Mie Ahmt Photography

Packing up...

Getting on an airplane to America today...

Leaving & Loving CPH

I am packing to leave Copenhagen tomorrow. It has been great to be home and re-experience a true Danish summer; to include the weather with lots of rain and the days that never seems to end before they seamlessly transform into night...

One thing about Copenhagen that I have realized I miss more than anything is the biking! Biking everywhere.. Growing up in a biking country I never really thought about how unique this is. But now that I pretty much haven't lived in Denmark since 2003 I have realized that this biking culture is fabulous and we (mostly the people who still live in Denmark and bike every day) should be very proud of it..

I love that I pretty much can't snap a frame without a bike in it when I photograph in Copenhagen!

 

 

Isn't she lovely...

My niece - 10 years old - and so much fun to be around! We took some portraits the other day - and It was so easy becasue she is so beautiful and cute...

   

Made my day...

Stupid Stupid Battery

 

This is how the battery in a MacBook Pro is supposed to look....

(PS dont ask me why I felt like taking these pictures at ISO 2500)

And this is how the battery in my MacBook Pro looks...

 

Apparently (and according to the Mac Guy I talked to on the phone) this is perfectly normal for my generation of MacBook Pro Batteries (Mine is from April 2006)...it is a chemical reaction that happens when the battery is about to die completely...

I haven't noticed any battery problems other than a few days ago when the trackpad stopped working. Turns out that the trackpad stopped working because the battery was pushing on it from underneath... Doh!

I don't know how much longer to rely on this computer... The keyboard is not working, the cd-drive isn't woking and now it doesn't even have a battery... I wonder how many times I will forget about the battery - cut the power off on accident - before I get so mad that I throw it out the window...

I love my Mac and I really don't want to buy a new one.But I really think it would be cool if a +$4000 laptop would last me more than 2 years...

10 cents to go to the doctor

Statistics from an Afghan Clinic:
 

 

Putting the pictures of the Afghan Doctor and that little 3 day old girl on my blog made me think a little about the fact that so many people don't realize the amount of work being done in Afghanistan and the amount of work that still needs to be done.

The picture above shows the statistics of this particular clinic - build by USAID in Afghanistan.1387 is the year - and that pretty much means 2008 - except that the Muslim calendar year is a bit different. The doctor told me that they charge 5 Afghanis from each patient who comes in to be treated - and that many people in this village have serious problems finding the 5 Afghanis it will cost them to go to the doctor. 

5 afghanis is 10 Cents!!!

Looking at the statistics from this new clinic you realize how much they must have needed a clinic here.. The last month of the chart shows that they had 440 more patients than they had capacity for.

Development and reconstruction are so many things... I believe in seeing things with your own eyes but I am also realistic and know that that isnt always possible -  therefore I photograph...

Smiling in a War Zone

Last night I watched Smiling in a War Zone about a FANTASTIC woman's mission to fly to Kabul to Kabul in a super old tiny airplane - just so she could give an Afghan girl who wanted to be a pilot a trip in her airplane..! I had heard the story about her many times - she is sort of a legend in Kabul. Seeing the movie brought tears to my eyes - simply because it made me happy to see someone doing something they believe so much in - with so much passion...

"Danish artist Simone Aaberg Kærn reads in a newspaper about a teenage girl from Afghanistan whose dream is to become a pilot. Being a pilot herself Simone identifies with the girl and decides to make her dream come true. She buys a plane -- although the most expensive one she can afford is a forty year old Piper-Colt -- and begins the six thousand kilometer journey to Kabul. When she finally arrives at the border of Afghanistan the US military refuses her entry, but Simone is not willing to give up her fight for the freedom of the skies"

I think one of the reasons this movie (and this project in parts) succeed is because of the somewhat naiive and very Danish approach to a country like Afghanistan. Sometimes I wish I could go back as the photographer I am today and see Kabul the way I saw it the first day I landed there in 2004...

3 days old

I met this woman with her 3 day old grand daughter at a clinic in The North Eastern part of Afghanistan in December last year.. The woman in the picture - the grand mother told me that the mother of the girl was 'very sick' after giving birth. The black around the baby's eyes is supposed to improve her vision - according to the very young, afghan translator I had with me... So much is lost in translation and I was kinda bummed when he barged into the room where I was sitting with all the women - trying to bond and communicate... As soon as he walked in - the burkas were back on and the photo session was over!

Some times I wonder how that little girl is doing today... she should be about 8 months old now...

 

 

The woman in the picture below is a doctor. For me she represents everything hopeful for Afghanistan!

 

The picture of her is a reminder to me of being grateful for everything I - as a Danish Citizen - has been served on a silver platter all my life; Education & Health Care - just to mention a few things.. It will never make sense to me that those two things are not a human right... In some countries owning a car seems like a human right... 

No matter how you slice it... This woman ROCKS!

Missing...

While in Denmark I am really missing my puppies... They are not only fun but also always the best and most willing models you can have...

This is Lucky... about 8 months old and cuter than kittens...

Biking Clown

In Denmark - even the clowns bike... If this doesn't make you smile - I bet you have a heart of stone!