Covering the opening of the Danish Parliament

Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt on her way to the official church service before the opening of the Parliament. 

Yesterday was the first tuesday of October which means, the Danish Parliament gathers for the first meeting after the summer holidays. Besides election night coverage the opening of the parliament is probably the biggest, single day political media event in the country. This year I had the opportunity to cover the event for the online political news media Altinget.dk. 

The event in itself is actually not that complicated. The politicians gather for a church service before the official opening, afterwards they all go to the parliament building to listen to the prime ministers speech and then that is basically it. The hard part of covering the event on my own is timing it, so there is time to hand in photos along the way and still have time to get a good spot for covering the next part of the opening, and preferably getting some kind of unique photo. Especially the last part is hard sins there are a lot of photographers and we're all restricted in our movements.

Altinget.dk needed a general coverage of the event with reportage shots of all the preparations, the arrival of the politicians and the royal family, the casual and relaxed atmosphere amongst the politicians before the prime ministers speech, the speech it self and then of course shots of the politicians giving there comments on the speech afterwards. All the while keeping focus on the top politicians, party leaders and ministers.

I think the Danish parliament building is generally very accessible for journalists and photographers but on the day of the opening they are a little more restrictive because of all the attention and of course the fact that the entire government and royal family is gathered for the occasion. But all in all i think it went quite well and with only a little stress, pushing and running I got all the shots that I needed. 

The main entrance to the parliament

Getting the red carpet in place

Getting the red carpet in place

While the staff got the red carpet in place, the TV host practiced on her presentation of the preparations.

The leader of one of the opposition parties hurried out the main entrance, while the staff tried to cover the red carpet.

The leader of the largest opposition party (second from right) arrives at the church next to the parliament alongside some of his party members.

The prime minister on her way to the official church service before the opening.

The crown prince on his way to the royal family's reserved seats at parliament.

The economy and interior minister (second from right) chats with members of the opposition.

Prime minister and the minister of defence.

Opposition leader Lars Løkke Rasmussen.

Once a year the press is allowed at the floor of the Parliament Chamber for a few interviews and photos. 

Longest sitting member of parliament ring in the new parliamentary year and leads the election of the new chairman. 

The first task for the new chairman is to give the word to the prime minister for her speech.

All members of parliament including the members from Greenland and the Faroe Islands are present for the opening. 

The Prime Minister speaks for about an hour.

The leader of the opposition.

The Royal Family at their reserved seats in Parliament.

The Prime Minister ends her speech with cheers for Denmark.

After the speech there is time for a few laughs before the many interviews.

The leaders of the three parties that form the government is photographed by the Minister of Justice. 

The Prime Minister and the leader of the opposition after the PM's speech.

After the end of the opening ceremony, the politicians give interviews. Here it's the leader of the opposition with the PM in the background.

And this is the leader of the third largest party in parliament. 

The PM is the natural center of attention for the journalists. 

The view of the hallway up to the Parliament Chamber.

The minister of Social, Children and Integration affairs being prepared before an interview.

The leader of one of the opposition parties.

The Parliament Chamber.