We who live in the southern part of Sweden often visit Denmark. Good food, nice people, lovely architecture and several great art museums. This time we had a nice surprise – snow! I have never seen a piece of Denmark in snow, and some Danes hadn’t either it seemed…
The walk from the train to Louisiana art museum is a treat with the lovely architecture – different in every house.
The park at Louisiana was the main attraction this time – not only because of the snow. We had excellent weather with a cold sun and no wind.
People were photographing everywhere, the snow and the calm sea. It is Sweden at the other end of the water. 20 minutes by ferry.
We spent a lovely hour walking around the grounds. Sculptures, installations and special art spread out everywhere.
A day of serenity
The small island at the horizon is a Swedish piece of land. Hven, the home of the famous astronomer Tycho Brahe. His observations are generally considered to be the most accurate of his time. (16th century)
There is something special with old country roads…Every autumn we walk some kilometers along this country road, and I guess you might recognize parts of it, even if it changes over the years. But, that is one of the reasons why I like to photographs this walk every year.
This part of our neighbouring village was always an agricultural area with many small farms.
Today farming is mostly a business for big farms with much land and large machines to work it.
This house is a typical old farmstead, but I am not sure anyone lives here anymore. It looks abandoned – even though you can see furniture and lamps if you look in the windows. There are even withered house plants in some of them, and a sign with the owner’s name. It looks like the owners just walked out the door left it that way.
Old wagons and tractors are left at the road side or in an abandoned garden.
I feel sad looking at it, because farmers work hard every day, every hour on their land – but as they grow old, they reach a point where they cannot manage it any longer. Being a farmer is a lifestyle, and that must be hard to give up.
There must be a few farmers still working though, because there is cattle in the small fields and meadows.
Aren’t they beautiful, making bypassers feel the harmony and the beauty of the landscape! I wonder what their story is…
Welcome Jez, our guest host this week – and the theme is all about reflections. Please go to his site for marvelous inspiration – and Lensy of course…
The first thing I thought about, was reflections from the Amazon basin. Our canoeing through the djungle every day, searching for anacondas, cajmans, lizards, sloths, monkeys and birds. The silence and the dense forest with all its sounds (!) was an unforgettable experience.
Autumn in Sweden also makes for canoeing and colourful experiences. Sometimes so intense for short glimpses, that you just have to photograph it even if you don’t have a managable angle. Incredible light.
Then again, days of mist make beautiful, dreamy images. I used to pass this old mill every day on my way to work – but often I stopped to walk for some minutes, contemplating the beauty of this worn building. I know she is an old lady, ageing beautifully and admiring her reflection in the water.
Art is of course a great possibility for seeing double – a contemplating man and…
Yayoi Kusama in Denmark
More of Denmark – a new complex built with different reflections…even the sky fits in.
Seeing double is all about reflections – easily made into a photographic obsession. Jez wants any reflections we come across; landscapes, cityscapes or chance ones in a puddle. We are looking forward to seeing all your entries!
Last week’s responses to Aletta, Now At Home, with her challenge of Treasures, were fantastic. So many amazing and varied examples. Next week it’ll be Andre of My Blog–Solaner, thinking about Summer Vibes, so make sure you get over to his site for inpiration.
The rest of July:
July 23 – Tracy, who posts at Reflections of an Untidy Mind, has chosen Surrealism.
July 30 – Sarah Wilkie, who hosts Travel with Me, asks you to share Three Favorite Images.
A new challenge prompt is posted each Saturday at noon EST. If you’re new to the challenge, click here for more info.
Please link to the original post and use the Lens-Artists tag. And, as always – stay safe and kind.
Tina has chosen Light for this challenge –
I am forever chasing light. Light turns the ordinary into the magical.
–Trent Parke
The most crisp and serene light ever, is to be found in Iceland. So, for a starter, an image from north western Iceland, that I have posted before. I have done nothing to enhance or change the original. It has it all – natural, clear Light.
I could have chosen so many images from Iceland – but only one more pick – the graveyard. There is the light, and the beauty of flowers, mountains and water. A well chosen place to rest.
A couple of days in Denmark last week was refreshing. We visited the biggest sandcastle in the world (- now in the Guinness Book of Records). It was raining when we arrived at the sculpture park, so I took a photo before it would get even worse… The second photo was taken about two hours later – as when we were leaving the park, the sun came out! The most significant difference is the colour of the sand, and how much more alive the feeling is in the second photo.
In Aarhus we wanted to visit their famous art museum, ARoS – but also the harbour area with its modern architecture. They were still building new there, and at a traffic light I opened the window and photographed some of the constructions. The next morning we went there again to see more of this interesting area. This time we parked the car…To our great delight, now the light and the clouds made the visit an almost surreal experience.
I leave you with a favourite image made at the Fluela Pass in Switzerland. At our hotel they featured a big poster of bikers riding along the spectacular pass road, and we were eager to see this the following day. While we were aiming for a couple of interesting villages, we were also on the lookout for ”The View”. To our great disappointment, there was no ”view”…there was only a lake and a mountain. Quite ordinary. But, when returning to our hotel in the afternoon, taking the same road, this magnificent view suddenly opened up. Magical! The right time of the day, the right angle, and the right light. I learned something that day. About patience, and waiting for the magical moment to arrive.
We hope you will join us this week for Tina’s inspiring theme for LAPC #162: It’s All About the Light. Many thanks for last week’s fun Feet and Shoes. There were many smiles as we saw the variety of your responses! This week your challenge is to share images that illustrate the power of light – even better if you also include the same or a similar scene at a different, somewhat less beautiful time. Remember to link your post to Tina’s original, and to use the Lens-Artists Tag to help us find you. Finally, we hope you’ll join us next week as Amy leads us on her Share and Connect post. Until then, please stay safe and be kind.
This week Ana invites us to the world of postcards! I am old enough to have received and sent hundreds of postcards, but I admit I haven’t kept them all. – Ana says: ”You can show us some of your pictures that you would send as postcards to someone you love. Or you can simply share with us images of your favorite places.
If you have a garden full of flowers, show us a beautiful and colorful collection of floral postcards. It doesn’t need to be your garden, It can also be your neighbour’s.
If you have some real postcards it would be great if you would like to share them with us, I’m sure they have a nice story behind them.”
I will start though, with a couple of my own images, that I would have loved to send as postcards to my friends – from the Verzasca valley in Italy and from Reykjavik. They have something important to say about their place, with no words needed on the picture page – only on the other side of the picture. I used to write quite a lot when I sent my cards, loving to reveal details and experiences. Nowadays the joy is not the same – I agree with Ana – sending an mms is another story…
My box opened, I sat for hours today, in memories, reading messages from near and far, from people long since gone, old friends, collegues and relatives. Birthday greetings, words of wisdom…the upper card on the right saying:
Life is not about the days we have lived, but the days we remember.
I picked some different cards, from people I love and loved, and remember some places where I have been a visitor myself as well. The Acores I have been to several times – and always loved it. But this card comes from our neighbours who toured the world (in 2003 I think). Sometimes the cards are not dated, and the stamp not clear enough to read.
Tenerife and Teide was a yearly visit when the children grew up. Wonderful nature and not much snow wintertime…We often went with friends and children the same age as ours. The lovely Moomin valley in Finland was such a treat – for us grown-ups as well! Many Swedish families visited Finland when the Moomin series were on TV.
Bretagne shows a postcard in a postcard – rather beautiful I think. And then Kashmir, my cousin worked for many years in Pakistan and the area around there, as an ambulance nurse. He sent me cards to calm me down – showing he was still alive. So, the reason for sending cards vary!
The green, middle card, is from a painting made by a local artist – now dead since long. But I met him several times, a very special man. He had a nice pottery too. The forest motif was painted from my home forest.
The last two cards both came with encouraging messages from dear friends. One soft and sweet, the other one fiery – Cards And Senders… In fact I find it interesting to notice how different people pick so different cards to send. And handwriting – that is no more – was an amazing way of showing your personality. Times gone by…
As for the opener, I have featured a postcard from my daughter when I finally had set up my glass house – Oh, the joy! So, in my family, we still send handwritten messages to each other. Feeling the warmth!
Thank you, Beth, for taking us along so many lovely country roads! Please visit the excellent work done by all the previous guest hosts this month:
John Steiner of Journeys With Johnbo – “On the Water”
Anne Sandler of Slow Shutter Speed – “Black and White”
Rusha Sams of Oh The Places We See – “Getting Away”
Beth Smith of Wandering Dawgs – “Along Back Country Roads”
Remember to link to Ana’s post and use the Lens Artists tag. Next week, we will return to our regular schedule. On Saturday, August 7, Patti will host LAPC #160 Your inspiration, which can be a place, a subject, a person, a book–just about anything that inspires you.
Until then – stay kind and safe.
In the early morning, I decided to drive out to the open fields to listen to the skylarks – my thrill this lovely day. And yes, they had arrived, and I heard them singing as soon as I opened the windows. I saw cranes ploughing high up in the sky and I heard swans trumpeting.
For Debbie’s SixWordSaturday. The photo was taken through a stained glass mirror.
Goodbye 2020 – Happy New Year!
Thank you All in the blogosphere for helping us stay reasonably sane this year ♥ We made it so far, and I believe there is a light in the tunnel for 2021. Take good care of yourselves and each other – hope to see you soon again! – Ann-Christine
I felt once more how simple and frugal a thing is happiness: a glass of wine, a roast chestnut, a wretched little brazier, the sound of the sea. Nothing else.
― Nikos Kazantzakis, Zorba the Greek
We all needed a break, so we went to the west coast for a day. To walk by the sea. To sit in the fresh breeze. To wash away November mood.
We are like islands in the sea, separate on the surface but connected in the deep.
― William James
Leya 
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