Staging product placement?

Now, this picture may make the most sense to you, if you are a Dane - or speak Danish. Therefore, here goes a translation and explanation: The sign says "Det danske vejr er Gajol vejr", which translates into "The Danish weather is Gajol weather ". Gajol is a Danish cough drop, making the slogan well suited for a country with some quite, let's just say, schizophrenic weather, where sun may quickly turn into bitter-cold wind and rain - and an accompanying cold.

However, once in a while the Danish weather shows its more pleasant face, like on the day this picture is taken. I was strolling down Vesterbrogade, a central avenue in Copenhagen, together with a friend of mine, enjoying one of the first real spring days here in DK, when we came across this neon sign. Now, that kind of ad board has been around for ages, making it as central a part of some cities as the town hall or well-known tourist attractions. Just think of Piccadilly Circus in London or Times Square in New York - or, for my Danish readers, the Irma hen by Dronning Louises Bro.

While these signs definitely demand attention at night, at daytime they normally seem more anonymous. But this Gajol ad is actually quite brilliant (pun intented), as it, whether planned or not, works as product placement with all the sky as its stage. On this day, the slogan came across with a positive note, however, no matter the weather, the sign fits - because the changeableness of the weather IS the essense of the message.

So, in an age when micro-targeting through social media is replacing - or at least competing with traditional mass media advertising, this sign, to me at least, still works. It's concise, it's culturally adapted (let's face it, we Danes speak of the weather quite a lot), and it's brilliant. Nothing more, nothing less.

What do you think?

Reaching for the sky

This picture is taken in Sevilla in Spain during this summer at the Plaza de España, an impressive half-circle plaza with beautiful buildings along the edge. It is located in the large and serene Parque María Luísa and is built in 1929 for the Spanish-American Exhibition.

Standing at the bottom of this tower, which is near one of the ends of the half-circle building, I looked up as the sun hid behind a cloud for a second. The light that resulted was bright, yet a little dusty, and it gave the view, looking up along the tower and seeing the clouds floating past on the deeply blue background, a certain feel to it that called for a camera shot - one of many at this square

Sky in flames

First of all, welcome to my new blog, which is kind of an experiment of mine. Here I will be showing you some of the photographs, which I love taking. I have a passion for expressing myself through artwork and photography and have long had a wish to share my pictures with others. Therefore, I decided to launch this blog solely dedicated to be a photo-creative channel of expression, accompanied by my thoughts and associations around the subject.

The photo I chose for my first post is taken in a city in Denmark called Aarhus. It made me think of a song by the Danish band Gnags called 'Lav Sol Over Aarhus', which translates into 'low sun over Aarhus.

It is taken on a perfectly ordinary, but cold, clear and beautiful afternoon, when the sky suddenly broke out in flames! Sunsets are often beautiful and the subject of many a picture around the globe, however, this time I really felt it was spectacular! Whether it was my good mood that day or the sunset in itself, it truly left me breathless and in a hurry to dig out my camera from my backpack in order not to miss the opportunity to immortalize that exact sunset.