On this mild October morning I had an hour to spend on Christianshavn before the start of my mindfulness class. It was a grey day though no rain to threaten my camera. I don’t know where the idea came from to photograph what came after the lovely flowers, but I got so caught up I was almost late for class.
Two months earlier it looked like this:
Remember the gorgous hollyhocks from Christianshavn? Such as this one…
Well, they look a little different in late fall.
The interesting question to me is: How does this make you feel? My first reaction was a melancholic feeling of sadness. But try to look at it a little closer. Once I detached from the idea that flowers need to be colorfull and in bloom I began seeing this as truly beautiful. Less flashy, to be sure, but no less beautiful.
The Round Tower (Rundetårn) in Copenhagen is 38.5 meters high and was built by King Christian IV between 1637 and 1642. It is unual in that there are no stairs inside but a spiral ramp that leads you to the top of the oldest functioning astronomy observatory in Europe.
This shot is from the Lucia celebration at my children’s school. On the 13’th they walk around with candles singing songs to the Italian saint Santa Lucia. For some reason she is very popular as part of the Christmas celebration on Scandinavia. Perhaps because she is associated with light at the darkest time of the year.
Tea lights in a Georg Jensen brass candle holder. This is what makes winter in Denmark bearable.
My local café, Ingolfs Kaffebar, has these little neon coloured plastic Christmas trees on the tables. I don’t know why I find them so charming, perhaps because I haven’t seen fake trees not trying to look like trees before.
Another shot of Magasin – the Christmas lit warehouse on Kongens Nytorv, Copenhagen.
I realized that unless I want to share Christmas inspired photos way into January, I need to post twice a day for a little while. Fall pictures in the spring is okay but not Christmas in January.
The large department store, Magasin, is illuminated like this every Christmas. Probably not very original but I love the way it looks.
Right at the beginning of December I had the chance to spend an hour trying to capture the Christmas lights in Copenhagen. I admit that they are fairly modest but I also think there is a beauty to the understatement.
Karins Fotos 