldest son works for an architecture firm there and has his four year residency visa. I was able to stay with him and his significant other (which makes it affordable as hotel rooms are astronomical, even at a modest inn). Their place is in Nørrebro, right by the train station. He describes it as "the hood" (with tongue firmly planted in cheek). It's a neighbourhood in transition, hosting migrants from many countries; one can see the first mosque in Denmark from their balcony.

Photographing in Copenhagen can be challenging, not because of the subject matter but because of the environment. Copenhagen is held up as a model for the modern bicycle-centric city. Thing is, they've made it more pedestrian hostile than New York (if such a thing can be imagined!). To make way for the bike lanes, they've narrowed the sidewalks so the buses and cars can still use the streets. Narrow sidewalks mean tap dancing around shop displays (more often then not of bicycles for sale), Danes, parked bicycles and you're often forced into the bike lane just to proceed down the street. And if you think that you're safe in a crosswalk with a red light showing for bikes and green light showing for us lowly foot travelers, think again. More than once I had to resort to my broadest NooYawk "Hey, I'm walkin' here!"

I digress, again. 

Cafe society is alive and well and stopping for a smørrebrød, Tuborg and akvavit. There are over 40 brands of the latter. Akvavit is to Denmark as pastis is to Provence.                           

Friends Dining

Sometimes, if you look up you can see DEATH on holiday (naked, I might add, I doubt that Albert or Susan would approve)

DEATH takes a holiday

I process all my black & white in NIK Silver Efex but since DxO bought NIK from Google, I decided to plump for DxO Photolab and FilmPack 5. This is the result of using the Velvia 50 preset. 

Tag, Hoodie and Bottle

The heat broke for a day as I was headed up to Helsingør in a sometimes steady drizzle. (No wonder Hamlet was gloomy). This was taken as we pulled out of Bispebjerg, one stop away from my son's apartment with my iPhone using the 645Pro Mk III camera App. It (to my mind) is probably the most underrated, app on the market. It feels like a camera.  

Scratched Glass

Ducking out of the drizzle after a rare passing thunderstorm at Hellerup station I saw this fellow traveler huddled against the wall doing the same. The first is with Silver Efex, the second is FilmPack and I can't remember what preset. I usually don't remember because it's really not all that important. They both remind me of a frame snatched from "The Sweeney". (I used the Scots word for "dreary, gloomy, bleak, miserable, grey, depressing, devoid of sunshine" in the caption. No doubt there is an Danish equivalent)

Dreich at Hellerup #1

Dreich at Hellerup #2

Not my best oeuvre but as they say, "A bad day's fishing beats a good day in the office"

Once you get your head wrapped around the idea that people on foot are invisible to anyone on wheels and therefore fair game (hit the photog and level up!) photographing in Copenhagen is quite interesting, especially once you are off the tourist trail and a become attuned to the tempo of the city. Next time, I hope to go out at night as I get the distinct feeling there is a side to Copenhagen that isn't all that hygge and would be very interesting to pretend to be a Brassai and have a look at that.