I went to shoot a ballet rehearsal earlier today. It was for a different newspaper than I shoot for regularly.It’s fun to watch how the choreography of the ballet is basically made on the fly to fit the music. Having seen the rehearsal makes me kinda sad that I don’t get to shoot the real show with better light and the real costumes.

So we’ve had two freaking days with snow so far. And that was in the beginning of November. We’ve had two days with temperatures below freezing. And it’s the 27th of December!We’ve set new heat records for the past three months in a row! Daily average is around 7-8 degrees celsius (about 45 degrees fahrenheit). It’s nuts!So there’s no use for these.This pictures was actually shot for a story on how the city will have a shit load of snow plows just standing around when maintenance of streets etc. will be handled by the cities and not by the county after new year due to reorganizations.

Craig was asking me a few questions about the caravan fire assignment I did the other day. I decided I would give you an insight as to how I approached that shoot.Arriving at the scene the very first thing I do is scan the area to get an idea of the magnitude of the damage done. I spend time just walking around, looking for details. Details that show that this is burned down caravans. I spent at least 5 minutes walking around without shooting any pictures. I’ll kneel down. I’ll try to see what the camera would see. Get an idea of what would look good before even shooting. What I’m trying to tell.From there I just try to capture some of the ideas I got while walking around.Not every idea works. This photo itself I think is cool but it doesn’t really tell the story. 4 caravans were burned down. PLUS a couple of cars. Yes the car has something to do with the story but at the same time not as much as showing the caravans.It was the second day in a row that caravans had been burned down so the relevance was with them, not the cars.I shot somewhere between 45-55 shots at that assignment. It’s so nice to pretty much have unlimited time at an assignment. That doesn’t happen a lot.

Apparently the cops have changed approach…The local police district will be reshaped next year. So some of the money they have which will not be available in the new district is being used in an unthinkable way.Bike riders who are stopped by the police for not having lights on their bikes (when required), they are given a set of lights instead of a ticket!So I was sent out to shoot a picture of somebody on a bike. It should be as dark as possible of course. And for the picture to make the most sense, I wanted to catch somebody without lights.At the same time I didn’t want it to be too dark. I stopped at a bigger intersection on my way home from the office waited for the right light and most importantly … somebody on a bike with no lights..

Imagine what mess and incredibly harsh smell the result of 4 caravans and a couple of cars being burned down leaves. That’s what I faced when I was sent out to shoot pictures of the mentioned “event”.I think these pictures speak for themselves.

Every December 13th, there’re Saint Lucia parades all over the country (explanation here). So I was assigned to cover a parade at a local school. Before the parade had started I had already made up an idea of what I wanted to shoot. Or how I wanted to shoot it. Some say it’s a bad idea to be locked into a certain idea on how something should turn out and that you should react as it happens. I agree on that but I also think it’s a good thing to be prepared!Anyway this shot is exactly what I was aiming to get.This being a parade with candle lights I wanted the candles to be part of the picture. Using a flash would pretty much dominate the candles and they wouldn’t be visible. It worked out better than I had hoped in the top photo.Trying to get the candles to show I would have to shoot slow shutter speed. I was working on panning to get something in focus. Unfortunately it turned out to be the dress that was in focus and not the face. It’s not too bad out of focus and I still think it gives it some kind of “mood”.The response on the paper wasn’t too good. They (actually just a journalist) had completely misunderstood what I was trying to accomplish..I was looking for something different.. This one didn’t turn out too well. The top picture was run in the paper.

I covered the last two games of the 2007 (though we’re still in 2006) World Junior Championships Division I games Denmark played.They lost this game but it was still enough to be claimed winners and advance to the top 10 nations group next year.Here are some images of the game and celebration. I apologize for the interview at the end being in Danish.

This was actually shot two months ago.Daycare personnel were unhappy about funds getting cut meaning more kids for less personnel. To display their anger towards this they made blockades at several daycare facilities forcing parents to either take a day off work or bringing their kids to work.I was assigned to cover the story and this photo ended up making the paper.Most of the parents were supportive of the decision to makes blockades but would have liked to be warned ahead of time so they didn’t have to drive to the daycare facility just to take off again WITH kid in car.

Shooting pictures of kids is a very touchy subject. There has been a great deal of cases with child pornography in Denmark. That has left everybody way paranoid. Me included being a photographer. Getting an assignment to shoot something with kids I always contact the highest authority on site. If I’m on a school I’ll contact the principal, telling them who I am and why I “need” a photo of kids.Once that’s done you rarely have to instruct kids. Holding a camera usually leaves the kids pumped.This picture is for a story on how kids in the local county is having more gym class hours than other schools around the country.

Assignment: Shoot portrait of a volunteer firefighterThe paper is running a story on a volunteer firefighter from the local fire department. I was assigned to do a portrait of him.The main story of the article is how they have to be ready to roll in 5 minutes from the time they get the call until the trucks leave the fire department with horns and lights and everything.So I thought it would be fun to show the firefighter in his street clothes and dressed from head to toe in their firefighter uniform.On a side note. I’m working on doing a 24 hours stint at the fire department, shooting a photo essay of their life at the station.