Category Archives: Pictures

Ellen turns two

Ellen doesn’t actually turn two for another week (the 16th) but this last weekend was the only time Lisbeth’s family was free to get together to celebrate. So we took the train to Vejle and spent a quiet weekend with Lisbeth’s family.

Ellen, on the slobber express Rikke-Naja The birthday girl at work

It was November when I was last in Vejle, so I was really looking forward to going. It’s always relaxing and it’s a lot of fun to see Ellen with her cousins and her grandparents. (And Karen’s cooking is no small benefit.) Unfortunately I was still recovering from a bout with pneumonia, so although it was relaxing, I wasn’t very good company. Read More →

Christmas 2010

This year we spent Christmas in New Mexico. If we’d had some way to know in advance about the extreme weather, closed airports, and chronic delays, we certainly wouldn’t have made this trip. But it’s a good thing we didn’t know because our plans were only slightly modified by the chaos. We were very lucky. On the way over we saw many cancelled flights on the departure boards, but our flights were largely on time.

Flying out from Copenhagen De-icing before take-off Flying out from Copenhagen

We worried about Ellen before the trip, but it turned out to be fine. She slept during most of the flights, and was easy to entertain when she was awake. Plus we’ve learned to take longer lay-overs so we had ample time to run her around and wear her out before each flight.

Ben, Ellen, and Lisbeth in Albuquerque Ben and Heather Ben tries to demonstrate to Ellen how much fun snow can be (she was not impressed)

We spent the first full day in Albuquerque, resting up and visiting with my brother Ben and his wife Heather. As usual we’d postponed quite a bit of shopping knowing that we’d be in the US, so we did a lot of shopping. (We became iPad owners, and almost immediately found our laptop to be unbearably heavy and cumbersome.)

Mom (or Carly and Celina participate in a church skit Celina, trying to act serious about church Ellen and her uncle Diego Ellen works to unwrap another gift Ellen and Bon-bon DSC_2986.JPG Ellen on her Christmas gift from Bon-bon and Pampah Ellen on her Christmas gift from Bon-bon and Pampah

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Salted roads, seasoned riders

Enghave station (Dec. 3, 2010)

For the second winter in a row, we’re getting clobbered. It hasn’t been particularly cold, but there’s been plenty of snow, and every time it looks like it’s going to melt, we get a fresh layer.

This may sound bad, particularly considering that we don’t own a car, but in fact it’s great. It’s great because the two biggest problems with Danish winters are that they are wet and dark. Snow may be wet, but it’s not nearly as wet as rain.

Bella Hotel

And the sun may still sets at 4:00pm, the snow magnifies whatever light is available, from the sun in the day, and from streetlights at night. Snow definitely helps make winter less depressing. There are advantages to cyclists as well. For example, when is snows there are far fewer bikes on the bike lanes. Apparently a lot of people switch from bike to train, bus, or car.

But of course there are drawbacks. There may be more space on the bike lanes, but that extra space is often risky to use. Especially in the mornings, there is often a layer of ice beneath the snow. Read More →

The pacifier dance

Ellen is a child that loves her pacifier. Sure, most children have an attachment, but for Ellen it is much more than that. She only willingly surrenders her pacifier to eat.

A dance of passion and desire A dance of passion and desire A dance of passion and desire

Currently Ellen finds three pacifiers at bedtime to be ideal. One for her mouth, and one for each hand. This way, if she wakes up and her pacifier has fallen out of her mouth, she can quickly replace it rather than throwing a fit. At some point we’ll have to put a stop to this with a tearful visit to a Pacifier Tree, but for now, this works for everyone.

The Nikon D700

The mighty Nikon D700 I bought my first digital camera eleven years ago, in 1999. A Nikon 950. It was fantastic. I liked being able to experiment without fretting about film and processing costs. I liked seeing the results of my experiments right away. And I liked being able to delete mistakes and never having to pay a cent for making that mistake. I replaced the 950 with the similar but much improved Nikon 990 the next year. Then got my first digital SLR — the Nikon D1 — in 2003, and that camera taught me that, no matter how nice a point-n-shot is, it doesn’t compare to the image quality of an SLR. Three years later I got a D40. They were all great cameras in their own ways, and I squeezed a lot of images out of each one (particularly the D40, which is still a fantastic deal for the money.)

60mm f2.8 Micro The full-frame sensor picks up details that, coupled with a good sharp lens (60mm f2.8 Micro) captures textures brilliantly The details in the grass at Ellen's feet is something my old camera just can't match (16-35mm f4 VR)

But all of these cameras were restrictive too. The 950 and the 990 are impressive considering their sizes, but lacked interchangeable lenses. And the DSLRs, while they do have interchangeable lenses, have small sensors that change the way that the lenses work, reducing the effectiveness of wide-angle lenses in particular. Read More →

Portugal

A bridge over the Douro in Barca d'Alva

Last month we traveled to Portugal with my parents for a seven-day river cruise. We flew to Porto (a city I must admit I’d never heard of before) and sailed from there up the Douro river, in the heart of Portuguese wine country. I learned a lot. For one thing, Portuguese sounds nothing like Spanish in my opinion.

Porto is surprising. It’s pretty big for one thing — especially for a city I didn’t know existed. It is second only to Lisbon in size, with about 1.3 million people.

One of many rotting apartments -- this one directly across from São Bento train station in the oldest quarter of Porto One of many rotting apartments -- this one directly across from São Bento train station in the oldest quarter of Porto One of many rotting apartments -- this one directly across from São Bento train station in the oldest quarter of Porto

Porto is a city of sharp contrasts. The airport is modern and pleasant, with a metro line that takes you downtown quietly and efficiently. The metro stations reminded me a little of Copenhagen’s metro stations. And then you climb the stairs to the street and BAM! – there’s the contrast. Porto is full of beautiful old buildings… many of which have clearly been abandoned and some of which appear ready to be condemned. Read More →

Vestvolden

Having lived in Copenhagen for over four years now, and having ridden my bike pretty consistently since arriving, I know the area pretty well. I have a lot of routes memorized, and I can ride them without thinking about where I am or being worried about getting lost. But often I get tired of my familiar routes, and strike out in a new direction.

Part of Copenhagen's old outer defense system (Vestvolden) Part of Copenhagen's old outer defense system (Vestvolden) Part of Copenhagen's old outer defense system (Vestvolden)

Sometimes these experiments don’t turn out well — I work myself into a dead end, or I find myself on the entrance to a highway where bikes aren’t allowed, for example. But sometimes I discover great paths. This happened to me a few months ago when I ventured just a few blocks down from one of my regular paths, and found a quiet, leafy path that goes on for miles.

Part of Copenhagen's old outer defense system (Vestvolden) Part of Copenhagen's old outer defense system (Vestvolden) Part of Copenhagen's old outer defense system (Vestvolden)

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Clear as day

Summer solstice as come and gone, and apparently I’m already worried about a lack of light. You wouldn’t think so, since I like low-light photography so much (see my favorites here.) But I’ve found that I was missing a lot of good shots in poor quality light, certainly indoors, but also as dusk.

Ellen, drinkin' the afternoon away (indoor lighting) Storm and Hanne (indoor lighting) Margaux (indoor lighting)

And so I got a new lens — one that is primarily designed to make the most of available light. (The Nikon 50mm 1.4 AFS). It’s pretty wild. It lets in four times the amount of light as my next “fastest” lens. It might be a little too good: the resulting shots frequently don’t appear to have been taken in bad light at all.

Birgitte (9:35 pm) Lisbeth and me (9:39 pm) Torben and his daughter Margaux (9:51 pm)

And yet, almost all of the shots on in this entry would not have been possible with my other lenses. Sure, I could have taken them, but they would have been blurred because the shutter would have needed to stay open half a second or more in order to collect sufficient light.

Ellen (indoor lighting) Lisbeth and Hanne (very low light) A roll of paper towels illuminated by a candle on one side and ambient outside light on the other (10:30 pm)

The last one on this page takes a little explanation. It’s a roll of paper towels on our dining table. The left side is illuminated by a candle, and the right side by ambient outside light  (10:30 pm). It’s not as sharp as it could be, but still impressive considering it’s a hand-held shot.

Arizona

They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.

– Benjamin Franklin

A pedestrian is born

Ellen has been walking for a while now, but it happened so slowly that it’s hard to say when she really changed from an infant to a toddler. She’s been upright for months now, but before she was always holding the wall or a table, or a pant leg for stability.

An independent girl takes a stroll in the city Fresh air, people watching. Maybe a little shopping... Yes, spring is here -- life is good!
Yay for me! Best. Walker. Ever. And now, a bit of quiet introspection...

Then she started taking a step or two to get from a wall to a table or a pant leg. And then she did that often enough that, very slowly, it mattered less and less how far the wall was from the table, and eventually, whether there was a destination at all.

On the terrace at home At the park At the park

But at this point she’s definitely a walker. She only crawls if she’s already sitting down and there’s only a short distance to traverse. That’s not to say that she walks confidently, or without mishaps. Door jambs are treacherous. She’s keen to their trickery, but they vary in high and width, and so they’re still a threat.

On the terrace at home On the terrace at home On the terrace at home

This stage of life is pretty tough in terms of falls. But walking is her default method of locomotion, and she’s constantly working at improving it.

Lisbeth, Ellen, Kaspar, and Hanne Lisbeth tries to impress upon Storm the importance of walking Fine, you can walk now. But can you dance? Fine, you can walk now. But can you dance? Fine, you can walk now. But can you dance? Hi. My name is Ellen and I'll be your server tonight. Cousin Storm It looks cuter than it sounded

Most of these were taken two weeks ago when we visited Kaspar, Hanne, and Storm in Århus. Storm, who is two months younger than Ellen, isn’t quit walking yet, but it’s probably a good thing. He’s like the Energizer bunny, and doesn’t seem to have any respect for things like hesitation or caution. He’ll be all over the place when he figures out how, and I’m sure Hanne and Kaspar will miss the days of crawling