Picture of the week

The return of the Vikings (Sun, 21 Jun 2009)
The fabulous and feared ships of the Vikings is again ravaging through Roskilde Fjord in Denmark. This weekend the magnificent sight of these ancient vessels was again to be seen in numbers on the fjord. The international renowned Viking ship museum - Vikingeskibsmuseet - celebrated its 40th year anniversary this weekend with open house and 5.000 guests. Several of reconstructed Viking ships were sailing guests up and down the fjord. On the picture is “Havhingsten” which is the largest reconstructed Viking Ship in the world - modelled of one of the archaeological finds in Roskilde Fjord. Build in Roskilde this ship has crossed the ocean to Glendalough near Dublin in Ireland and back. “Havhingsten” is 30 meters long and has a crew of 60. Now the museum is planning to reconstruct an even larger ship - about 36 meters. *** Do you want to see more pictures? Check out my picture library at Søren Bergs site © Søren Berg
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Solar eclipse in Zambia (Sat, 13 Jun 2009)
Next month there will be a spectacular solar eclipse in Asia – covering cities like Shanghai in China. Would love to be there – experiencing one more solar eclipse. But not this time… June 21st 2001 I had the pleasure in Zambia in southern Africa. Placed directly in the center of the totality zone it was an extraordinary experience – a solar eclipse is at phenomenon you will never forget. We were located north of Lusaka on a farmer’s field. Just next to a village school and a tiny airstrip, where a DC3 was lifting wealthy tourists up for a closer look. We followed the Moon passing the Sun – slowly covering more and more of the light. Even when the Moon covered more than 95 percent of the Sun there was not really that much of a difference. Through the special glasses and filters you could see the change, but the light was still extremely bright, the afternoon heat still intense and everything was actually quite normal. Then the Moon suddenly switched off the Sun completely. The last beam of light disappeared and in seconds the temperature dropped several degrees. After about two minutes it was quite chilly and felt like the freshness just before daybreak. We could smell the humidity coming from the otherwise scorched earth. The birds silenced like at nightfall and even the insects stopped humming. All around us in the horizon – 360 degrees – we could see the frail light of daybreak. Plain weird. Above us the bright corona surrounded the black moon. For a brief moment, we saw the ring of pearls at one side of the Moon, where light slipped trough the uneven surface. A painful shot of light marked the end of the total eclipse. And in a minute it was day again. The heat kicked in, the sunglasses put back on, and nature woke up again. I photographed the eclipse with my old Canon Powershot Pro 90IS. Not really the optimum camera for this task, but I got a few pictures. During the partial eclipse I used silver foil as filter – very clumsy solution. I do hope the sky will stay clear for all those guys going to Shanghai and surroundings. *** Do you want to see more pictures? Check out my picture library at Søren Bergs site © Søren Berg
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Dancing with fire (Sun, 07 Jun 2009)
A Thai acrobat juggling with fire on the beach on the island of Koh Chang in Thailand. Every evening after sunset a group of acrobats are touring all the major resorts along the coastline. Accompanied by loud, heavy-beat music they perform their eye-catching show again and again making a living on the tourist tipping them. *** Do you want to see more pictures? Check out my picture library at Søren Bergs site © Søren Berg
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Burning UFO over Oregon (Mon, 01 Jun 2009)
Well, it is just a cloud lit-up by the setting sun. The perfect shape, the sharp edges and the burning thrust at the rear makes it look like something out of this world. I captured the “UFO” in Grants Pass, Oregon USA. The cloud was hovering over a small summit just outside of town. The shape shifted numerous times during a period of less than an hour. The picture to the right is taken only twenty minutes before the picture above. *** Do you want to see more pictures? Check out my picture library at Søren Bergs site © Søren Berg
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Scared pigeon leaves print on my window (Sun, 24 May 2009)
I feed the birds in my garden and among the regulars at the feed board is a handful of ring pigeons. Every cat in the neighbourhood have spotted a possible easy lunch and even Charles Darwin would probably have found interest in watching the predatory stalking and ambushing only a few feet away. So far I guess that the complacent household cats have come up empty. But one day a pigeon got a real scare and flew head on into our garden door. My wife witnessed the scene, and amazingly the pigeon got away. But leaving this extraordinary mark on the glass. Dust in the feathers drawing the left wing and the body. Well, the pigeons still come back for more - bird seed that is. *** Do you want to see more pictures? Check out my picture library at Søren Bergs site © Søren Berg
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