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.
Downtown candid
Nikon D300, Nikkor 105 f/2.8, f/2.8, 1/350 sec, ISO200
Wow, its been awhile since my last post. Time flies…
My inspiration on the coming posts comes after reading a couple of blogs I frequent regularly. It was basically something like go photograph whats in your back yard. I got nothing in my backyard to shoot, so I have decided to explore my neighborhood and my town instead. My town, Sudbury, located in Northern Ontario, is not very exotic, but there’s a lot going on. We got lots of rocks, lakes and forests up here. It’s a mining town, mostly nickel, copper and other precious metals. And of course there are plenty of heavy industry that support the mines in the area.
My neighborhood is a very typical working class community close to downtown. Small houses, most of them are old – like my house is – just a few of them are new-err. It’s all well established, not much room for new development in this area. We certainly don’t have million dollar mansions in this end of town. Reason being is probably the proximity to one of the mining companies smelter, which is just a short drive from here. In fact, I can see the super-stack from my street. I will post some images of that bad boy later.
But I choose to live and work here, so I’ll make the best of it. I have during my walks in the area discovered quite a few gems that I will return to again.
Today’s shot is from downtown. Its late evening, the stores are closed and the streets are empty. This old guy is sitting on the corner of a downtown intersection reading his book. He never looks up as I walked past him. A heat wave has been going on for a couple of weeks now, and the only time to be outside for a longer period of time is around sunset. And I’m sure this guy was just wanted to get some fresh air and escape the heat in his apartment – well, that’s the story I’m sticking to…:)
The shot is processed in LR, Nik Silver Efex Pro and OnOne’s Focal Point.
As I went through my shots, I had a couple where the sign in the back ground was sharp and it had some interesting thoughts written down on it, so I thought I would share its wisdom…
