These days the tennis tournament, Australian Open, is played in Melbourne.

I was in Australia last year at this time – and followed the tournament – on TV!

Australian Open 2011: Novak Djokovic is defeating Andy Murray in the men’s finals last year:

I followed the match – and enjoyed an Australian beer – which  was tasty, but very expensive (even compared to Denmark!).

As in many other cities contrasts meet in Melbourne. Old and new. Nature and culture. Warm and cold. Green and concrete. Joy and sadness. Life and death.

Bark of trees can create beautiful images. This is captured in Australia in January 2011.

I think it’s a gum tree.

“Rule of thirds” is not really a rule – but a thousands of years old help for image composition.

It is based on four lines, two horizontal and two vertical, that divides the image. And also form four points from the crossing lines. Please click on the link “Rule of Thirds” above to see an example (from Wikipedia).

This is a simplification of the “The Golden Ratio” – which for example Leonardo da Vinci researched and used as a mathematical formula for use in science and art.

For this assignment I have decided to use a few from a series of photos, I captured a beautiful and adventurous evening in the autumn of 2011 in West Jutland, Denmark.

Above is my first photo is a photo , which I think meets the requirements – without cropping the original photo:

The trees are lit by the evening sunlight, and their reflections are located around the four points formed by the two horizontal and two vertical lines, the image can be divided with.

I also think that the diagonal line from upper left to lower right is important: We in the western world are used to seeing from left to right, so we are caught by the biggest tree and are looking down through the image to the reflections.

All the following photos are cropped more or less (you can check the original versions below).

Here it is the area in the top left corner, where the road disappears, which is the key point. But important is again the diagonal line from here along the road leading down to the right  towards the warmly illuminated graze bottom right.

The photo is divided i three parts by the two vertical lines, left (where is that road leading to?!), middle, and right (warm colored grass).

Here is the division into three horizontal sections clear.

But it is broken by a diagonal line that goes contrary to the above and our normal read-diagonal in the opposite direction. Therefore it breaks up the image – and further emphasizes the main subject, the warmly colored grass.

Now the sun has gone down soon!
Again, the photo is divided into three horizontal sections. The lower: The dark, somewhat mysterious dunes. The top section is a yellow field. – The middle: The “sunset area” with the strongest and most red colors.

The sun is in the dark bottom area – and located in the lower left of the four points.

After sunset the sun’s last rays created even more adventurous and magical moments.

I could dimly glimpse large herds of deer flocked in the distance in the growing dark on the meadows. It must be amazing to be the lucky residents in the house at the top of the dunes ( can you find this?!!)

The division of the photo into three horizontal areas is evident again here. – And in the last photo:

My original photos before cropping are here:

More contributions to Scott Thomas’ Assignment here.

This post marks the end of a series of entries from Denmark. And the beginning of a series of entries from my trip last year to Australia.

Before I move on to Australia, I will give my contribution to Scott Thomas’ latest Assignment “Rule of Thirds” - If you want to participate too, you must make your contribution before Wednesday, January 18, 2012.

Today I will give you a little more information about Århus:

In my last posts I have shown you a glimpse of AROS in Århus.

In fact, Aarhus and Aros is actually the same word! Explanation here:

The name of the town “Århus” was in the Viking Age written “Aros” – a word composed of two words: “ar” and “os”. “ar” means “å”, which is the Danish word for “river”. “os” means “udmunding” which means “mouth”. “Aros” therefore means “river mouth”. And the town is indeed built around the mouth of Århus River

If you check my Categories-box in the sidebar and find “Århus” – you can find some of my earlier posts about places in and around Århus.

Sometimes it can be a good idea to let somebody from outside your own little world take a look at your own place……:

I came across this video, that gives an American’s views on what is interesting in Århus (including a few scenes from Legoland, from Moesgaard – and of course from my workplace “Den Gamle By”!):

This video is one of many – made by Rick Stevens, Edmonds, Washington, USA.
I can recommend the other videos, he has made from Denmark, too :

Frederiksborg Castle – Øresund Bridge, Roskilde – and Vikings! - Ærø, Denmark: Denmark’s Charming Isle - Copenhagen, Mermaid and resistance – Copenhagen, Christiania – Copenhagen, Rosenborg Castle.