Look this way

 

Even though the deer in Dyrehaven in Klampenborg are used to humans, they are vigilant all the time and will keep an eye on you. You can get within 20 meters of them before they bolt, so getting some nice photos of them is still fairly easy, especially with a 150-500 mm lens as I've used on this group portrait.

 

Different sizes

Saturday, which seems to have been the last day with arctic temperatures in Copenhagen, I went to the deer park Dyrehaven just north of the city. Here you get the deer in all sizes, from small sikas to large red deer, and in all ages too. This fallow deer fawn seemed to enjoy the winter weather as it crossed the path to get out of my way.

Heron in flight

If you want to take a few shots of birds in flight and don't want to get too far away from civilization, the park Frederiksberg Have is a perfect place in winter as a lot of birds congregate around the lake. Here you can also practice your panning technique with ducks, seagulls and gray herons.

A place in the sun

The tigers in the Copenhagen Zoo are Siberian tigers so they don't mind a bit of Danish winter, but they still like the sun when it's available. To catch some of those rare rays of sun this tiger has climbed the tree to get up into the sun.

Run, Zebra, run

 

I bet this zebra really longs for some change in the weather, even if it seems a bit perky in the snow here in Copenhagen Zoo. But summer is only a dream here as winter still bites hard. A spell of warmer weather should hit later today, so maybe she's just celebrating in advance. Or heading for cover.

 

Icy

The Amur tigers in Copenhagen Zoo enjoys the arctic weather we've got here the last few weeks. This one didn't have trouble getting up in the tree but, being a true cat, the way down was a bit more troubled as the ice was prominent.

Good friends

The giraffe calf and the zebra seems to be good friends, even grooming each other in the winter cold. Apparently there's no need to be at each other's throat at the Copenhagen Zoo.

Food-fight wolf-style

 

Before dinner these two wolfs in the Copenhagen Zoo had to decide who should have first dip at the meat. And after a bit of snarling and snapping, one decided to wait a bit.

 

Hello to you

 

Some of the animals on the savannah of Copenhagen Zoo seems to be greeting each other, even if they're of different species. This antelope and giraffe met and exchanged a friendly sniff before they went on their own business again.

 

An unknown refugee

One of the more dark chapters of Danish history, the treatment of the German refugees at the end of World War II is very evident at Vestre Cemetery. Here is a total of 5.344 refugees buried out of the 17.209 that died in 1945-49 in Denmark. There's still discussion about the treatment of these almost 200.000 as they were put under guard in camps. Some argue that they were treated well enough, others that the public anger at the Germans due to the occupation of Denmark was the reason why so many died here.

Yet another bridge

Yet another bridge has been constructed in Copenhagen, this time spanning the Sortedam Lake. Part of the lake is being drained to make room for the metro construction, as this will be one of the three starting points for the tunnel boring machines.

Flowers in the snow

 

A detail shot from Vestre Cemetery in Valby, a great place to go to get some close-ups of details. Also a great place to wander through the Danish history of the last 100 years. Here you'll find the graves of primeministers, artists, magnates, soldiers from the two world wars, German refugees, immigrants from all over the world and ordinary people lying shoulder to shoulder. There's sections for Catholics and Moslems, for people from Greenland and the Faroe Islands, along with a host of others. Even though I've been here many times, I can still stumble over something I haven't noticed before.

 

Break the rules

 

Never turn your lens toward the sun people say, but sometimes you get nice photographs breaking the rules. This one, taken with an iPhone at Vestre Cemetery, was one of those times.

 

Silent city

As told before I'm often out early in the morning to photograph the empty streets of Copenhagen. When there's a lot of people and a lot of traffic, you don't notice as many details as when you're the only person around. This street is Kristen Bernikows Gade in the center of the city as it crosses the pedestrian area of Strøget.

The Blue Planet

As a kid I loved visiting Danish Aquarium in Charlottenlund, looking at all the exotic fish and other creatures in the tanks. But as time has gone by, the aquarium has become more and more worn out. Now a new replacement is almost ready at Kastrup. Called the Blue Planet and housed in a futuristic looking building (I have only seen it from afar or on drawings), it'll boast 20.000 creatures of different species in tanks and environments that'll get the visitors close them. There'll be a 4 million liter tank with sharks, a hall with a piece of rain forest and a coral reef. I can't wait to see it when it opens 22. of March this year.

Winter is back

 

Winter is back in Copenhagen, bringing a nice cover of fresh snow over all. And making bw photography easy again. This one I took yesterday with my iPhone at Vestre Cemetery a few minutes walk from my work. I got a few good ones using my Nikon too as it's (nearly) always with me, even when working.

 

Reality rules?

Sometimes things happens in Copenhagen that baffles you. This is one of these times. A group of demonstrators is standing on Kongens Nytorv with banners with dubious proclamations like Reality Rules. As it was filmed with a background poster promoting a show by Danish stand-up comedian Tobias Dybvad, it (hopefully) was only a staged happening by the Danish TV channel TV-2.

Not many people

Even on the free Sundays the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek is not crowded, except at their excellent café, so you can enjoy the many pieces of art in relative peace and quiet. And here photography without flash and tripods is permitted.

Enter an art museum

One of my favourite art museums in Copenhagen is the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek where the beer magnate I.C. Jacobsen poured money and culture back to society. The permanent exhibition of classical sculptures and the excellent selection of paintings by French masters can be enjoyed again and again. And on Sundays it's free.

Keeping watch

 

In front of the art museum Ny Carlsberg Glytoteket, founded by Carlsberg founder I. C. Jacobsen, a pair of lions stand watch. This one seems to be watching the tower of the Copenhagen City Hall.

 

Changing the guards

The changing of the guards at Amalienborg Palace is a daily occurrence at 12 o'clock. Normally the Royal  Life Guards are in blue but on special occasions they're in their red dress uniforms.

A new standard?

The largest Danish bank, Danske Bank got a lot of critique after their new advertisment campaign called A new normal demands New Standard, where they used the Occupy Wall Street movement as one of their clips in the main video. Unfortunately this situation has become the new normal here, even though a lot of people here are in denial about it. When you walk the streets of Copenhagen on a regular basis, you will notice a lot of homeless people, and to me it seems like there's more here than 10 years ago.

Where are we?

As told before you get to look at the world differently when you're out photographing what's around you. This detail I noticed in the ceiling of the Central Station of Copenhagen (Hovedbanegården) after having passed underneath it hundreds of times. If you're passing the station at some point, see if you can locate it.

No rush hour here

Connecting the platforms at the Central Station of Copenhagen (Hovedbanegården) is this tunnel. Even during rush hour this tunnel is seldom used, as most people prefer to use the escalators at the end of the platforms.

 

The forbidden vice

Sometimes when I am around and about a situation just pops up, begging to be photographed, and this was one of them. The woman clearly didn't want to, or wasn't allowed to, smoke indoors and rather than going outside in her PJs, she sneaked a few hurried puffs out of her window.

Around the city

Yep, time for another time lapse video, this time from around Copenhagen (we start with the sunrise at Helsingør, though).

Cleaning up

The first day of the year begged for a thorough cleaning up after the celebrations of the new year. In the centre of Copenhagen tons of garbage needed to be removed so the street cleaners had their work cut out for them. They weren't alone, though, as a group of volunteers from the Nusrat Djahan Mosque in Hvidovre helped from the early hours. Really nice to see that there's still some here who cares about the way the city looks. I hope this spirit of goodwill will spread to the rest of the city as well.

Is winter coming back?

As told earlier we had a spell of winter in Copenhagen a few weeks ago. Even though it's gone and the weather has turned more like autumn than winter, here's a pic from the covering of snow we got. This one is from Valbyparken.

The many faces of tigers

 

For the readers of this blog it can't come as a surprise that I enjoy the Copenhagen Zoo and that the tigers there are among my favorites. Zooming close (a 500mm zoom lens helps there) while snapping away will give you a whole range of different expressions on the faces of these beautiful predators. This one was taken just at the beginning of a yawn but the result is a kind of sinister sneer.

 

Go away, I'm sleeping!

Yesterday morning quite a lot of people probably was like this when woken up prematurely. The tigers in the Copenhagen Zoo sure didn't like to be interrupted a few weeks ago when I disturbed their beauty sleep.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year to all readers of this blog. On this the first day of the year it's time to look forward. For some it's time to follow the same tracks as always, for others it's time to find the switch and change tracks. My best wishes to you all and I hope you find the right tracks for you.