the world looks a little different through the viewfinder

things are a little backwards, blurry and well, hazy on poppelvej today. i set out with cameras and lenses and TtV apparatuses (is that a word?) in hand, to have a think about the contract i received yesterday for my new job, while i enjoyed the sun on the fresh snow and the blue, blue sky. very soon, my feet carried me towards the scary new building in town that says, "skat" on it. and while "skat" is a term of endearment in danish, kind of like "honey," it also has another dreaded meaning. taxes. and the danish government does love its taxes. so i went to check out the tax implications of my new job, which actually aren't as bad as i feared. in fact, they're quite straightforward. the problem may be the work permit. according to the norwegian foreign ministry, it could take months. and i don't want to wait months. i want to start now! and the very nice girl at the embassy couldn't/wouldn't tell me anything either. i'm not from a problem country, am i?

or perhaps i am. let's face it, whether we like it or not, we're in the midst of GEC and it was caused by the mismanagers of the country on my passport. we should probably be blacklisted. i am in serious need of a different passport.

but enough about that. i just had to get it off my chest.

* * *

what i wanted to write about today was how often it happens that when i look through my photos on the computer, i discover things that i didn't notice while i was taking the actual photo. things like these little bitty droplets of water beside this daffodil that i cruelly and intentionally set out in the snow for the sake of macro lens photographs yesterday (click to enlarge and see the droplets on the upper flower).

or this bit of spider web or hair that's holding onto some snowflakes in this close-up of my twisty hazel tree:

or the way these macros i took of a reflection in a little mirror look positively ghostly. through my viewfinder, they were something else entirely.

and they were just reflections in this:

i love the capacity of photography to enable me to see things anew, fresh and differently. it makes the world a bit brighter and twistier. and i like that. even in the face of work permits and taxes. and i didn't even feel too ridiculous walking around with one camera stuffed inside a long tube made of a box from a bottle of calvados that was taped with brown duct tape onto another camera. that didn't look funny at all. or if it did, no one said anything. not that i expected them to. it is denmark, after all.