Old Doors
Merchant Mansion Door Odense Denmark 1631
Merchant Mansion, 1631, Odense, Denmark
I actually meant to try the just released beta version of Lightroom 5 last night. But I got a bit side tracked. I started to look through my 2009 image folder, and came across a few images that I thought I could combine and make into a blog post. Doors seems to be a popular collection item on sites likes Pinterest. There is something about doors. Of course every building has them, but not every one is special. I like the old ones. Especially old and worn ones with lots of details such as wood carvings or stained glass like this one.
I was in Odense, Denmark in 2009, participating for the first time in the annual Scott Kelby Worldwide Photowalk. Odense is an old city, it dates way back to the year 988 – yup, long time ago. Some famous people from that city includes Hans Christian Andersen, world-renowned story-teller, poet and writer and Carl Nielsen, classical composer. So this city is very old and the amazing part of it is that many buildings are still standing. When walking down town its like going back in time if it wasn’t for the occasional car or scooter zooming by.
The leading shot right is the bay doors from a Merchant House Mansion, that dates back to 1631 according to the engraving above the door. One can only wonder how life was behind those doors at that time, most likely very tough for the workers, while the owner or merchant would be stinking rich, have a lot of power and be very influential in the city. He would most likely also be a member of the town council. Click the thumbnail to view the “mansion” a bit bigger.
“Our Lady Church” door, 13th century church, Odense, Denmark
Another old door is the church entrance for “Our Lady Church”, a small church built sometime in the 13th century. Renovated a couple of times since then, last time in 1864. Odense also have a cathedral that is from around the same time period.
Door to hall of the local inn, 1683, Odense, Denmark
The Old Inn, 1683, Odense, Denmark
If you had a church in your town/village back then, chances were that there also was a place to get drunk a drink, and Odense’s old watering hole is still there – well, it’s not the only one they have of course but this one dates back to 1683. It’s a restaurant today, and apparently are very nice place to eat. The current name is very creative – it’s called “The Old Inn” – no, I’m not kidding. The text above the old door would translate in to what we would know as a hall – a place to have dinner parties, live music etc.
Private door from 18th century house Odense Denmark
Another private door from 18th century house Odense Denmark
Cobble stone street downtown Odense, Denmark
I’ll finish this long post with a couple of entrance doors to a couple of old private houses in the down town area, that guaranteed dates back from the 18th century or earlier. When the owners want to renovate their house, there are certain rules to follow, permissions to get from the city planning department before any renovation can start. No modern looks here. Notice the old style windows in the street shot. The windows are made of new and modern materials, but the look has to match the age of the building.
As always, your visits and comments are very much appreciated. Also, all images can be viewed large by clicking on the image.
Enjoy.
The corner
Nikon D300, Nikkor 18-200mm, 95mm, f/5.3, 1/320sec, ISO200
TGIF! What a long week. I thought I would end this week with another shot from a World Wide Photo walk. This time it’s from 2009 in Odense, Denmark. The walk was in and around the area of Hans Christian Andersen’s birth home, now museum. This shot looks really good in large print. Looking at the screen now, I’m not so sure… I was going for the patterns on the cobble stone and the bricks in the round wall.
Traverse City, MI
Nikon D300, Nikkor 70-300mm, 195mm, f/5.6, 1/750 sec, ISO200
This shot is from the 2011 World Wide Photo walk in Traverse City, MI. The walk was divided up in three parts. About an hour on the harbor front, and then you could choose to do either a downtown Traverse shoot or a drive up on the Old Mission peninsula for some spectacular views over the vineyards. I chose the latter and in hindsight, I should have done the city part of the walk instead. Now I know for next time. I got my bests shots from the harbor, and I choose to submit this one – and I’m glad I did.
Glen Haven, MI
Nikon D300, Nikkor 16-35mm f/4, 16mm, f/16, 1/125sec, ISO200
I’ll kick this week of with a shot from the Scott Kelby’s 2011 World Wide Photo Walk. I sure hope you got to do a walk near your location, if not, try to make time for next year. I had to pleasure to do two walks that October weekend, the unofficial one in Glen Haven, MI and the official one in Traverse City, MI. I have already posted one shot from the Glen Haven walk on this blog (click here), and here is another one. It’s the path from the old Coast Guard Station, (now a museum) down to the beach.
It’s definitively a place I would like to go back to sometime next year. Beautiful place.
Photowalk 2011 – Glen Haven, MI
Nikon D300, Nikkor 16-35mm f4, f/8.0, 1/350 sec, ISO200, 23 mm, 8 frame pano
It has been a tradition of mine to go outside the country to take part in the World Wide Photo Walk events. I have done that in 2009 and 2010, (both Denmark) so why should 2011 be any different. This year I went to Traverse City, MI. Traverse City and area is an absolutely gorgeous place this time of year. The fall colors are just about peaking, and the landscape is very inviting with lots of hills, beaches, dunes, wineries and orchards. Traverse City claims to be Cherry capital of the world – and that’s probably very true. I urge anyone within driving distance to check it out. Beautiful place.
I had the opportunity to attend two walks. Yes, I know you can only register for one, but that does not prohibit any one for tacking along another group, as long as you notify and get the OK from the leader of the walk. You can of course not submit photos for the competition. Well, I had no problem getting the OK from Ken Snyder, who was the leader of the walk in Glen Haven, MI – Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore.
This place is just gorgeous. Incredible beach and the dunes are just spectacular. I wish we had more time to explore the area and check out the Coast Guard museum, but that will have to be next time.
Above is a 8 frame pano from the Dunes overlooking the lake. Very strong winds that day, but thankfully no rain.
Take a seat…
Nikon D300, Nikkor 18-200mm, 95mm, f/5.3, ISO200, 3 exposures, handheld
…and let me tell you a story. Just kidding.
Last week, Scott Wood had a blog post about keeping old shots that did not make the cut the first time around. It’s an interesting discussion because if you shot a lot, like I would expect a guy like Scott Wood do, you will in the end up with countless of gigabytes of images that will never be edited or printed. And what will you do? Delete or buy more storage? I am afraid I’m one of those guys who just store images. I do of course delete total miss shots, like camera shakes, out of focus etc. But the rest I tend to keep. After reading Scott’s post, it made me think about my collection of images and I decided then that today’s post would be an image that originally wasn’t flagged, rated or had been edited in any way. Just one of those I keep. Turned out to be a fun exercise.
About the image.
Any one familiar with Hans Christian Andersen? Well, he was a Danish poet, writer, a story-teller and famous world-wide for his fairy tales. Had he lived today, he would be 206 years old. His work is published in more that 150 languages. Quite a feat if you ask me.
The images above and below are shot in Odense, Denmark. The place of his birth. You can tell the city is proud of him. There are many references to this guy all over this city. His characteristic silhouette is even featured as the stop/walking guy on the cross walk signs.
As I went through the files from that day, I discovered I had bracket the bench shot so I chose to run with it.
This bench is out side one of the buildings dedicated to H. C. Andersen, and I think it is a part of the statue you see below. It’s like he invites you to sit either next to him or on the bench (above) that would be to his left and slightly in front of him, and listen to one of his many stories.
His fairy tales usually had a moral ending to it – this experience makes me think that I wont start thinning out my collection of images anytime soon. I’ll buy a bigger hard drive first.
Nikon D300, Nikkor 18-200mm, 20mm, f/4, 1/80sec, ISO200
Photo walks…
Nikon D300, Nikkor 18-200mm, 200mm, f/13, 1/350sec, ISO200
Mike Olbinski announced yesterday that he is organizing a Photo walk in downtown Phoenix, AZ on June 10th. Man I wish I could go. Judging from the pictures on the blogs I frequent, Arizona certainly has a few gems, just waiting to be photographed.
A couple of days ago, Brad announced on Scott Kelby’s blog that the 3rd annual World Wide Photo walk will take place on October 1st & 2nd 2011 So with all the talk about photo walks, I thought I make a post about it. I have participated in both SK WWPW, and as it happened both took place while I was on vacation back in Denmark, so I joined the city that was closest to my hometown. You might already have seen a shot from the first Photo walk on my blog, it’s the post here, from Odense, Denmark. I did not submit that one though, I just like the shot, and I had a great time walking around with the other shooters. Last year was in Aarhus, Denmark, and I had the honor to make it to the final 1112. True story, – I still can’t believe it. Anyway, it’s the shot you see above. Just a guy sitting by the harbor front doing a little fishing.
Just for fun…
Todays image was shot last year in late July while on vacation. It is one of two old identical front doors to the Aarhus Theater, located in Aarhus, Denmark. I wish I have had the time to stay after dark when the building just comes to life as the light inside shines through the painted glass panes. Looks pretty amazing I tell ya.
The title of the image is part of a rough translation from a slogan used by the Royal Theater in Copenhagen. Actually the real slogan would be “Not Just For Fun” but I had fun processing this one, so I cropped out the “Not”. Usually the slogan will be accompanied by two masks one sporting a smiley face and one a sad face. Sort of like a global theater logo.
A cliche…
Nikon D300, f5.6, 200mm, 1/160 s, ISO-200
Yep, the obligatory flower shot. This image goes back to the first Worldwide Photowalk organized by Scott Kelby. I was in Denmark at the time, and participated in the city of Odense, also known as the birth place of Hans Christian Andersen. This flower grows in the garden associated with the museum dedicated to him. Its called the Fairytale Garden – translated of course. If you are in that area, check it out.
So at this time the Nikon D300 was brand new to me. I only had one lens, the Nikon 18-200mm, which is incredible versatile, but not the sharpest lens however. Still, I got a few shots from that day that I liked and this one is one of them – even though it’s a flower.
