Part III of the stories behind my blog header film strip is the middle one…yes it was the middle one (sorry, bit of Monty Python there). This is shot about 3 kilometers from my flat and is Lake Peblinge and Søtorvet in Copenhagen, Denmark:
Doing travel photography is great fun, but often you don’t have the luxury of revisiting and reshooting a setting again and again so you may end up doing some of your best work back home. This is certainly true here, if you are familiar with my work you will see that this very spot is my favourite place in Copenhagen and a perfect place to shoot the setting sun.
I have hundreds of shots from exactly this spot, but this is the best so far in my opinion. It was shot in October last year, and all the elements seem to come together: the autumn colours, the clouds, the last bit of sunshine hitting the buildings just right and the water level in Lake Peblinge being very low after a warm dry summer (diametrical to this years summer!) Even people that live in Copenhagen cannot always place this shot having never seen it in this light or really paid attention to how beautiful the setting is. When you see something everyday your brain tends to filter out the familiar and I like it when people can’t actually tell that this is Copenhagen – I like reminding them how beautiful their own back yard can be.
If you live near a beautiful setting like this then shoot the same scene over and over as much as you can. Not only is it a good way to learn about the quality and colour of light at different times of the day and in different seasons, you are also guarantied to come away with some spectacular almost perfect shots. You don’t have to travel very far to shoot some masterpieces!
