A snow storm had raged for several days in Horsholm just outside Copenhagen, Denmark in winter a couple of years ago. I’d wanted to get out for a walk, but it just wasn’t very inviting. Anyway, just after lunch I decided to go – I was fortunate to live right by the main church in Horsholm, with a magnificent lake surrounding it almost completely except an access road lined with trees – half way around the snow storm suddenly stopped and the clouds broke and the sun shone through. Seeing the most perfect views I raced back to the house to collect my camera and tripod to try to record as much as I could.
Horsholm Church, Horsholm, Denmark
That afternoon produced some of my best and most favourite pictures. I had had to work fast because daylight hours in Denmark in mid winter are short, by the time I’d taken a couple of rolls of film the light was starting to close in and I had to call it a day.
That evening I wasn’t sure if I’d captured anything significant. Sometimes when you photograph in snow the light meter gives underexposed readings and the photographs end up grey and dull. I posted off my films to a place in London that I used to use and waited till they arrived back the following week.
There really wasn’t much time to photograph many shots – there was so much that I wanted to photograph that I was literally grabbing one or two shots and then running a bit further round the lake to get more of the other scenes.
I tried to capture the stillness and beauty of the setting around the church. Over the months that I lived there I was able to watch the changes that the seasons brought.
Around the church on the east side of the lake are a long line of houses – old barns that perhaps once housed farm workers. The reflections in the water and the sun breaking through the clouds help give extra impact to the pictures.
View accross Horsholm Lake, Denmark
All these photographs were taken on a Hassleblad 501c film camera and used together with a manfrotto tripod. I always used Fuji Velvia or Astia 50 ASA film to get the sharpest possible images. Over the years of taking pictures as a hobby I’ve found that this combination of equipment has given me the best results, although now I’m starting to photograph more with digital, but I still much prefer to use a medium format camera and some really slow film.
View across Horsholm Lake & Houses