Dilapidated Denmark



Arne Jacobsen designed Bellevista apartments - 1932-36, at Klampenborg are a sorry sight with paint peeling, crumbling balconies, cracks in the concrete and rotting wooden windowsills.
Copenhagen's Little Mermaid poses upon her pedestal of rocks avoiding the swathes of seaweed and tourist rubbish surrounding her.
Bleak vistas.

Denmark not taking care of their cultural heritage.


Snap happy


I have been enjoying the immediacy of documentation with my new smart phone, something I finally succumbed to purchasing. Hopefully now I will be better at capturing images of Sweden as part of my daily life, not just when I am on holiday, which is my current avenue for photography exploits. While I do not want to be a person attached at the hip (or the hand) to this mobile device, collating images of items of interest/daily curiosities can now become an ongoing occupation (for me along with the rest of the world).

FYI I am now present on Instagram under the moniker bruceanddeirdre.

Above are three buildings of interest - Heleneholms gatukök in dying light, small balconies on Vesterbrogade, Copenhagen, and the new mall monstrosity which is Emporia, Malmö. Actually I take the mall monstrosity comment back, I find the structure of Emporia quite fascinating.

More images to follow


Back To You

Claire has recently departed after an amazing two weeks in Scandinavia. Based in Malmö (where I currently reside) but also featuring a 4-day visit to Stockholm and a couple of day trips (perhaps night trips would be a more fitting phrase) to Copenhagen and its surrounds. In due course of our travels many photos were taken. With me equipped with a trusty point-and-shoot Konica film camera, and Claire with her Canon digital camera as well as her (smart) phone, we were armed to the hilt.
On looking through the accumulated snaps, a certain trend became rather apparent. And what was meant as documentation of two friends exploring three cities, ended up looking like Claire just followed me around in a rather stalkerish manner - a generous chunk of the images are of my back, or me in various stages or turning around. Perhaps there is now enough material for a 'Florence strides forth' tumblr or some such lunacy. But here let's keep things to only the choicest cuts.
My photos are due to be collected next week,and should hopefully even out the disproportionate number of Claire stalking Florence photos.

All photos by Claire Cooper.

PLACES: Drottningholm / Copenhagen / Drottningholm / Frederiksborg  / Stockholm / Frederiksborg /



From a Holiday































Diffust Deren - Sarah Jane Gorlitz / Ubåt U3 at Teknikens och Sjöfartens hus, Malmö / Chilled lobster on the street, Copenhagen / Window display at a Danish Auction House with polar bear and reflected surrounding architecture / Façade of Frederiksborggades Is ice cream parlour, Nørrebro, Copenhagen.

A small collection of photographs taken over Easter, 2011, when friends visited. Travels and adventures in Malmö and Copenhagen, when the weather stayed warm just for them it seemed, and as soon as the last one left, reverted to windy, chilling, and grey.

I prefer looking at holiday snaps in groups of five or so. Too many, and I lose interest, not enough, and I am unable to build up some sort of narrative or aesthetic connection between each image. I like to think of photographs 'fitting' with other photographs, I suppose that is why I have always held an interest in diptychs, jump cuts, film stills and so on and so forth, and the implicit/explicit nature of the pairings or collections - whether it be by colour, light, composition or subject matter, or the background and storytelling behind the images themselves.

One criticism about the referential nature of my art practice is that the audience is not necessarily privy to all the links, hints, references, plays-on-word and in-jokes behind them. Perhaps not, but maybe there is enough to build on by the aesthetic of the image/artwork itself.