Thorsten Overgaard

This is the right wing party, Danish Peoples Party’s hall for the election party, getting ready. The poster on the wall says “tolerance” and has been hanging all over the streets in Denmark. Some had fun drawing nazi-moustache’s on their faces. I’m sure they genuine mean “tolerance” but the message you kind of get is that it’s a cover for the opposite.

Here I’m rehearsing the “money shot,” that’s the one where the winner of the election comes up the stairs. When the Social Democrats were in power some years ago, their PM came up those stairs, signaling with four fingers “four more years.” Anyway.

As you can see here – and that is already 11:00 in the morning – the television crews are lining up for that same shot.

So, actually. While getting customized to the place, I was still waiting for a call from the French electronic group AIR. Their manager was supposed to see if he could squeeze in a portrait session with them while in town.

That did not work out. So I went to the television station to get a portrait of the American indie-duo CocoRosie. That didn’t work out either I was told when I arrived. They didn’t feel like it today.

All right. So I went back to the castle and had dinner in the restaurant where the MP’s dine (photography not allowed there).

Then I went to photograph the queen Margrethe II of Denmark and her husband, the prince Henrik visiting the Supreme Court for the first time in 20 years.

Compared to the security at the castle, the security around the royals were almost non-existent. Not that there was not security, it was just so few people.

Anyways, we were only five photographers and one doing a film about the Supreme Court. So we were standing almost in front of the royals and next to the president of the Supreme Court while he was speaking.

If you can imagine standing next to four Canon users for 30 minutes that goes clack-clack-clack-clack each time they take a picture and their mirrors goes up and down. I find it annoying and I don’t understand why Canon haven’t made the mirror more silent in their dSLR. Makes those photographers look like jerks.

I was using Leica so I was the only one who knew when I was shooting. Doesn’t say a sound.

One of the others commented "oh, you brought a museum." Makes not only his camera sound like a jerk, him too. (Saw one other Leica shooter later though at the castle, with his M8 and two Canons).

Outside some girls had fun doing photographs in front of the royal car which was just standing there alone.

As some Arabic reporters pointed out to me at the Christiansborg Castle, they were amazed that they just had to have their accreditation pass and then went through a metal detector. And after that you could move around freely on the whole castle.

That’s Denmark.

So I’m back in the Danish People’s Party headquarter at the castle. Problem with this election was that nobody was there. On the picture above you see one MP taking a glass of wine, but all the other MP’s were around in town because all political parties but one had moved their election parties out in town at lofty places.

In the old days, that’s four years ago, most of the MP’s were at the castle at election night and one or two parties was not at the castle before late night.

This year every party was out in town and then their leaders would arrive to the castle when the votes was count, do a final television debate and then leave again.

So here we were, a castle full of press and security.

Anyway, I went to edit my royal photos and then sent those off to Getty Images and WireImage. They love royal stuff.

Next door to the press room and the stairs you saw before, the Danish Radio had set up their popular program “The Black Scouts” with Anders and Anders (whom I doubt was ever scouts).

It’s a crazy afternoon program with two quite bright – and very weird – guys who play weird music, make weird comments and interview people for two hour each afternoon here in Denmark.

But tonight they would be following the elections live for five hours.

I love the reading glasses he wears. I’m going to get some like those.

After I had dinner again in the above mentioned restaurant (they eat terrible nice food in our parliament, inexpensive too!) it was about 19:00 and it had become dark. The voting ended 20.00 so the place was kind of getting warmed up, rigged with lights, cameras and security all over.

This is a new and quite nice setup at the entrance. There’s several large spots in the picture but they seem to fade away in the dark under that motherfucker of a video light…

Anyways, I actually had to leave the place again to shoot some concert photos of CocoRosie in a nearby venue.

For some reason they didn’t leave space for photographers in front of stage, so I had to stand between teenagers and other audience. Unlike normal I had brought my monopod (a tripod for the camera with only one leg, thus mono-pod).

I actually was thinking about leaving before I started. The stage setup and lightning looked chaotic and I didn’t particular fancy being asked by a girl by the stage if I could move back so her boyfriend could get his space back.

Hmm.

Sometimes when bad things happen, that is an opening. You always get something interesting. If there’s obstacles that usually just mean it will be more interesting to get something, and that the things you get will be different than what you usually get.

So I hang in there.

CocoRosie is indie music and perhaps even that is putting them into a category where they do not belong. I’m not sure where they belong, but they are very artistic, dressed in funny dresses, use small guitars, toy instruments and what have you – but they play some damn interesting music.

So they get on stage and the only light is a projector that projects live video from the stage.

Uhm, that’s like 1/8 second exposure and sometimes that is even underexposure. I shoot a lot because I might as well, I’m there with a camera, and the music is very … different.

Notice how there’s a pattern from the projector on the skin. For several minutes I though their were wearing socks over their heads.

The guy in the back was quite interesting to watch but was always in the dark. Great rhythm, a definitely not ordinary character. Reminds me when James Taylor had a guy in his choir who had a voice so out of this world the audience stood up and applauded him suddenly. Star quality.

There’s a neat effect with motion blur of the body, but he projector grill stays in focus. I like that, as well as the extreme colors. It suits their music very well.

Anyway, I came back to the castle where there was basically lots of security and lots of press. But no MP’s.

I was told that the place was rigged with 200 live television cameras (!) for this event. That includes of course all the cameras around in town to cover the political parties live, cameras in cars to interview the MP’s en route to the castle and what have you.

In the middle of the waiting, the fire department comes with blue blinks and all. Somebody had been playing with fireworks inside, we were told.

Look at Mads on the stairs there. He’s head of security (you may recognize him from the Clinton photos at the Faroe Islands) and he was out there to have a look at those fire trucks. You can tell, he thinks “what the f… - is this a terrorist trick or a real fire alarm?”

So after a lot of waiting outside, including two anchors from the two major television stations, the first party leader arrives. That’s the Christian Democrats and they didn’t make it into the parliament this time.

What is pretty obvious when you are there is that it’s a media show. The entrance is timed so as to get maximum coverage. And the many flat screens around the castle showed the live broadcasts all evening from the different parties venues. All of them staged like a small MTV Music Award show in themselves.

Anyway, look at that light beam from the top of the stairs. It’s not me overexposing, no, it’s simply video lights all over the place, four fixed cameras in the ceiling and countless moving cameras around the stair. And on top of that something like 20-30 photographers.

By coincidence, the partyleader from Christian Democrats (spent too much time outside) and so the party leader of Danish Peoples Party came before her. That’s her on the stairs above with her security guys.

So when the party leader from the Christian Democarats came to the stairs, there was none to film her or greet her. Everybody had flooded with the first one into their party room.

That’s how it looks when the world press has been hanging out for some hours and then finally one MP arrives.

I just love these media setups in the hallways.

A journalist found an MP to interview.

For some reason also “Deadline” had decided to move their live debate program from the television studio into the castle. As if there wasn’t enough live cameras already.

Hmm, maybe the moved all the coffee machines to the castle so they simply had to move with the rest of the crews. Actually, the television stations had gaffers running around and taking orders for pizzas from their cameramen...

Swedish radio doing interviews. Very Swedish equipment I think. The skies probably was outside.

I didn’t wait down the stairs to see how the Christian Democrats handled the no press thing. But here they are upstairs later watching television on the screen, the party leader hiding her face after seeing another party leader on television...

Another party leader being interviewed on live radio. Very relaxed and she is actually a very good looking and bright girl whom I would have definitely voted for if she didn’t support a socialist prime minister.

The PM we’ve had for the last six years is a little right to the American Democrats. Even we would compare our socialist party with the American Democrats and our current government with the Republicans, I dare say out Republicans are left to the American Republicans.

Just to make things real fun, our PM is head of the party “Venstre” (which means Left) and is a right wing party, right of the socialists. Did this make sense? No, I’m sure, and ther’s no explanation as to why they choose such a ridiculous name.

Anyways, I feel a bit bored about this election. It was really a no event made into something big media nothing event. So I hung around till 01:00 and edited pictures, then headed home when security threw us out as the last ones, finished the last pictures for Getty and went to bed very early morning.

Say what you will, it was a weird day. I thought I might as well spend election day on first row at the castle. But what I found out was that the only thing really happening here was media people watching television sending live interviews from other rooms in the same building and from around town. Like going to a Rolling Stones concert and then watch the television screen all night instead of the stage.

Anyhow.

But I must say, I understand why some get hooked on politics and wants to be in parliament. It could be addictive somehow to walk around I those halls – there’s just something about it. And then the service with food, free newspapers, security and all is amazing.

The last picture here is the radio host Anders telling the party leader, Margrethe Vestager, that she is the best looking girl in parliament, and “What will you be doing later tonight.”

Well, she’s married and has three children. But besides that, he’s right on track.

Also, watch this slideshow (click on the photo) with english introduction through an interview with the american ambasasdor to Denmark, live from the Christiansborg Castle: