The Girl in the Black Polka Dot Dress

Last summer I took a photo of this girl at the cruiser meet that I titled The girl in the red dress. This year she wore a black polka dot dress. After I had taken this photo I gave her a real surprise when I handed her one of my MOO mini-cards that featured her in that red dress! She and a friend walked away looking very happy and surprised.

To the Batmobile!

I spent around five hours at the annual cruiser meet at Vegabaren in Handen on Saturday. People from all over Sweden had gathered for a few hours of fun. This event has been around for sixteen years and attracts people that love American cars from the 1950s and 1960s. Fans of Elvis, and rockabilly music. And people that enjoy dressing up, and of course many photographers. I took a few hundred photos and will try to show some of the best here over the next week. I will start with the a surprise because I hadn't expected to meet Batman here. The man with the long blonde hair is Leif Garwin. He is a sculptor,car builder, designer, painter, musician and singer! It costed him 8 000 000 SEK to build the Batmobile.

Petra

The cultural collective Levande Zon arranges theatre productions and musical events at Gula Villan (The Yellow House), in Haninge. This year they got a cultural scholarship from the municipality. It was presented during the Haninge Day celebrations last Saturday. This is one of the two women from the collective that were at hand to receive the award. Meet Petra. She is an art student at Ågesta folk high school. She is from Haninge, but will now move in to a collective apartment in Tyresö. I had hoped to photograph Petra and her friend Sanna during Haninge Day, but missed them when two of my friends arrived, so when I spotted Petra outside the cultural centre on a few days later I decided to ask her for a portrait.

A Girl With a Whip

I spotted a blonde girl with a whip in Jordbro a while back. That's always interesting :-) This is Jennifer. She was on her way to the riding school in Tungelsta, and as her bus was a few minutes away we had time for a chat and a photo. Jennifer is currently without a job as she graduated from Secondary School earlier in the summer, and as horse back riding is her big hobby she has plenty of time to pursuit that interest. Surprisingly she hadn't visited the old tree on her horse back riding around Tungelsta.

The President

This is Johan. He is a history buff. His preferred dressing style is the fashion of the 1940s, and it was his outfit (and bag), that caught my eye when I noticed him in Handen. He was in a hurry and had a train to catch, but was kind enough to give me a few minutes of his time. Johan's big history interest dates back a bit more than seventy years. He is the President of Albrecht's Handgonnes. A living history society that focuses on King Albrecht of Mecklenburg's Swedish reign (1364-1389). It's a non-religious and non-political group that enjoys re-enactments of the life in a group of royal handgunners during the last 50 years of the fourteenth century. If you would like to know more about this check out their informative web site. Johan, who is planning a move to a new apartment in Uppsala (where his girlfriend studies at the University), is a trained Medieval archaeologist, but at the moment he works as a personal assistant.

The Starry Eyed Girl

This is Becca. She stood out a bit from the crowd during the Haninge Day celebrations at Lake Rudan on Saturday with her orange hair and black bowler. Becca lives at Brandbergen in Handen. She is a ninth grade pupil at a school in the neighbouring municipality Tyresö, and a bit of a bookworm. One of her favorite authors is Dostoyevsky. When it comes to music she likes The Sex Pistols and a few well known Swedish artists including Thåström, Kent, Broder Daniel and Sällskapet (where Thåström is a member).

Mikusagi

I have a few photos left from the Haninge Day to show you, but I also have a couple of portraits from before that day, and here is one such portrait. And it isn't something you see every day. A woman with pink bunny ears. This is Mikusagi. The name comes from Mikaela, and Usagi Tsukino, a character from Sailor Moon. Mikusagi, or Mikaela if you like, was on her way to an anime convention, called MeuwCon 03 at Fryshuset in Stockholm. She is also a student at Södertörns Högskola where she is studying to become a teacher.

The Indian Dancer

This is Nigar Ahmed. She performed a few Indian dances during the Haninge Day celebrations at Lake Rudan on Saturday. Just as she was preparing for her performance the sound system died so I got a chance to talk to her and take this portrait while we waited for the problem to be fixed.

The Accordion Virtuosi

This is Natalie Heselaars-Karlsson and Andreas Nilsson. They performed during the Haninge Day celebrations at Lake Rudan in Handen on Saturday. I don't know much about accordions, so when Natalie's father "Kifas" told me how much he paid for her accordion I didn't believe him at first. It costed him 110.000 kronor. That's around 15000 US Dollars. And that was a bargain apparently. Andreas accordion only costed him 30 000 kronor. Natalie Karlsson is only fourteen years old. Her friend Andreas Nilsson is three years older. Nathalie is a student at the Lilla Akademien in Stockholm. Andreas is also a music student. He is attending Nordiska Musikgymnasiet.

Tarantino's Favorite Actress

One of the first photos I took during the Haninge day celebrations at Lake Rudan on Saturday was this portrait. This is Christina Lindberg. She was working as a volunteer for The Green Party. Christina lives in Tungelsta and works as a journalist. I have met her a few times before. She is the owner and editor-in-chief for the aviation magazine Flygrevyn. But she is probably best known as a a model, and as an actress in many exploitation movies in the 1970s. Quentin Tarantino was a huge fan of Christina, and he based the character Elle Driver in his movie Kill Bill on a role Christina played in a film called Thriller: A Cruel Picture. I took many photos at the lakes and I will show you most of them in the coming days.

Kristina Matilda

This is Kristina Matilda from Halmstad. I noticed her long red hair as she was crossing a street in Handen last week, and that was all I needed to see, as I knew that I had to ask her for a portrait. When she turned around and I saw her face I was even happier! Kristina Matilda is a student and she was on her way to her student apartment when I met her. She has been studying at KY (a form of post-secondary education), in Haninge for one year. Her goal is to get a job as a boutique manager. She works extra at Triumph, and one of her hobbies is to model for photographers, which I can understand, because she is really photogenic. She told me she had a modelling session planned for the day after we met.

Mr. Marmalade and his Rusks

Classic Swedish punk band on stage. Herr Marmelad och Hans Skorpor. Back in the 1970s the band often performed with marmalade in their hair. The members are : Mr. Eriksson, Mr. Lagerlöf, Mr.Lilja, Mr. Lindkvist, Mr. Lundström and Mr. Svanberg. Or Käpp, Strumpan, Linkan, Guran, Svanberg and Stickan. Last Sunday they played at a little music festival at Gula Villan in Handen. The guy in the white t-shirt is the local legend and gig organizer Tompa Eken. He turned sixty a month ago and was asked to get up onto the stage where he was presented with a birthday cake. You can see the rest of my photos in the slideshow below. If you have a good memory you will recognise a few faces.

Walking The Dog

This is Jack. He is a dog. More precisely a Danish Swedish Farmdog. The two cute girls behind him are Elin and Amanda. They live in Tungelsta, and I met them near the Nödesta farm. Promenades are actually one of their hobbies, but if I heard them right they have yet to walk up to the old tree which was a bit of a surprise. They tried a few excuses not to appear in a photo. Like no make up, bad hair-day and a few more, but none of them took. Both girls are secondary school students. I asked if they had anything fun planned, and they sure did. It won't be long now before the girls fly down to Crete for a week of fun. And I'm guessing it will be a memorable vacation, as it's the first one they to without any parents around. My only advice to them was to try some Ouzo 12 with crushed ice and 7Up. And to fly down to Santorini next time and to some island hopping in the Cyclades.

People at the park

Around six hundred people gathered in the park in Tungelsta on Saturday for the annual rock festival, Trädgårdsrock. It was a good day. Very warm and sunny. As per usual I took a few portraits. The Rock and Roll Baby on the top photo was probably the youngest visitor. The redheads on the second photo has a short story attached to it. I met one of the girls ( the one to the left), earlier in the day in Västerhaninge, and asked for a portrait, but she turned me down claiming never to look good in front of a camera. But when I spotted her with a friend in the park a few hours later she changed her mind and I'm glad to proove that her assumption was wrong!
The guy on the third photo is Putte. We were in the same class for 12 years, if you count pre-school and Secondary School. If you would like to know how he looked back in 1983, press here. He told me that he reads my blog every day, a good way to keep up with what's happening in Haninge as he no longer lives here.

Next Stop the Tattoo Parlour

I met Mona and Bengan, and their dog Bullen on a warm summer day last week. They were heading to a tattoo parlour, surprise surprise, but had time for a portrait and a chat. Mona works at SvD, the morning paper. Her big hobby is crosswords. Bengan works at Åhlens in Jordbro. His big hobby is Mona and he also interested in tattoos and airbrushing. He got his first tattoo fifteen years ago. In fact he did the tattoo himself! It's the red one on his wrist. Bengan knew a few people I had previously photographed.One of them being Gissen with the head tattoo. In a not too distant future Mona and Bengan plan to get married.

The Blues Man

The annual rock festival at the park in Tungelsta took place on Saturday. The weather was fantastic. Nearly 30C. No one complained about that. Well, almost no one. This is Steve Future. He is a blues musician. I first saw him play back in 1985. A quarter of a century later he is still going strong. After his gig I walked over for a chat and a photo. Steve did have some complains about the weather. It was a bit too warm for his liking. And perhaps a little early in the day for a blues man to perform in the early afternoon. Stefan, which is his real name, loves the harmonica, his favorite musicians include Muddy Waters, Joe Cocker, Billie Holiday and Sarah Vaughan. More photos from this event to come.

The Party Girls

Heading home a few days ago I decided to take a short-cut through the nature park in Handen. That didn't work out as planned, because the first thing I noticed at the park were two pretty girls sitting on the bench at one of the ponds so obviously I had to stop and talk to them for a while. This is Natasha and Yasmine. They have been friends for about two years. They like to party. Yasmine often goes to rock clubs in Stockholm. And she has visited the Greek isle Zakynthos ten times, easily beating my Ios record which is five visits. To get the money for all that fun she works as a waitress. Natasha is a future real estate broker, she is currently studying to become real estate assistant.

Three Harley Davidson Riders

Here are a few more portraits of some of the bikers I met at the big Harley Davidson meet at Gålö Havsbad. On the top photo you can see Gott&Blandat. Although his real name is Thomas. He is originally from Gothenburg, which his accent gave away as soon as he started talking. These days he lives in Örebro. Gott & Blandat drives a 1948 Harley-Davidson WL. And by looking at his outfit I think it's safe to say that he has visited the Philippines. Second photo shows Maria. She's Thomas girlfriend. Maria's bike is a Sportster. She's been a rider for a decade. If you look to the left you fill find part of the Sportster's exhaust system. I hope they were able to fix that before the ride back home to Örebro. The tired biker sitting on his 1993 Harley Softail is called Fredrik. He is from Vasa in Finland. He was at the big Harley meet with a friend, who was still sound asleep in a tent nearby as we talked. Fredrik got his licence last year, and that's when he bought the bike.

Farm Reflection

Out shooting for the historical association I recently visited the old Farm Fållbrunna. There I was hoping to meet the old farmer Åke Eriksson. He was at school with my dad, but Åke was holidaying on Gotland. Instead I got a guided tour around the farm by Åke's grandson Rasmus and his second cousin Linus. The boys showed me all the buildings. Including some of the old and new machinery. A couple of angry roosters, and the ostriches. And they also told me from where I would get the best view of Fållbrunna. So after our chat I climbed up a hill and got a fine view over the old farm. You can see some of my photos from Fållbrunna in the slideshow below.



Skywatch Friday.

It's all about the shades

This smiling beauty is known to her friends as Peri. I noticed her orange shades when I met her near the mall in Handen. After we had agreed on the fact that her shades are very cool I got a few facts about Peri. She's a secondary school student starting her third year in a few weeks time. She lives in Västerås, and was up in Stockholm to visit her sister who lives here in Haninge. Peri stays fit with a lot of exercise, so maybe that is the secret Joy was asking about in the comments two day ago! The method Peri uses consists of lots of jogging and clubbing. And from where I'm standing it seems to be working.

The Viking Biker

I took a bunch of portraits at the Harley Davidson meet at Gålö on Sunday. The first person I talked to was Håkan. He drives a Harley Davidson Fat Boy as you can see on the third photo, where he is on his mobile trying to call his girlfriend. The tattoo on his arm is an old Viking. Håkan didn't have a long way to drive to get to the meet. He lives in Nacka, and works as a truck driver in Stockholm. When he is not riding his bike, you might find him and his girlfriend out with the boat.

The Former Cheerleader

This is Emelie. I noticed her in Handen a few days ago and decided to ask her for a portrait. She is a secondary student at the Fredrika-Bremer school. To earn some money she works extra on weekends at a fast food place. I asked her if she had any fun hobbies. Not any more was her answer. She used to enjoy horse back riding at the Tungelsta riding school, but had given up on that. And she has decided to quit cheerleading, although the other members at Haninge Cheer Elite doesn't know about that yet. I couldn't decide which photo to use so I uploaded two portraits of he beautiful Emilie.

The Soccer Coach

Heading home from a photo shoot at the Fållbrunna farm last week (photos to come), I was stopped by a cyclist. This is Patrik, a member of the Fredrikshof's Bicycle Club. He wanted to know how to get to Nynäshamn on the old road 73, so I pointed him in the right way. I can be tricky here as the new road opened just last year. Patrik comes from Bagarmossen. He averages around 80 to 100 km on his rides around Södertörn. Today he was on his own, but a couple of evenings every week you can often see a bunch of riders from his club out on the roads around here .I have a couple of cool photos of cyclists from that club. When Patrik is not working, riding his bike or photographing with his canon, he coaches a soccer team where his daughters play.

How To Build A Very Cool Chopper

That could be a good title if the people on the top photo ever decided to write a book. This is Conny Fransson and Elisabeth Johansson from Falköping. They were on their way to the big Harley Davidson meet at Gålö when I met them in Västerhaninge on Friday. The orange chopper (2200cc), is one of three Harley bikes that Conny has built. And he still owns all three of them.The customised fork on this one is 24 inches longer than the original. He figured that the bike had costed him around 270 000 SEK. Money well spent. His girlfriend Elisabeth works at Volvo Penta and is a very good mechanic, so she has been working on the engines together with Conny. The weather was horrible on Saturday, but I am planning to jump on my bike on Sunday morning and head out to the Gålö peninsula where I am hoping to get a few photos of the Harley bikes. I talked to a couple of bikers who had already been out there and they were hoping to see something like 3200 bikers there, sounds like fun!

Engaged to be Married

This is Jennifer and Ted. They are engaged to be married, so congrats to that. Jennifer lives in Bro (North of Stockholm), and Ted in Handen, where I met them a few days ago. The couple was easy to spot, so I zoomed in on them for a chat and some photos. Turns out that Jennifer is a tattoo artist at Svea Tattoo in Stockholm. Her boyfriend Ted enjoys painting and is a possible future tattoo artist. Jennifer's body is an ever growing work of art, as you can see on the second photo with the red roses and on the diptych where you can see a skull and a devil's bull! Jennifer designs the tattoos herself and leaves the tattooing to her boss Erica at the studio. And as you can guess, most of the unfinished tattoos on Ted's body have been made by his girlfriend.

After the Rain

After five weeks of non-stop sunshine this summer, there has been a few rainy days of late. This was the bike path at the Björklund horse farm in Västerhaninge two days ago.


Skywatch Friday.

A Familiar Face

One problem I have after shooting around 350 portraits of strangers, is that I often see people that look very familiar, but I can't seem to place them. When that happens I will usually stop and ask if we have met before. That happened a few days ago in Jordbro when I noticed this young woman. She didn't think that we had met before, but I was sure that I had asked her for a photo and that she had turned me down! After a few minutes talk we figured out why she looked so familiar. We both live in Tungelsta and Patricia used to work for Helen at my local grocery store. She has just returned home after two months travelling around Spain, where she visited San Sebastian, Barcelona, Gran Canaria and a few other places. One of Patricia's hobbies include horseback riding so I have probably seen her out riding near the old tree a few times as she uses a stable at Välsta.

A Day at the Lakes

Talking to the fishers at lower lake rudan a couple of days ago I noticed a woman relaxing in the sunshine on one of the piers, so I walked over for a chat. This is Charlotte. She was listening to some music but didn't mind me interrupting so I sat down next to her and we talked a bit about living in Haninge and a few other things. Charlotte comes from Denmark, but has lived here in Handen for around 15 years. She works in the fashion industry and enjoys reading books about religion and history, at least when she's not sunbathing at the lake.

JoJo & Deh Stah

Meet JoJo and Deh Stah. They live in Handen. JoJo works at City Hall and enjoys travelling. She will be volunteering during he upcoming Haninge Day celebrations so I will probably see her again on that day. Deh Stah used to run his own web design company, but today he works as a personal assistant,although he still takes the odd web design job. On his free time he does a bit of deejaying. But their lives are about to change big time. In October they will get married at City Hall in Stockholm. And come the new year they will quit their jobs and move to Goa in India, a place they have come to love. They have a few projects planned, but we didn't talk about that. Good luck with your new life!

Two Photographers

Whenever I spot a photographer (or two), these days, I always close in on them and start talking. This is Josefin and her good friend Victor. They live in Handen and that's where I met them a few days ago. They were zooming in on some flowers but had time to chat a bit about photography and a few other things. The beautiful Josefin works in sales and has photography as a hobby. Victor works as an assistant to an architecture photographer. At the moment they are busy with the new Stockholm Waterfront project. Victor is planning to take a photography course in the near future. As you can see he is very fit, and that is thanks to all the ice-hockey he has played. As you would expect with photographers these two felt more at home behind the camera, and they were a bit picky, but in the end I got a few photos that they liked!

A little bit of color

The theme for August is bright colors so I decided to show you my Fibonacci Spirals. Click here to view thumbnails for all participants