Fun Coincidence

How cool is this. At the Cruiser Meet I was chatting with John about the fact that I previously had met and photographed his sister Anna for the Stranger Project I suddenly recognised him. We played soccer in the same team 34 years ago! John was the first player to be scouted to our team of 11 year-olds in Tungelsta all those years ago. Our coach had seen him and managed to get him to join Tungelsta. He was a very quick forward, I was a defender. I left the team after a few years and so did he. At that time he was also a decent gymnast. I haven't seen him since we played together. His pretty girl friend is called Emma. They met online back in February via a dating site and fell in love. And a couple of weeks ago she took the step of leaving her home town and move in with John in Sorunda.

Madde & Sandra

At the Cruiser Meet on Saturday there was a Greaser Girl contest. I decided to find one of the contestants and take a portrait for the 100 Strangers project. But that turned out to be tricky, I saw no one wearing the numbered page. I asked Kenny if he had spotted any good looking greaser girls, and he said that he was there when they picked the contestants but he had only seen one! That explained the situation, so I took another round with my eyes open for pretty girls, and I got lucky as I found not one, but two pretty girls! Meet Madde and Sandra. They are friends and were at the meet with their buddy Benny ,having arrived in style in his Ford. Madde (to the left), lives in Västerhaninge and works at a Supermarket in Handen. Sandra comes from Vendelsö, and works as a youth centre employee. They often travel to music festivals together. I asked them if they had done anything unusual and told them what Ego had done, as an example to what I wanted to hear. And they gave me two examples. But after thinking it over I have decided not to let you know what the girls told me. And in the end I'm sure they will be quite happy about that. Still, it was nice to meet them. If I see them again maybe I can get some other stories that I can tell you about.

This is my 80th photo for the 100 Strangers project. You can see the rest of my strangers in my Set

Vegabaren

This is Vegabaren, a hamburger joint in Handen. When it first opened some fifty years ago it was the first Drive-in kiosk in Sweden. For the last forty years it has been a meeting place for Raggare from all over the country. On Saturday there was a big meet here. A few hundred cars, motorcycles and lots of interesting people. Live music and more. I spent a few hours walking around with my camera. Talked to a few people, met some friends. Shot a few portraits for the 100 Strangers Project.

The President

This is Robban. His friends also call him Lång-Robban, or Tall Robert, which is weird since I'm not that tall, he told me. We met close to Vegabaren in Handen. The hamburger bar that was Sweden's first Drive-in kiosk when it opened back in 1958. Saturday saw a big car meet with greasers from all over the country visiting. Robban is the president of the biggest greasers club in Stockholm. It is called Moonshine Cruisers. The club has been around since 1985. We have 18 full members that have the club vest and around 90 other sponsoring members. Tonight we are holding a big party at our club house in Farsta for all our visiting friends. There are people here from all over Sweden, even from as away as Kiruna ( 1310 km), so it will be a fun night. Greasers have been driving out to this famous hamburger bar for forty years. This annual meet is the owners way of paying back for all those years, Robban told me. Professionally Robban works as an electrician. He has a few cars of course. He arrived with his girlfriend in his 1969 Chrysler 300 Convertible.


This is my 79th photo for the 100 Strangers project. You can see the rest of my strangers in my Set

2008 Cruiser Meet

Every year Raggare from all over Sweden meet at Vegabaren for a get together. There's live music and hundreds of cars and much more. On the wind shield you can read: Dare to be disgusting. They misspelled it, but I'm sure you get the picture. These guys were hoping to win the category for worst "Råttsoffa". The worst rat seat if you translate it to English. They were already drunk when I arrived. The TV crews were drawn to them and that made them very proud and even more drunk. Not sure if they won but they got my vote. I talked to another photographer who said that the car had all it's paper in order and that they had driven all the way from Värmland without any problems. If so that is very impressive! From the 2008 Cruiser Meet at Vegabaren in Handen on Saturday. 2008 Cruiser Meet at Vegabaren. I will probably show a few more photo in the coming week so stay tuned!