Ørestad

I spent a few hours yesterday in the Ørestad area of Copenhagen, trying to get some shots in the bag of one of the "new" areas of the city. It's been a long time since I was here last, and I was quickly and starkly reminded of just why.

What an absolutely depressing place. Most areas of Copenhagen have some sort of character or vibe - for good or ill - but Ørestad just doesn't. Its a soulless husk, seeming more like a warehouse to store people when they don't have better places to be. The area has been under development for almost 20 years now, and it stil feels utterly barren.

The most exciting thing I saw was probably a blue public toilet that kinda had a TARDIS thing going on. A poop TARDIS - that's the sort of titillating experiences you can find in Ørestad. There are no little shops, no cafés, no real traffic, no people on the street having intimate conversations that are way too loud for comfort. The guy on the bike here I had to wait 25 minutes for, because there's just no one out there doing anything other than trying to escape to places more interesting.

It must be nice to live close to the Kalvebod Commons so you can go wave at cows and stuff, but I think I'd probably end up on pills or booze if I had to spend every day of my life out here in this bleak urban wasteland.

Part of the problem is that there’s a giant shopping mall out here, which has essentially killed local commerce. No commerce, no urban life. Other new developments in Copenhagen have fared better because - aside from not having a giant goddamn mall - they have proximity to existing communities. Something like the new development in Nordhavn I think is going to fare much better, as there is already a vibrant urban community just across the train tracks. But Ørestad is too far from the Amagerbrogade area to really benefit.

I intensely dislike this part of the city, but I am glad I went out there again, because its a reminder of all the things I love about photographing the city, because they're all missing from the Ørestad area. It will be a long time before I go back here again.

A lone - very lone - rider at the Belly Sky hotel.

The Poop TARDIS.

The Thunderdome/Royal Arena.

Copenhagen Zoo

GIven that we’re not gonna be able to go anywhere exotic anytime soon on account of this Covid-19 situation, I’ve been looking a bit closer to home. Copenhagen Zoo is probably the most exotic place in the city, so I hit it up with my good friend and fellow camera freak Oliver Sperling.

The tower at Copenhagen Zoo - Fujifilm X-T3 w. XF55-200mm @ 1/1500sec f5.6 ISO320

The first stop is what’s always my first stop: The lions. Not just on account of the lions being close to the entrance, but because they’re my favorite. I could stand there and just look at that huge lion and his mane for hours. Maybe its hair envy, I don’t know. But look at him, ain’t he just gorgeous!

Fujifilm X-T3 w. XF55-200mm @ 1/300sec f4.8 ISO320

Fujifilm X-T3 w. XF55-200mm @ 1/1500sec f4.8 ISO320

Before we most on from the lions - temporarily - I gotta get something off my chest:

FUCK SEAGULLS

We had bought some churros and were just walking along mind our own business, when suddenly from the back this big mess of white feathers swoop in, bitchslapping me in the face with a wing as it stole the churro right outta my fingers. The goddamn nerve!

Now back our regular programming. From the lions den we moved on to another big cat: The Tiger.

There are few of them in the zoo, but only one was out and about, and she was not happy to see us. She kept showing her teeth and hissing at us, at least until a couple of pigeons landed in the enclosure and she found it more entertaining to chase those around.

Fujifilm X-T3 w. XF55-200mm @ 1/1400sec f4.8 ISO320

Fujifilm X-T3 w. XF55-200mm @ 1/1400sec f4.8 ISO320

These two images of the tiger didn’t really do it for me. The first I do like, but I overdid it on the underexposure. The latter would have worked if I had a lens with greater reach, maybe like a 600mm, but alas I don’t. Plus, I don’t think its a super sharp image.

This next image is the one I got of the tiger that I like, but I couldn’t decide between color or black and white, so I went for both.

Fujifilm X-T3 w. XF55-200mm @ 1/500sec f5.6 ISO320

Now that I look at them side by side, I think I am partial to the black and white. We also went by the pandas, but I don’t see what all the fuss is about. Politics aside, I’ve never seen them do anything other than sleep, poop, and chew bamboo.

Know that feeling bro.

So we left Pandaland behind and went to another favorite of mine: The Grey Wolves. Now usually you hardly ever see them, as they seem to withdraw to the shaded secluded areas in the back, but this time we were there early and found this beautiful fella standing there, staring right at us.

Fujifilm X-T3 w. XF55-200mm @ 1/250sec f4.8 ISO640

At the moment the talk of the town is the polar bear cubs. There’s two of them. One is still a bit unsure and hangs onto momma bear constantly, while the other is jumping about and damn near doing flips into the water.

Fujifilm X-T3 w. XF55-200mm @ 1/480sec f4.8 ISO320

Fujifilm X-T3 w. XF55-200mm @ 1/950sec f.4.2 ISO320

These two shots are of the youngest of the two. It was cute seeing how the little guy wanted to jump in the water after his momma, but just couldn’t quite muster the courage. Now the older cub did not have those problems at all.

And momma bear of course didn’t look half bad herself.

These were the animals that were on “the schedule” so to speak, but the zoo is large so went exploring a bit, and kept a watchful eye for seagulls. There’s are large “Savannah” section with animals from Africa, and whaddayaknow, there is a large rhino population. Its been a while since I visited the zoo, but I remember back then I think I only saw one rhino. Now there are five fully grown rhinos rummaging about. But not only that, there’s this little guy as well.

Not the best photo by any stretch, but look at those ears. Awwwwwwwwwwww.

Even though the zebras were not really on my radar at all, when I got this shot I thought it was going to be the keeper of the day.

When I shot it, I knew exactly how I wanted to edit it, and I’m so pleased with how it turned out. I love the painterly effect it has.

But as luck would have it, there was still another shot in the bag for me. The shot.

On our way to the exit we noticed a lot of commotion in the lions den. It was on account of the keepers having tossed in the carcass of a calf, which was now being slowly devoured by the nearly adult cubs.

Of course the leader of the pack doesn’t need to his paws dirty, so while the cubs and the female were tending to dinner, he was standing in the middle of the enclosure staring off into the distance. And he was posed perfectly. I knew what I wanted from this shot, but I also knew I’d have to do some heavy editing to get what I wanted out of it. So I shot two shots, with one slightly underexposed from the other.

I then combined the two in Photoshop, changed the crop, and then circled back into Lightroom. A few brush adjustments to get the background all black, and this was the result.

Definitely the (zoo)keeper of the day. My only regret is that I don’t have a lens with more range, so I had to crop and lost a lot of resolution. I want a 600mm tele, damn it.

I shot a few other shots that I like, so here they are in no particular order.

Blox

Blox, oh Blox… This building leaves me torn. On the one hand, I think its one of the aesthetically worst additions to Copenhagen in the last decade, but on the other hand, it houses one of my favorite places in the city: The Danish Architecture Center. So despite my mixed feelings about it I come here quite often, not least because of their annual “Capture Your City” photo contest which I have a recurring habit of participating in.

X-Pro2 w. XF 23mm f2 WR @ 1/250 sec f8 ISO1600

An older shot showing the Blox building on the harbor - its the huge glass monster, if you were in doubt.

The reason I wanted to drop by was to have a look at a specific new addition to their space - an actual functioning indoor slide. Now I’m not gonna ride it, because I’d either get stuck in the middle or make it crash down in a hail of fire and brimstone, but I did rather like the look of it. The only photo I’ve seen of it was from the inside of the building (check it out here), and I wanted to see if I could get something cool from the outside. And its not like I had a choice, because the place isn’t open just yet and I don’t have VIP access. In fact, in several of the photos you can see the staff and various reflectors, as I think they might have been doing some press shots.

I tried a couple of different angles on it. First I tried something from afar:

X-Pro2 w. XF 23mm f2 WR @ 1/60 sec f4 ISO 200

This I don’t think worked at all. I liked the idea of getting some bikes in the shot to capture some elements form the traffic thoroughfare that runs through the building, but it just fails to capture the swirlyness (is that a word?) of the slide. Okay, so next I tried getting close up.

X-Pro2 w. XF 23mm f2 WR @ 1/160 sec f8 ISO 6400 / 1/250 sec f8 ISO 4000

Its better, but not quite there. The first shot is just dull, with the straight on angle, so I could quite quickly discard that. The second one I was more enthused by. I think the fact that you can see one of the employees in the background lit from one of the large windows really adds a lot to it. But I wasn’t really satisfied. Its certainly the best shot so far, but it again failed to capture the swirly goodness.

So what is a surefire way to capture some swirly goodness? A McFlurry you say? Naw man, it’s a fisheye lens! So I cracked out my Samyang fisheye and gave it a go. And it definitely did what I needed it do.

So here is my pick du jour, from this quick little expedition to Blox.

X-Pro w. Samyang 8mm Fisheye @ 1/60 sec f5.6 ISO 400

This photo certainly does what I wanted to. It shows off the swirly shape, it even has employees on the ledge to provide some sense of scale AND it has a reflection of a bicycle to include the thoroughfare. Score!

I also quite liked this one, with the silhouette of the pedestrian off to the left, but I still think the fisheye shot is the stronger image.

X-Pro2 w. XF 23mm f2 WR @ 1/220 sec f2 ISO200

4 days later…

I went back when DAC opened, because I needed to see this slide thing up close. And holy moly it is it cool. I want one. Never mind that we live in a 2-bedroom one-story apartment on the 1st foor, I want one. Here are some shots from the inside:

X-Pro2 w. Samyang 8mm Fisheye @ 1/60 sec f8 ISO6400

X-Pro2 w. Samyang 8mm Fisheye @ 1/125sec f5.6 ISO6400

X-Pro2 w. Samyang 8mm Fisheye @ 1/60 sec f8 ISO2500

X-Pro w. XF23mm f2 @ 1/60sec f8 ISO1250

X-Pro w. XF23mm f2 @ 1/125sec f8 ISO5000

X-Pro2 w. Asahi Pentax Super Takumar 50mm @ 1/250sec f2 ISO1600

X-Pro2 w. Samyang 8mm Fisheye @ 1/60 sec ISO2500

X-Pro2 w. Samyang 8mm Fisheye @ 1/60sec f8 ISO500

X-Pro2 w. Samyang 8mm Fisheye @ 1/60sec f8 ISO640

Here are some other shots from Blox, that aren’t focused on the slide:

X-Pro2 w. XF 23mm f2 WR @ 1/1400 sec f4 ISO200

X-Pro2 w. Samyang 8mm fisheye @ 1/75 sec f8 ISO 6400

X-Pro2 w. Samyang 8mm fisheye @ 1/105 sec f8 ISO 6400

X-Pro2 w. XF 23mm f2 WR @ 1/250 sec f8 ISO 200

X-Pro2 w. Samyang 8mm fisheye @ 1/125 sec f8 ISO 250

X-Pro2 w. XF 23mm f2 WR @ 1/250 sec f8 ISO 640

X-Pro2 w. Samyang 8mm fisheye @ 1/640 sec f5.6 ISO 200

X-Pro2 w. Samyang 8mm fisheye @ 1/2900 sec f5.6 ISO 200

X-Pro2 w. Samyang 8mm fisheye @ 1/60 sec f5.6 ISO 320

X-Pro2 w. XF 23mm f2 WR @ 1/60 sec f4 ISO 640

X-Pro2 first outing

So I got a Fujifilm X-Pro2, because I wanted to try something a bit different. I didn’t wanna go for the X-Pro3 for three reasons:

1. The price

2. I don’t like the new screen implementation

3. Have you seen the goddamn price???

So last-gen X-Pro for me it is.

I’ve only shot with it for about an hour or so today, but so far so good. I started out in front of the Magasin du Nord department store, waiting for my girlfriend to come back after raiding the chocolatier. I saw these signs they put up about welcoming customers back after the Covid-19 shutdown, and then I saw this gentleman strolling by.

X-Pro 2 w. XF 27mm f2.8 1/250 sec @ f10 ISO 500

I really liked the match between the colors of the advert with his shirt and skintone. Not bad for the first ever frame with a new camera.

Then I basically did a 180 degree turn, which brought me straight on with the Royal Theatre building. There was quite a lot of traffic, and I ended up shooting quite a few trash frames, until this one:

X-Pro 2 w. XF 27mm f2.8 1/550 sec @ f10 ISO 200

I really liked the silhouette of her bike with the basket in front, and her ponytail. Plus there was something about the way the stone almost glowed in the sunlight.

At this point my girlfriend returned, unfortunately sans chocolates. You could only buy them in large packs, and apparently that’s a bad thing.

We decided to head for the street kitchen on the harbor, which took us by Kongens Nytorv, a large square in Copenhagen. It had been covered up for years by scaffolding as part of the metro construction, but now the flower beds and the equestrian statue are back in full glory. I remember sitting on the benches here as a kid, and wanted to capture some of that summer vibe.

X-Pro 2 w. XF 27mm f2.8 1/320 sec @ f8 ISO 200

I liked this frame because it shows all the things I just mentioned, plus it has the Danish flag waving in the background. DENMARK F*** YEAH.

I also took a frame of the Royal Theatre from the square, but it just didn’t “pop” for me. I think the light would have to have been a bit different for it to really work for me.

X-Pro 2 w. XF 27mm f2.8 1/500 sec @ f8 ISO 200

Maybe if there was something else in the foreground instead of the two ladies I’d have liked it better. It has a very old school vibe, but the two women just don’t play into that. A shame.

Since it was on the way I also had to take a shot of Nyhavn. Its Tourist Trap Numero Uno in Copenhagen, and there’s a bazillion photos of the place, but I just couldn’t help myself.

X-Pro 2 w. XF 27mm f2.8 1/450 sec @ f8 ISO 200

On the way back there were two shirtless dudes on the boat itself which looked really cool, but at that point I had packed away the camera and just wanted to go home and have some dinner.

About ten steps later I noticed this freaky looking bike. Or what used to be a bike, because after having been at the bottom of the canals for god knows how long, there wasn’t much bike left. I framed it up and hope someone or something would come in to provide a bit of interesting middle ground, and some young lady on a bike was apparently happy to oblige.

X-Pro 2 w. XF 27mm f2.8 1/450 sec @ f8 ISO 200

I really like this shot. I can’t put a finger on why, it just has a certain je ne sais quoi. The edit does get rid of some of the detail on the bike, so here’s a different edit where you can really see just how covered in gunk it is.

We then came to the bridge across the harbor, and found this scene. Now this is usually not weird to see on a hot day in Copenhagen, but I gotta say, given that we’re in the middle of a pandemic and gatherings of more than 10 are forbidden by law, this was a bit of a surprise. In my eyes this is waaaaay too many people huddled waaaay to close together.

X-Pro 2 w. XF 27mm f2.8 1/4700 sec @ f2.8 ISO 200

As we finally made our way over the bridge, we discovered the street kitchen was closed. Gawd damn it. But in the end it was all good, because I got my pick of the day on the way back over the bridge. I give you, The Copenhagen Harbor Royal Battlefleet.

X-Pro 2 w. XF 27mm f2.8 1/250 sec @ f8 ISO 320

I really dig the flow of the image, with the two front kayaks forming a leading line to the four at the back. And of course like a proper pleb, I am a sucker for that orange/blue combo. So this photo is my pick du jour.

Karen Blixens Square - Copenhagen

Karen Blixens Square is a relatively new public square in the city, part of the University of Copenhagen. I went there the day after it opened, but I didn’t really get the sort of shots I wanted. Boo freaking hoo. So instead of admitting defeat, a few days ago I went back there. I had hoped for a massive success, but alas, not really. I got a few shots that are okay, but looking through my camera roll there wasn’t anything that really jostled my jimmies.

The first shot I grabbed was at the square, but on the way. I saw this little house at the end of the pedestrian crossing, and took this shot:

Fuji X-T3 XF10-24mm @ f9 1/200 sec ISO 320

It’s an alright image, but nothing to write home about. There’s just something lacking the colors, I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. So I switched to the Acros film simulation, to have a go at it in black and white. Still no dice. I have this of not spending more than 5 minutes at any given spot if I’m not feelin’ a good vibe, so I hopped back on the bike and headed for my intended destination.

I got a phone call on the way, and had to hop off to take it, and happened to do so in front of the university building. This big ugly glass covered beast reflecting the blue of the sky. I have a love/hate relationship with these sorts of building in that I hate how they look, but I love the reflections they can produce. So I grabbed this shot:

Fuji X-T3 XF10-24mm @ f8 1/280 sec ISO 400

It’s an decent shot I guess, but without a human element it just doesn’t really do it for me. So back on the iron horse again, and onwards to the square. I was looking for geometry, lines, or curves, and finally settled on trying to capture something with the curves of one of these burrows that function as bicycle parking:

Fuji X-T3 Samyang 8mm @ f8 1/1000 sec ISO 640

I first saw a jogger coming around to head over one of them and was convinced she’d be the one to supply the human element. But it didn’t work out. I wanted to have the entirety of her shadow in the frame, but then the composition just didn’t work:

I was about to move on, but then I could hear the whirring of bicycle tires, and thought why not, that might work. And sure enough, a kid came whizzing by and supplied just what I was looking for:

Fuji X-T3 XF55-200mm @ f8 1/5000 sec ISO 640

It’s not the best image, but I was reasonably happy to come away from my visit to the square with it. I wanted something that wasn’t light and airy - because I’ve seen a lot of shots from this place that has this vintage overexposed feel - and I didn’t want to just do another to add on the pile. So far, so good.

Right next to the square is one of the more interesting looking buildings in the area - the Tietgen Student Housing. I’ve taken plenty of shots of it before, but I had 10 minutes spare, so why the heck not.

My first inclination was to do a shot with the curves of the surround path, but I didn’t quite feel it. Maybe if the two dude on the path had been closer, it might have worked out better:

Fuji X-T3 Samyang 8mm @ f8 1/480 sec ISO 320

I remembered there’s a body of water just in front of the building ,so I was gonna go for a reflection shot, and that turned out pretty good:

Fuji X-T3 Samyang 8mm @ f8 1/800 sec ISO 320

I was prepared to end it there, but as I was chimping on the camera like a chump, I noticed I had a curious onlooker. I’m sure he was just looking for someone to chuck some food at him, but instead he was immortalized in my frame, in both color and black and white:

JPEG Straight ouf of Camera - Fuji X-T3 Samyang 8mm @ f8 1/800 sec ISO 320

Color version edited in Adobe Lightroom

Black and white version edited in Adobe Lightroom

I think the color version is my pick of the litter for this short little outing.