Skip navigation.

Duplo's blog

- Just another blog on the internet -

STICKY POST

Seasonal Photo Networks

, , , ...

Current season is SUMMER :smile:
Please click the photo to the left to go to my "Greenlandic Summer Photos 2009" Gallery
Below are the links to the seasonal photo groups, please refer to the individual group for a complete list of Galleries:
- Spring Photo Network
- Summer Photo Network
- Autumn Photo Network
- Winter Photo Network
- Christmas around the world



Want to know more? Maybe join us? visit the individual photo group to learn how :smile:

STICKY POST

Location of my visitors.

Take a look at the map below, a Canadian blog gave me the idea and to be honest I like it... Now it is possible to see where the visitors to my blog are located...

Locations of visitors to this page


Do take care you all:D

Thomas

Utah, so different, yet similar...

, , , ...

Hi All,

And welcome to another Duploworld update:)

Well the tittle kind of says it all, Utah was the destination, I have come to love this state.
It has mountains and some areas are almost as desolate as what we have where I live.
The upside, especially in August is some very pleasant temperatures in the high +90F range once you reach the desert:)

Well on this trip I flew in to Denver CO where I met up with a very good friend of mine.
B had driven his truck all the way from Baltimore just for us to have the chance to hang out and have fun.
From Denver we followed the Colorado River west and then South.

Highway 128

The trip from Denver and until we hit Highway 128 was great, but Hwy 128 was where we truly started to feel at home, we made numerous stops on the way, such as the one depicted above, but also got a chance to stop by the Old Dewey Bridge
Anyway Hwy 128 took as all the way to Moab and well it is no surprise that Moad is located right south of one of the many scenic National Parks in Utah.
Sunflower

A thing that surprised me the amount of flowers we saw along the way, the sunflower above was one of many we drove past and I guess there is little surprise in the fact that I had to grab a shot of it:)

Delicate Arch

The image above, while I guess a standard shot, spells out where we spend most of our time - "Arches National Park"
The image is from our first evening outing, after having spend a day scouting around Delicate Arch and Skyline Arch, we decided that weather looked about right for a good sunset outing near Delicate Arch and why not grab the chance to catch our own versions of this classic and very beautifully located arch.
Only downside was the huge amount of people present there, but I managed a few without people spoiling my image and above is probably the best of them.

Skyline Arch

We hiked pretty much every every trail in the park, managed to do half a day worth of 4x4 off road fun and Arches is one photogenic National Park. The images presented in this post are shot in the golden hour around sunset or dusk, but the Park is actually quite amazing at any time a day or night.
There is one big downside to the place though. It is a park where the hiking opportunities are pedestrian at best, we did not manage to find a single trail that too even a small amount of effort to complete.
This becomes a downside as the park becomes rather crowded at all times a day, so if you are in for a silent walk in amazing nature this is just not the place to go. The nature is amazing but you will see plenty of other people no matter where you go.
Now the upside is that this park is nearly perfect if travelling with children, just remember to bring plenty of water as the desert is hot and dry, I consumed an average around 6-8 liters while outdoors and my body needed it.

Now as said we saw most of the park and pretty much all the arches in it and it was a real photographers paradise to hike and drive. B and I had plenty of time to both scout location and wait for the right moments.
The images below concluding this post is to me a perfect example of what preparation, timing and a touch of luck will do for you. There are plenty of additional images from the trip HERE and one of the really cool upsides to travel with a professional photo journalist is that this time around there are images with me in them:)

Skyline Arch at dusk


Thanks for reading, your compliments and patience with my irregular posting pattern:)
Do take care you all:)

Thomas

Amazing how wonderful life can be...

, , , ...

Hi All,

And welcome to a hopefully long awaited Duploworld update.

I have been away for quite some time again, not necessarily because I wanted to, but the real world has been keeping me so busy that updating this blog has been difficult.

Fair to say though that since my last post, my life has been turned upside down, pulled inside out and I am currently feeling better than I have done in years :happy:

A large part of that reason actually grew from my visit to the peak of Sermitsiak, but I will save that particular story for another day :wink:

I have been hiking extensively, travelling both in Greenland and an extremely beautiful part of the US, not to mentioned passed over Denmark a few times, so I have been a busy and happy boy for a couple of months now :happy:

The US story and the trips to Deer Prong Mountain and Qingaaq, I will save for another post later this week, The focus of this post will be to share a round of summer photos and stories from the very beautiful Ilulissat.

The most beautiful place in the world?

Ilulissat, may or may not be the most beuatiful places in the world, but The Icefiord, where above image was captured, sure must be among them.
It has recently been included on UNESCO's world heritage list and that fact alone tells a lot about the unique nature of this place and the stunning beauty which can be experienced here.
Golden Ice

A visit to this area during daylight, impressive as it is, is nothing compared to what happens here when the last days of the midnight sun, starts its game during night.
It gave me a whole new meaning to the term "Golden hour", here it is a powerful and 2-3 hour long experience where colours are changing rapidly in an aboslutely amazing display.
Iceberg

I have never made a secret out of my fascination with this area of Greenland and each new visit seems to bring with it a better understanding of its truly unique nature and stunning light.
Summer is a fantastic season to experience this area, as is winter, autumn or spring.
Amazingly enough there is so much more to this area than shown above....
Fin Whale

Another popular sport is whale whatching, there are an abundance of different whales up along the Greenlandic Coast. the Fin Whale shown above (estimated to a little over 20 meters by the captain) is somewhat rare to see and extremely fast. from a visual point of view it is impressive, but not as fun as the humpbacks, as it rarely shows its tail. But an amazing experience none the less.
Oqaatsut (rodebay)

Oqaatsut is a small settlement a couple of hours (by boat) North of Ilulissat and having the chance to stop by there was an interesting experience, save for it being an odd location for a gourmet lounch restaurant during summer, it is a native fishing and hunting comunity and probably one of the most relaxed places I have ever been.
By the soccer field

The people living here, lives by the hand of nature, hunting and fishing from either boat or dog sled.
It is a settlement so small that no roads exist, there are small trials from the harbour to the houses and dog yards, but aside from that it is basically a small number of woodenhouses situated in the middle of nothing but amazing Greenlandic nature and the Disco Bay.
Nattoralik, by Sermeq Kujalleq

Sermeq Kujalleq or the Icefiord Glacier, is a stunning and dangerous place.
Only way to get there is by helicopter and the ride in there is an experience that I am not likely to forget ever, a truly stunning display.
It is however a glacier that one does not want to walk. more than 7 kilometers wide and moving at a speed of 20 meters per day, means that Sermeq Kujalleq calves off approx. 20 million tons of ice daily and makes it responsible not only for all the icebergs in the icefiord, but also 10 percent of all the icebergs in Greenland.
Sermeq Kujalleq

To understand the kind of force it takes to move all that ice is almost impossible to comprehend, and the endless view amazing. the photo above really does give no clue to the size, but i was simply unable to find a way to display its massive size and beauty.
What an experience it was though:)

Well that comcludes some of the impressions from the trip to Ilulissat.
I am in the process of updating the "Greenlandic Summer Photos 2009" album with a bunch of images as this post hits the blog, so go there if you have not had enough already.

an unusual iceberg

Above is th final image in this post and with that I will head for some sleep.
More posts to come over the next days, both from "Deer Prong Mountain", "Qingaaq" (another mountain) and my trip to the US. So do stay tuned for more in the days to come.

Thank you for reading and do take care:)

Thomas

Sermitsiak, what a mountain...

, , , ...

Hi All,

And welcome to a Duploworld update, about what for me has been a major experience, one of the better up here.
Our hike towards the peak of Sermitsiak.
I have been rewriting this post at least 10 times trying to figure out how best to convey the nature of this hike and the impact it had on both me and the other hikers.
I have come to the conclusion that this time around, there are no other way than to let the pictures speak for themselves. 11 hours of hiking is a lot, especialy as we hike our mountains from seal level to peak, there simply is no other way.
I have added a fwe other photos from the trip in the album, but the ones poster here are the ones that to me really spells out what this stunningly beautiful mountain really has to offer.

From the lower glacier edge


Peak view from the upper glacier wall


Spot the hikers


As said, I have a few more in the "Greenlandic Summer Photos 2009" album, but the 3 photos above really tells what it felt like hiking this mountain.
This Friday I am off to Ilulissat for a week and the weekend after I have a Sceduled visit to the peak of the Deer Prong Mountain, he peak in the center of this photo

Thanks for reading and do take care :smile:

Thomas

London, Copenhagen, Nuuk and more...

, , , ...

Hi All,

And welcome to yet another Duploworld update.

Ohh yeah, it has been a busy couple of weeks and I do not really know where to start, so much has been going on and so much to tell.
As usual with me, it involves either travelling or outdoor fun, but this time there is a few fun twists.

IBB graduate

This beautiful young girl graduated from IBB in Copenhagen, I had the pleasure to spend a load of time with her, including an hour worth of photography. I am rather proud of my wonderful sister.
She delivered a very very nice set of results during her final exams.
It was good fun to see her enjoy all the graduation parties that are a tradition in Denmark :D
London

Is such an amazing city, I simply love when I get the chance to go back there and take in the atmosphere.
Well a lot of the time was spend working, but I did manage to sneak in a few hours of photography, not to mention a dinner and beer with a good friend :happy:
Things does not get much better than that I think :happy:
Inspiration

The photo above kind of dropped out of nowhere while in london, Our well know master photog Allan and another master photog named Godfrey are two people that has served as my inspiration when doing photography like this and what i did in New York last time I was there, thus I think it is only apropriate to mention them here:)
Anyway I had a ball of a time and the weather was very unlike London sunny and super warm :confused:

A few more photos can be found in the "Europe 2009" gallery.
By the waterfalls

Well comming back to Greenland after a stay in warm and sunny Wurope turned out to quite a shoch at first 5 degrees, lots of snow in the mountains still, foggy all over and generally not very fun, however up to the weekend things cleared up :smile:
Sun came through and Sunday I had an amazing hike with a friend.
The area between the two closest mountains are loaded with waterfalls as the meting water is litterally thundering down from the mountains, quite a nice area, even though one has to be pretty careful to avoid getting a very chilly swim :smile:
Waterfalls

Above is another set of smaller waterfalls that we passed and that was good fun to be around, though the rocks in the water are extremely slippery, so a bit of care has to be taken, when taking photography gear out into the water :smile:

Last words from me this time around; I have heard rumours that we are going to attempt reaching the peak of the local trademark Sermitsiak, something tells me that it will be fun :smile:

Thanks for reading and do take care :smile:

Thomas

Summer is such a lovely time a year...

, , , ...

Hi All,

And guess what? Another Duploworld update already, seems I really am on my way back to a regular posting pattern :smile:

Just a summer sunset

Well sunsets like the ome above is a signature of summer in Nuuk. This particular one shot just after midnight Friday evening.
I spend the weekend along with a group of friends, deep into the fiords around Nuuk.
The real goal was in part to see what you see below.

Narsap Sermia

A tiny glacier hidden deep into the bottom of the fiord, but also just to enjoy the ice flakes swimming in the fiord this time a year and of course to do some hiking. Nothing like hiking the mountains here during summer, so different from the winter views and because the mosquitoes has not really caught on yet, it is a real pleasure to be outdoors :smile:

A random Ice flake


Now after having spend all Friday evning and Saturday morning watching ice flakes and all Saturday hiking, we decided to head toward a small closed down settlment that now serves as a summerhouse area called Qoornoq. Beautiful place and with a wounderful view to a muontain with a rather telling name

Bird Mountain at sunset


Now sunday was spend walking Qoornoq and the old fish factory. Wathing a lonely whale for a while, until it was time to head into the dense fog and try to find our way towards Nuuk.
Now the fog totally swallowed the mountains and barely a wind blowing made for a quite empty feeling.
a felling og sailing into nothingness.

Foggy waters

The photo above is a humble attempt to convey how it felt.
I will come back sharing a few more in a later post, but the above quick writeup will need to do for now, I still have some post processing I need to get done.

Have a great weekend all and do take care :smile:

Thomas

I promised a few photos before taking off on my next trip :)

, , , ...

Hi All,

A very prief Duploworld update, I am more or less on my way out the door, boat leaves in an hour or so :smile:
None the less i promised a few additional photos from the last trip, so here goes, this time around i think I will let the photos speak for themselves, they are pretty common to what one can expect from a trip to the Disco Bay area :smile:

The tip of the iceberg

Footprints

The Icefiord

Dog slep pup on adventure

Dog sled pup with a snack


Thanks for looking and do take care :smile:

I am off on another adventure... Ohh and only about halfway through the pictures from the last adventure, so lots more to come:)

Thomas

What really matters...

, , , ...

Hi All,

Actually feels a little odd writing a Duploworld update again after more than two (almost 3 actually) months of absolutely no activity on this blog. Something I am not very proud of admitting as I actualyl quite like community here and the people hanging around here.

I promised back then, that i would slowly be comming back and then stayed away for nearly 3 months, something that may actually not make a lot of sense, but there has been plenty of good reasons for it.
I do not really owe anyone an explanation, but I will at least try, without getting into too many details.

What really matters to me

Is what you see above, being out there in the rough arctic nature, camera in hand or on tripod and just taking in the solitude and magnitude of my northernly paradise.
I have been doing it when ever time permits and since my last post here, walked litterally hundreds of kilometers in the mountains and this ofcourse is largely an explanation of my absense from this community, I am out there where my passion lies - the arctic nature.

Ice covered fiord

Now to get to these places travel is often required and I do travel a fair bit around in Greenland and will be doing it much more durign this summer, I got another 10 days scheduled in the area around the disco bay, where the first photo in this post are from and thus marking the beginning of the "Greenlandic Summer Photos 2009" album.
The photo above is from the fiord in kangerlussuaq, all covered in ice during late spring, ice thick enough to walk on and too thick for any ships to reach the harbour. Winter has been long up here only, the last 2-3 weeks has marked the spring and the arrival of summer.
I have by the way updated the "Greenlandic Spring Photos 2009" gallery with about 20 new photos, the one above being one of them :smile:

The magic of the midnight sun

Now most you probably remember talks about a wedding and a move back to Europe and New adventures ahead.
Now it is no lie that this year so far has been new "adventures", it has formed nothing at all like I had imagined and I will cut the story short by saying that in many ways it has been perhaps the most difficult year for me emotionally ever.
Status is that for now i am staying where I am, in my arctic paradise. I am back in charge of my own life and while it has been difficult, it has also been and still is a completely new beginning.
A beginning where no things are being taken for granted and where my sole focus is on taking in as many adventures as I can possibly manage.

The downside is that my posts here are likely to stay somewhat irregular in pattern and at times a little far in between. It will also mean that I will be a rare guest on the blogs that i like to read, but you are all in my thoughts and I will do my outmost to follow up on what you are doing, even though it will not be on a regular basis.

What I can promise though, is that you will still be able to enjoy images of my arctic paradise on this very blog, photography has proven the one consistent part of my life and who I am.

Iceberg at night

So with the photo above I will end this very personal, yet probably incoherent update on what has been and is going on in my life.

Thanks for reading and as allways do take care :smile:

Thomas

Pure and unrefined magic

, , , ...

Hi All,

Well actually did not intent a Duploworld update at this late hour, but tonight has quite simply been nothing short of amazing.

Sometimes all it takes to experience a moment more magic than ever, is crystal clear skies, -15C, a one hour snowscooter drive to 800 meters altitude, strong wind and just a tiny bit of luck.

All of the above made for what is probably one of the most magic moments visually in my life.

Pure Magic

Now, I wrote in my previous post that life is good sometimes, tonight it was pure and unrefined magic. Nothing more, nothing less :happy: and above photo sums it up perfectly I think.

Thanks for looking and do take care :smile:

Thomas