The Trainspotter

I haven't shot any portraits for a while, so when I saw this guy in Handen the other day, I stopped to ask what he was up to, as it's always fun to talk to fellow photographers. This is Benjamin. He is from Karlsruhe, Germany. He is a serious trainspotter and was waiting for a freight train to arrive from Jordbro. Benjamin is in Sweden for one year as a student at the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm. Attending the Modern Physics Master’s Programme. During his stay here he lives in a student apartment at Lappkärrsberget. And on his free time he shoots freight trains. So I joined the fun! Here is my shot of the Green Cargo locomotive. And if you want to see Benjamins photos, they are here.

Sea Knight

A Boeing Vertol 107 helicopter from the Swedish Marine, flying over the nature reserve Gålö in the Haninge archipelago. I have a thing for air planes and helicopters. If I hear something overhead I have to stop and take a photo. This helicopter has many uses. The Swedish Air Force have used it as a rescue helicopter since 1963. The Swedish Marine used it when they were trying to find those mysterious subs at the Hårsfjärden Bay in Haninge back in the 1980ths. This one comes from the Berga Naval Base.

Skywatch Friday.

The old brewery

Between 1902 and 1922 this house at Allévägen in Tungelsta housed a brewery. It was called Tungelsta Svagdricksbryggeri AB. The brewer Per Oskar Pettersson lived here until 1906. There was several apartments in the building where over the years some of the employees lived. Among them the worker Enok Ferdinand Karlsson. Another man that worked at the brewery was Ernst Bernhard Falk, but he was sacked in 1908 after his second prison term. Back then the house looked a bit different. Here is a postcard from 1913. Today it's a private residence and this looks like the owner out shoveling snow. I was setting up the camera for this photo when I noticed the postman on the moped that I showed you yesterday.

The Postman

Here comes the mail man on his moped. CityMail was founded twenty years ago by Bror Anders Månsson, as an alternative to the Swedish postal service. In 2002, Månsson sold the company and collected 145 Million SEK. Today they have 1500 employees. When they don't ride mopeds, they walk, or ride a bicycle. I spotted this guy yesterday near the old brewery that I might show you in a day or two.

News of the Day

No need to buy a newspaper in Sweden for the next few weeks. The reason for that is that the future Queen is getting married to her long-time boyfriend. The news broke earlier today and people really seem to care about it. If you want to know more about Crown Princess Victoria's wedding next summer check out the Royal Family's website. If it hasn't crashed already!

Welcome to Solsäter

I have shown you some new housing areas in and around Tungelsta lately. And here is another one. This is Solsäter in Lida. All in all 55 new homes will be built, in what up until a few years ago was a forest. This house is a Hjältevadshus, one of 23 houses from that company to be set up here. It is still on the market. I guess sales has slowed down a bit lately, and prices have gone down as well. But a few families have already moved in here, and come summer, this area will probably feel more alive then it did on my recent promenade. More photos from Solsäter in my flickr set.

Houseguest

If you live in a house somewhere in Sweden, or Europe, you will probably be familiar with this spider. It's known as the Big House Spider over here. This is a female. It's one of the biggest spiders in Central Europe. I found this one in the shower. They can live to be six years old. The female only leaves the nest to feed, and they don't like humans, so they are easily scared. I thought I should tell you that if you suffer from arachnophobia.

Winter Path

Earlier in the week I found a Swedish website, Trädportalen. It's a gateway for trees. It's run by the Swedish Species Information Centre which is part of the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency. They have several Species Gateways that are independent sites for collecting sightings of species. (All the links have information in English if you want to know more). So naturally I added my favorite tree, the Swedish Whitebeam at Välsta in Tungelsta and added four photos, one for every season. And on my winter promenade today I took my 171th photo of the old tree!

Prefab House

For many years this property at Ålsta had a plant nursery. It was one of ninety-five (95) family owned plant nurseries that Tungelsta has seen over the last century. It was owned by the Wall family. When it closed a few decades ago the greenhouses were left abandoned. Then in 2004 Ålsta became a busy building site as a new housing area, Kryddgården was built here. Two years after that new roads were built in the second phase of construction and three other nurseries closed as many more houses were built. And then, last year, the elderly owner, Erik Wall finally decided to tear down the old greenhouse skeletons and sell some of the land. The property was divided into five smaller lots and two days ago a team of builders arrived to set up this house. I counted five builders, one lorry driver and one crane operator.I have created a flickr set called Wall's Place with photos that I have taken here over the last few years where you can see the old greenhouses and the builders setting up this new house.


Sky Watch Friday.

Some sad news

Reading in the local paper I noticed an article about a fire in Tungelsta. An old croft known as Kilen (to the right in my photo from 2006), had burned down a couple of days ago. The owner, Mikael Öberg and his family lives in the house to the left in the photo. They have been renovating the old croft since 2003. And now it's all gone. The family woke up when the rescue service knocked on their door in the middle of the night. The firefighters got a call from someone driving past the place. I don't know how old KIlen was, but I know that one of Sweden's most famous politicians, Gunnar Sträng, spent some time here as a kid, as his grandparents lived in the croft. The cause of the fire is not yet known.

Trying to blend in

Arriving home today I saw and heard a Green Woodpecker (Picus viridis), high up in the spruce hedge. It's one of my favorite birds, and very tricky to photograph as it is very shy. It feeds on ants and there is an anthill in the spruce hedge, and I can often hear the bird as it has a high call. But with it's green color it blends in perfectly with the tree branches so it's not easy to spot. Luckily I managed to take this photo before the bird flew away.

Walking Horse

A Tungelsta Walking Horse...


There was a horse farm here at Ålsta just a few years ago, but as Ålsta is changing and a new housing area has been built the horses had to go. So it was a bit of a surprise yesterday when I met this couple and the horse.But they only have to walk a few hundred meters to find another horse farm.

A Home with a Difference II

Continuing with the theme from yesterday, here is another house with a difference. One of the newest houses at Ålsta in Tungelsta. On the property that once belonged to the Rockdala plant nursery. And it's the same deal here. Plant nurseries and horse farms has gone and new homes have been built. If I'm not mistaken there was a greenhouse on this exact spot just a couple of years ago. I like the design here, with the nine big windows. Will look pretty good when it's finished. And I will of course be back here then. Shot this yesterday on my Sunday promenade.

A Home with a Difference

I always try to document any changes in the landscape, and we have seen a lot of that in Haninge over the last few years. Many of the new housing areas are filled with prefabricated houses, where your new home is up in two days, and then it's just a matter of weeks or sometimes months to fix the interior, depending on whether you do it yourself or leave it to the professionals. But there are exceptions, and this is one of them. From Skogsekeby in Tungelsta, where a plant nursery and a horse farm has closed in recent time and where many new houses have been built over the last two years or so. This looks like a house with a difference. Construction seems to be slow at the moment, could be the cold weather I guess. I don't think I have seen this type of house before.

That Old Tree

Another cold winter's day in Tungelsta. I had no inspiration at all for photography today. Ended up going up to Välsta. Closing in on the old tree, I noticed a group of horse back riders and figured I could meet them up at the tree for a photo. But they took another way, and crossed a field to get to the Nedersta farm. This is, believe it or not, my 170th photo of the old tree shot from this path. I sometimes wonder why I keep coming back to this place week after week. But just a few days ago I got an email from a woman who lives nearby. She had seen some of my photos, and wanted directions to the tree, which I of course gave her. Which means that the tree still attracts some attention, which is nice.

The Leaning Church Tower

This is the medieval church in Österhaninge. It dates back to 1320, and is also known as Sankta Gertruds Church. Over the centuries the church has been rebuilt several times. It is said that the church is haunted and here is why: The 58 meter high tower was constructed in 1587. When the builder realised that it was leaning, he is said to have hanged himself up there. I don't believe in ghosts, but I did meet one person during my 100 Stranger Project, who works here, and she told me about the haunted church. Last October I showed you the tombstone of the famous writer Fredrika Bremer (1801-1865) , who rests at the burial ground behind the church.

Sky Watch Friday.

Winter Pastime

Another winter photo from the popular recreational area Lake Rudan in Handen. From my visit two days ago when the sun was shining, and a lot of skiers could be seen on the ski track between the two lakes. I shouted to this woman that I was going to shoot a few action shots, and got a smile back. If you would visit in the summer, you would meet a lot of mountain bike riders in the forests here. And on a sunny day, the green spot near the Upper Lake, would be filled with sunbathers.

Coffee and Skiing

Yesterday was a good day for cross-country skiing. A blue sky and not very cold. I spent some time on my favorite bench at Lake Rudan,chatting with a woman who sometimes go skiing here. We talked about my 100 Strangers Project as we enjoyed the winter sun. Before heading home, I decided to get some photos of the skiers, and ended up falling on the ice with camera in hand! But luckily I didn't hurt myself. And I got a few decent shots and I showed you one of them yesterday. On todays photo you see two skiers, and in the background two buildings that once belonged to a farm. These days they are not used for farming. To the left is the theatre barn where the Ormteatern (The Snake Theatre Group) performs. And the other building belongs to the ski club, and if you recognise it, it's because I zoomed in on that building last week.

Health Tip of the Day

If you love cross-country skiing, like this man, and want to go for a run even when it's really cold, you should use a mouth worn humidity and heat exchanger. They don't cost much and they will save you from an asthma attack. Shot this today at Lake Rudan where the ski club Jordbänningarna, have six snow canons that can produce 90 cubic metre snow per hour. On a good day 200 people go skiing here on the 1,3 km track. For one day you pay 50 SEK, and for one season the price is 200 SEK.

Abandoned plant nursery

Another photo from the abandoned plant nursery at Lillhammar in Tungelsta. Built and operated by G Bremberg and his wife until the mid 1940ths. Today the place is abandoned. The property is owned by a very religious and odd Norwegian. He lives in an apartment in a Stockholm suburb and only comes here to grow potatoes. Yesterday I showed you the house by the creek.

The house by the creek

This is Åstugan (the house by the creek), at Lillhammar in Tungelsta. Built many years ago by a man called G Bremberg, who lived at various places around Tungelsta. Here at Lillhammar he had a very small nursery business with one (1) greenhouse, which is still there, although it's just a skeleton today. Bremberg, who died in 1942 was also the grandfather to one of Sweden's most famous soccer players,Nacka Skoglund, who was a friend of my dad when they were kids. Bremberg's widow lived in this house until her death in 1949.The property is now owned by the Eccentric Norwegian who only comes here for his potatoes. Despite the crappy weather I decided to stop and have a look around so expect a few more photos from this place in the coming days.

Into The Mist

We had some mist today. Visibility was down, so to speak. I still figured I could get some good shots and went out for a photo promenade. Some of you will recognise this view. It's the old tree again. But in Black & White and from a different angle than I normally shoot. Had I arrived five minutes earlier, we would have seen three girls coming out from the mist on their horses but you can't have everything. If you want to see a horse in the mist from this place have a look at this.

Sky over Åby

The Fields of Åby. That's the name of this new housing area. Five new apartment buildings in Västerhaninge, next to Åby Lund. As I took these photos I talked to a man who lives here. He had sold his house and was very happy with his new home. The trees you see in the background is the Hanveden forest, so you really are one with nature here. All apartments come with a balcony or a veranda. And your own parking space. The apartments are part of a housing cooperative known here as a bostadsrättslägenhet. Most of the apartments are 75 m² and have three rooms and a kitchen.

Sky Watch Friday.

The old Stable

Three hundred years ago there was a farm here at Lake Rudan in Handen (a recreational area with something for everyone) . The main building, known as the White House is still there today, as are some other farm buildings. This used to be the stable. I'm guessing it's around 200 years old. Today it's used by the Cross-Country ski club Jordbänningarna whose members refers to the building as the stable. On a good winter's day 200 skiers can be seen on the snow track, and as we really haven't had any snow this winter the snow canon has been working over time.

Corner House

Late in 2004 the area known as Ålsta here in Tungelsta became a building site as a grassy field, only used by the occasional dog owner was transformed to a housing area with two storey apartments. That place is today known as Kryddgården. Since then a few new roads have been built, and a small forested area has been cut down to make room for many more houses. During this process (which I have documented), three old greenhouse businesses have closed, and new houses are being built everywhere. Every time I walk through here these days there's something new to photograph. Here you see a new road and a nice mix of different houses that fits in perfectly with the older buildings.

The Tree Trimmer

This is Kenneth. He works for the council in Haninge. I met him today at Lower Lake Rudan in Handen. He was busy trimming and pruning trees and bushes along the many paths around the lake. Which is good news for me as I use these paths on a weekly basis. I asked him if I could take a portrait, and he said, fine by me. We talked a bit about the weather, as Swedes often do (it was a cold, but beautiful day). Kenneth has lived in Haninge for more than forty years. On his free time he often travels north to Dalarna where he was born. He has a summer house up there and spends much of his time in the garden. After this brief conversation I took a couple of shots and that was that.

As I really enjoyed the 100 Strangers Project, I have decided to continue with that type of portraits in a series I call Portraits of others.

Half a House

This was the scene at Stenliden a couple of days ago. The demolition work continued, and I knew I had to stop and capture this shot. Not very often that you see something like this. This house was build around 1920 and has a lot of history. Read my previous posts about Stenliden here.

Four Seasons

Theme Day. Paths and Passages. Every week for one year I stopped and took a photo here at this path in Håga. It's a shortcut through a small birch forest. Very popular with joggers and dog owners (and there's a pet cemetery around the corner). My routine was to set up the shot and wait a few minutes. If no one walked by I would have to make due with the path. Luckily for me I managed to get a few passers-by to pose for me during that year. Here are four photos showing the four seasons of the year in a little collage. If you want to have a look at all 53 photos you can see a slideshow here.

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