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.

Last day of the year

On this grey last day of the year, grey at least in Copenhagen, I hope that this photo from Friday's sunrise in Helsingør might cheer you up. With the background noise sounding more and more like a war zone (why is it that we Danes think it's so wonderful to listen to fireworks at all hours in the days preceding New Year's Eve?), I hope all your wishes come through in the year to come.

He

Apart from the time lapse video I showed you yesterday I also got a few other shots Friday morning in Helsingør. This one is of the merman in the harbour, starring at the rising sun. The sculpture called Han (Danish for he) is made of steel by the artists Michael Elmgreen and Ingar Dragset in 2010 as a modern version of Copenhagen's Little Mermaid. It got a mixed review by the public; the county and the politicians loved it but the department in charge of the castles and public buildings, the landscape architect responsible for the new harbour area in Helsingør and the foundation that financed the new area were not pleased.

Sunrise time lapse

I'm still fascinated by the Nikon D800's time lapse function. Today's video is from yesterday morning's sunrise over the Danish town of Helsinore (Helsingør in Danish). With a weather report promising a clear day, it was just a matter of grabbing an early morning train and find the right spot at the harbour. I managed two shots, one of the sunrise with the ferries crossing every 10-15 minutes and one of Kronborg of Hamlet fame, all edited in the YouTube editor.

High

The towers and spires in Copenhagen is at the moment being outnumbered by the construction cranes. Here it's the metro construction site at the central island of Slotsholmen, where the parliament is, that is competing with the tower of Nikolaj Church.

Time to pack away

 

The Christmas balls in Tivoli will soon be packed away until next year.