-seeing your photographs - bent said over coffee and rolls at breakfast - you should go to sydhavn, it is a working class district with an area that is similar to christiania.
there had been evening slide shows of where i had been that day and seeing that i spent more time in town than at the castle, sydhavn had been the designated destination. claus agreed and the maps were brought out to find the closest s-bane station.
claus also mentioned that if i were around kongens nytorv that afternoon - i would be as i had to be social seeing people who were at the opening along bredgade that afternoon - during daylight hours - i should ring him and we’d head over to the photographic centre.
the day wasn’t promising as getting down from the train i felt that i was in east london. tower blocks, wide commercial roads, few shops. what were they thinking. i also forgot and had too much coffee which with the temperature had me constantly searching for restrooms. another universal trait - gasbars with toilets.
strained a bit to get started, went for the mélange that restaurants offered - the indian restaurant that offered pizza, the grill that served not only hot dogs and burgers but also chinese and thai food. tried to work with the grounds in the tower blocks to no avail. except for borgbjergvejs with some shops. i was thinking this a bust.
the outing started looking up past mozarts plads where there were front gardens and christmas remnants. noticed all the streets were named after composers.
tried to work in the usual way but the streets were too rectilinear to have any success as it seemed that i could see forever and thus no hint at surprises. the tower blocks didn’t help.
so down glücksvej to wagnersvej and a small part of greenery where the morning was saved. hf (haveforeningen/garden co-operative) frederikshøj which seemed to be a series of allotments that people moved in with summer houses and now permanent ones.
from being starved with stimulus to being over stimulated i had to stop and gather myself. this was a place where serendipitous finds would be on overload and my usual way of working would mean - although i wouldn’t know it - missing countless potential photographs. due to this i turned the area into a 70’s landscape sculptor’s exercise and walked down every pathway.
it was like heading into a large retrospectve after you have paid some enormous price at the museum. even though your mind is becoming distracted and actions, mechanic you press on as you don’t want to waste the money.
i wish that i had come without the digital - even though and probably because - the place screams out for colour. i was tired of switching back and forth between quicky tourist snaps and serious work. i also found that the colour made the surreal aspects of the area stand out more quickly, i didn’t have to actually look at the snap, whereas the tonal equality of the black and white meant things could be missed the way they could be walking through frederikshøj.
leaving it was time for the afternoon social sessions but i had to photograph the shops along mozartsvej as it seemed that i had been transformed into the documenter of cafés and købmand shops.
-hvad kamera er denne? or something like that
-unskold engelsk?
-what camera do you have?
a painter asked me and we went on the various qualities of the sony v nikon. going though the point that i only bought it for the live view variable angled monitor.
but i also stated that having spoken a photograph had to be made. he called out his friend and made two one of which may work as again the reaction time of digital kills everything.
hey you, you.
i heard while i was trying to photograph a rack of clothing by a park fence but couldn’t for as soon i got into position an annoying woman went over to it and inspected every garment on it. when she was through she wouldn’t leave the area enough to make the image.
hey you why don’t you photograph the homeless. john jensen said as i was crossing the street toward him.
mainly because in doing so people tend to see not an individual but a type and thus assess blame on him and justify the reason he is homeless. i photograph what is left by you mixed in with things that are left so that people aren’t quite sure, cannot assess blame and i hope are aware of the problem when they pass what could be the possessions of you.
it was only now that i found it odd that this conservation was being carried out in english in a working class area with a homeless gent. we continued the conversations talking about the similarities between hus forbi and streetwise. he knew of the nyc and london papers. the conversation would be interrupted by him greeting and conversing with the shoppers heading into irma. he wasn’t really homeless as being homeless he could get money from the government but then they would own him. he lived in a tent nearby wanted to be his own man and thus chose not to go on the dole.
made his photograph which should be on the way to him at irma in mozartvej as i write this. i ended up at the sjælør station for trip to the afternoon socials.
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