Southwestern skies

“There’s no way to divide the beauty of the sky from the wild western plains” – Natalie Merchant — Gold Rush Brides

I took these today, driving from Springer to Las Vegas (New Mexico).

Northern New Mexico SkiesNorthern New Mexico SkiesNorthern New Mexico SkiesNorthern New Mexico SkiesNorthern New Mexico SkiesNorthern New Mexico Skies

 

Wide, wide angle

I’ve been wanting one for a quite some time, and yesterday I gave in to temptation and bought a new lens. Apparently the official name of this lens is Nikon 12-24mm f/4G IF-ED AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor, but most people just call it the “12 to 24″. It’s a professional-grade, digital-specific, ultra-wide angle lens.

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This is my first professional grade lens. Everything else I’ve been using is pretty low-end stuff — often costing less than $100 new. This lens is…well, not that affordable…

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I wasn’t incredibly impressed with it at first, but now that I’ve used it for a couple days, I’m definitely warming up to it. If I have complaints, it’s the weight, the limited range, and…well, the price.

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It is a lot heavier than the stock lens, which gives it a nice feel, but I’m more aware of it, especially when it’s in my bag. The limited range means that you pretty much have to carry about an extra lens. This is not a do-it-all lens.

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And no, these pictures are not of Copenhagen. These were taken where my parents live in Las Vegas, New Mexico, where I’m on vacation.

Arson!

It turns out that that the fire (which apparently damaged sixty-four units) was set intentionally by a 36 year-old man. His story is that he was tired of the stairwell clutter and just wanted to demonstrate the danger. So he set the fire on purpose but intended it to remain small.

It reminds me of The Simpsons, where Bart explains that he wants to go home, and adds, “and besides, I started a fire this morning that I really should keep an eye on.”

Apparently the arsonist doesn’t even live in the building, so his excuse is doesn’t make any sense. Besides, he’s been indicted for arson previously. He’s in jail, and faces stiff charges.

Solstice photos

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I’ve added a “Blue Solstice” page that I rather like.

Before, during, and after the fire

There was a fire in Lisbeth’s apartment building early this morning. It started the back stairwell on perhaps the 2rd floor, and spread to the roof. (Most apartments in Copenhagen have two stairwells — the back one is a smaller utility stairwell, originally for work crews and such, but mostly used to store mops and to take out the trash.) I just happened that I’d taken a picture of that area of the building a few weeks ago.

Before: June 17th3:36 am3:44 am

I was surprised how much damage it did, and how slowly the fire crews seemed to respond. I noticed the fire early on because I smelled something that vaguely reminded me of fireworks. (I’d been thinking about it being the 4th of July all day, so smoke in the air made me think of fireworks.) We watched it for 20 minutes before I decided it was worth trying to take some pictures.

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The crews fought the fire from the street side (and these shots are all of the courtyard side), so the first evidence of their efforts were streams of water shooting over the top of the roof. Eventually we could see firefighters using hoses from tall ladders.

3:56 am4:02 amAfter: 4:02 am

One thing I hadn’t counted on was the noise. The sound of breaking glass was amazing, and every once in a while you’d hear the crunching of, I assume, fixtures and furniture falling, and perhaps even floors collapsing.

Another thing that surprised me is that there was almost no shouting or hysteria. If you’d had your windows closed, you might very well have slept through the whole thing. The sirens may have been loud on the street, but in the courtyard they were quite muted.

This morning’s news says that 15 apartments were burnt out, but that no one was hurt. There’s a short news video here.

Grundtvigs Kirke

Lisbeth and I rode up to Grundtvigs Kirke today. (Kirke is church in Danish.) By European standards, this is a very new church, having been completed in 1940.

Grundtvig's Church, as seen through the Bispebjerg cemetaryLisbeth, looking at Grundtvig's churchGrundtvig's Church

Grundtvig (1783 to 1872) was a Danish theologian and priest who had a major impact on the church and education in Denmark. In addition to writing around 1500 hymns, he is credited for the creation of the “Højskole” schools — specialized schools that are still around today.

Lisbeth at Grundtvig's churchGrundtvig's church doorGrundtvig's church

The front the church, in my opinion, looks like a nuclear warhead. Lisbeth thinks it looks more like the pope’s hat (which, she admitted, also looks like a nuclear warhead.)

Grundtvig's santuaryGrundtvig's sanctuaryGrundtvig's santuary

The inside of the church is undecorated, and surprisingly beautiful. It’s very much unlike the vast majority of churches I’ve seen. There are no pews, for example. (Apparently there were originally.)

Grundtvig's santuaryThe organ at Grundtvig's churchThe organ at Grundtvig's church

There’s an incredible pipe organ opposite the altar — I’ve certainly never seen anything like it.

The organ at Grundtvig's churchGrundtvig's santuaryGrundtvig's church, from the side

As you can see in the first row of pictures, the church is next to a massive cemetery. Danish cemeteries are hard to describe and hard to photograph, but they’re beautiful. Each grave is offset with hedges, and there are trees and flowers everywhere. In fact, take the graves away, and it’s a beautiful park in its own right.

‘grats to the grads

It’s gradation time, and city is alive with the shouts and singing of thousands of happy and drunk eighteen year olds. Seeing legally drunken teenagers is weird, and their mode of transport is pretty strange too.

No seatbelts for us!Oh we're going to be hurting tomorrow!Take more pictures!

That’s right. They ride around the city all day in big trucks, some of which are clearly used to haul hay and cattle normally. They start in the morning with breakfast and drinks at one of the kid’s houses, and then they pile into the truck, and go to another kid’s house, where they have another drink, and so forth. They generally try to visit each kid’s house, so even for a class of 12… well, they get drunk — no question about that. The rest of the night is spent climbing on statues, fumbling with zippers and condoms, and throwing up outside bars.

It sounds terrible (except, perhaps not if you’re the one graduating), but there is a certain rationale to it all. I’ve asked a number of Danes about it, and they point out that the kids are going to get drunk anyway, so why not in a setting where they are accompanied by sober adults (a parent or hired driver is the only one that gets behind the wheel). Furthermore, since they are visiting each house, parents have a chance to prevent drunk kids from getting super-drunk.

But it’s still hard to get used to — especially the attitude of the adults. Last year I was watching a swarm of grads stumbling around and shouting, and one of my Danish friends smiled at them and said to me, “Isn’t it great to see young people having fun?” That’s amazing to me, because so many American adults, seeing a truckload of un-belted drunk teenagers shouting and waving bottles of beer around would call the police immediately.

But that’s a major difference. In Denmark the legal drinking age is fifteen. That means you can buy alcohol, but you can’t drink in a bar until you are eighteen. So a Dane is drinking legally six years before most Americans, and drinking in bars three years before most Americans.

I only know two things. First, the longer I live in Europe, the more bizarre it seems that most Americans can’t legally drink until they’re twenty one. Second, regardless of what your position is, these kids are having a lot of fun.

Around Midnight…

Up until recently I’ve done long-exposure shots using the camera’s “self-portrait” timer because touching the camera to trigger the shutter blurs the shot. Using the timer works, but it’s frustrating because you can’t always anticipate the action you’re trying to capture. The shortest setting is two seconds, and that’s a long time.

Rådhusplassen, as seen from VesterbrogadeWhere H.C. Andersen and Vesterbrogade meet..._Probably_ the best beer in town

I just got a wireless remote (Nikon ML-L3) and now I don’t have to anticipate shots anymore. These are the first pictures I took with the remote. They don’t do a fantastic job of demonstrating captured action (trains, after all, aren’t all that unpredicable), but I thought they were post-worthy pictures.

The tracks near Dybbølsbro stationThe tracks near Dybbølsbro stationThe tracks near Dybbølsbro station

I took these on one of the longest days of the year, at midnight, and, especially in these last shots, you can tell it never got fully dark.

Dybbølsbro stationDybbølsbro stationDybbølsbro station

Castles, gardens, and happy accidents

On Saturday, Lisbeth and I decided to see some sights outside of Copenhagen. I wanted to see a castle I’d seen pictures of, but I couldn’t remember the name, so she picked out Fredensborg Palace because she’d never seen it before.

One of many paths in the Fredensborg Place gardenPath to the lake in Fredensborg Palace

Fredensborg Palace was completed in 1726, and is home to the royal family during the autumn and spring. It is surrounded by a “slotshave”, or “castle garden”, which impressed me more than the palace itself. The garden has long straight paths that radiate out from the palace, and most of them are stunning canopies of folaige.

The shore of Lake Esrum, near Fredensborg PalaceThe shore of Lake Esrum, near Fredensborg PalaceLake Esrum, near Fredensborg Palace

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Summer at latitude 55

It’s still a month until the longest day of the year, but the days are already quite long — currently about 17 hours. I took these tonight, the first at 10:30 pm, and the second at 10:50 pm, and you can see the sky is still somewhat blue, even an hour from midnight.

dusk at 10:30 pm still not dark at 10:50 pm

It sounds great (and it is — don’t get me wrong, especially after a long, dark winter), but there are disadvantages.

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