After a sunny April, with temperatures in the double digits (!!!), spring’s flowers are giving way to fresh leaves. This round-up is quite packed, as I’ve had a bit of extra time for photography this month, and includes some spring woodland shots, a trip to Jutland, three very old oak trees, and the bricks of Carlsberg.
Spring woodlands
Early in April I visited Dyrehave, a deer park north of Copenhagen that used to be the hunting ground for Danish royalty (not that they would dirty their hands with the actual hunting..). It was a fantastic April day — blue skies and sun — and spring’s leaves were yet to grace much of the park. Bird life was also in full swing, and their calls were a welcome contrast to the silence of winter.
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Jutland trip
Gary and Liz also visited us in April, and we went for a trip to Jutland (western Denmark). A highlight was Den Gamle By (the old town) in Aarhus – an open-air town museum documenting Denmark from the 1600-2014 (yes, the early 2000’s are history now!). We also visited the Utzon centre in Aarlborg, named after Jørn Utzon, an architect known for his work on the Sydney Opera House. I’ve never really given the Opera House much thought (even as an Australian), but learning more about the story of its creation (and the intricacies of the design) has made me realise what a remarkable building it is.
I also finally got to tick the tallest* mountain (hill) in Denmark off my list. Himmelbjerget (The Sky Mountain) towers at 147 m above sea level. *Møllehøj is actually higher at 170 m, but Himmelbjerget has a more impressive height difference compared to the surrounding land.
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Spring vibes
As April progressed, the leaves grew, and there’s nothing quite like the vibrancy of spring leaves.
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Three old oaks
At the end of April, I also made it out for a bike trip to Nordskov, a forested area northwest of Copenhagen on the fjords. Nordskov is home to three very special oaks: Snoegen (the twisted oak), Storkegen (the stork oak), and Kongeegen (the king oak). The former two are dead, but were thought to have lived for 600-800 years. The latter is still alive, and is thought to be between 1500-2000 years old (perhaps one of the oldest living in Europe)! They have also inspired many Danish artists throughout the ages with their distinct forms.
For these old three, I’ve desaturated their bark to add contrast and give them a more ancient feeling.
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Bricks of Carlsberg
I also spent the better part of an April afternoon photographing the bricks of Carlsberg byen (the suburb that we live in). Why do this? Well, Carlsberg byen is a planned neighbourhood, and I think that the architects and designers have done a great job sticking to a consistent theme (bricks; mursten) that represents the history of the area (former Carlsberg breweries). Prior to moving here, I never appreciated the diversity of colours, textures, and patterns one could get with brickwork.
Getting consistent shots was a challenge (and not looking like a creep when the bricks were next to someone’s windows!). I ended up with ~100 photos, and I missed a couple of buildings that aren’t yet accessible due to construction. Enjoy.
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Misc
These two didn’t fit in any of the other articles, but I wanted to share them with you:
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Photo of the month
And here’s my favourite image of the month. Fresh leaves and flowers epitomize spring, and I love the effect of the central subject’s shadow on the leaves. Woodland shots can be quite chaotic (lots of branches and objects), so I’ve cropped it square to contain it, and added a bit of vignetting.
Interesting things I’ve read/watched
Learned about the interesting history, present issues, and possible future of the Great Salt Lake (Utah).
Pretty based video about how phones (and social media) are cooking our brains, plus some tips for managing them in your life.
Great article by Ben Stoller about the history of monopolies and fascism:
As West Virginia Senator Harley M. Kilgore noted in 1949 during debates over a key update to anti-merger law, “Germany under the Nazi set-up built up a great series of industrial monopolies in steel, rubber, coal and other materials. The monopolies soon got control of Germany, brought Hitler to power and forced virtually the whole world into war.”
Some great monopoly-related news:
1) Judge finds Google is a monopolist, this time for its control of the software and exchanges for online advertisements.
And the reason is Google has bought a bunch of companies and engaged in practices like tying its products together and excluding rivals from the market by restricting whether its customers can use non-Google services. As a result, Google’s middleman software services take between 30-50% of revenue spent by advertisers on ads meant for publications, instead of 1-2%.
2) Judge rules Apple executive lied under oath, orders the Apple App Store to open. This is pretty big, as Apple takes a 30% cut (wayyyy to much IMO) of transactions through the App Store (and there is no other legal way to install apps on Apple products). These fees apparently make up the bulk of Apple’s $100 BILLION dollar annual services revenue.
Til and I watched a fantastic, and thought provoking documentary about work, called After Work. It follows various people from around the world, and their relationships with work. From South Korea, where the work-life balance does not exist (it’s so bad that people don’t even have time for sex, and so the birth rate is < 0.7), to the wealthy oil nation of Kuwait. What would you do with your life if you didn’t have to work for money?
