Vroom

It's that time of the year again. If you have a cool car, use it. As I do sometimes I parked my bike on the wooden bridge that crosses the Gudöbroleden in Handen and lifted the camera towards the cars driving in and out of the big roundabout. Some people drive better than others. There were a few close calls. One guy in a Mercedes nearly hit a bus. A guy in a monster wheel truck used the traffic island just because he could. The cars you see here stood out a bit from the rest. If you have good eyes you can read this on the Pontiac: 2.0 is a soft drink not an engine size. The shiny car had a home made licence plate that read AZZKIKR. Behind the wheel in the Honda NSX Veilside 1991 was Jonas Mårtenson. Last but not least the '65 Stang is of course a classic ride.

Car 373 Reporting

No, no sign of the woman that was steering with her knees,but there's a photographer upon the bridge aiming his camera at us.

Nine Favorites from 2009

Best of the year Theme Day at City Daily Photo. I decided to make a collage with nine portraits. I would never rank the people I have met, but here are a few good ones from 2009. I met the kissing couple on a sunny September day, the fun thing here was that Ida and yours truly have one thing in common, we are both fans of the old tree! In July I didn't even have to leave home to get a portrait of the biker. His name is Tony and he is a long time member of Slackers MC. Next is Petronella. The Girl in Love. She was easy to spot with that amazing hair, she calls it Florida Sunrise. The guy on the bike is Andreas Gustafsson, a local kid who is making a name for himself as a stunt driver. In October I visited a Viking Market in Handen and took a bunch of portraits of, you guessed it, Vikings. One of the more surprising portraits was of the beautiful Vicar. I had stopped at the Västerhaninge church as I wanted to take some photos from the church tower, instead I got a great portrait of Sara. On a warm day in August I met the hot Goth Girl Malin from Gothenburg. During the Haninge Day celebrations I had the opportunity to talk to the World Champion, and world record holder Sarah Sjöström. Last but not least The Smiling Accountant. She was out jogging when I met her on one of those warm summer days. Portraits are without any doubt the most rewarding photos to take, and I'd like to thank all the people I met and photographed last year, thanks people!

Click here to view thumbnails for all participants

The New and the Old

A little over a year ago I had the opportunity to have a look inside a scary old building here in Tungelsta.I first showed you the old shack back in December 2008. In January last year we had a few looks inside. Since then the new owners have set up a new house on the property, but surprisingly the woebegone old shack is still there today.

Possible Arson Attack

I was sitting at my computer last evening when I suddenly heard a strange noise outside. I couldn't see anything from where I was, but looking out from the kitchen window I noticed a lot of smoke from the nearby school. I grabbed my camera and ran through the deep snow over to the school to see what had happened. As I came around a corner I could see a lot of smoke from one of the class rooms. The Södertörn Fire and Rescue Service had arrived, and there was a lot of fire fighters, police officers and ambulance personnel at the scene. Luckily no one seem to have been injured. I took a few photos and then walked back home again. On this photo you can see a few smoke divers preparing to go into the burning building. There has been a lot of school fires in Sweden this year, nearly all of them have been started by kids so this could be another arson attack. This incident took place just around the corner from the two car fires I showed you back in October. My flickr contact Tobias Asplind has a few more photos from this fire on his web site. Half an hour after I took my photos the fire had been stopped according to Aftonbladet.

Winter at Barbro's Place

Once upon a time there was a mill at this property near the Rocklösaån stream in Tungelsta. After the mill closed in the late 1940s' (it was two hundred years old by then),the place turned into a junk-yard with many rusty old cars. The mill and the junk-yard was owned by a man called Löfqvist. The remains of the mill was burned down in the 1970's.Today my mother's hairdresser Barbro owns the place.

The weather has changed a bit in the last few days. From -14 C and snow fall to +2 C. But it's still snowing!

Sudden Change in the Weather

Winter has arrived. Just like that. At least for some people. The meteorologists had been warning for the snow fall for at least one week. Did that help? Not one bit. Everyone seemed very surprised and chaos has been a good word to use the last few days with accidents on and off the roads. On the top photo you can see me shooting a self portrait in a traffic mirror at the Tungelsta commuter station. Second photo shows snowed in bikes at the station, and the last photo shows an abandoned car in a ditch,also in Tungelsta.

A Day at the Market

As promised, here are a few more photos from the historical Christmas market that I visited last weekend. Arranged by the Blacksmith Martin (third photo) and his wife Agnes (who designs jewellery), at their museum in Handen. Outside you could buy handicraft made by the Blacksmiths, and also get a hot dog that was cooked over an open fire (second photo). The museum (top photo) has a rather unusual story. It's an old cottage called Svensro that Martin and Agnes has been able to save.They have moved it from it's original location with the help of some of their friends. You can see photos at their web site. After enjoying a hot dog and talking to some of the Vikings that I met in October, and taking a portrait of Caroline I went inside for a coffee and some music,photos of that to come tomorrow.

Caroline

Remember all the Vikings I showed you earlier this year? This weekend they have a historical Christmas market at the museum in Handen. I visited today with my flickr pal Jim and met quite a few people, and I will show you some photos from the event in the coming week. And here is the first portrait. Meet Caroline. She was selling ecological sheep skin rugs that she imports from Iceland. The rugs comes from meat lambs and comes in many varieties of shades and tones. Caroline is setting up her own business at the moment, it will be called Ekoviking, or in English Eco Viking.

The Chef

Meet the Chef. Linda Klasson. She's The Lady in Red. Her assistant of the day, the woman with the green scarf is her mother, Inger. They were at the Tyresta Christmas market on Saturday selling some of Linda's home made produce. Linda has a business called Glöd Vildmarkskök. Which means The Wilderness Kitchen. And that is Linda's speciality. Cooking in the wild. She will often take her clients out on an adventure in the wild, sometimes in the woods around Tyresta, and as this is a National Park she has a permission to do so. And what will she serve? How about Grilled Whitefish with a mustard creme? Or maybe you prefer the Moose Burger with Västerbotten Cheese. Or you could choose the Wilderness Buffet with salmon and reindeer sausage. Sound delicious if you ask me.

Santa and the musicians

I visited the Christmas market at Tyresta today. Tyresta is a historical village and a well known national park in Haninge. The market took place at the square at the tiny village and there were a few stalls with food and handicraft, and I will show you some more photos and portraits in the coming days. One of the first people that I met today was Santa! If he looks familiar it's because I photographed him at another market one year ago. His real name is Ronny.After talking to him I heard some music. It was these two guys who decided to cheer up the crowds by performing a few Christmas Carols in the rain. I stayed around for a little over one hour before jumping back on my bicycle for a somewhat wet 15 kilometre ride home.

An exclusive with Bob Dylan

The latest issue of Situation Stockholm features an interview with Bob Dylan. I bought my copy from Stefan whom I meet in Västerhaninge on Wednesday. If you would like to read the Dylan interview you can find it at SNS. Stefan said that it was a cold morning today but that a lot of people came up for a talk and quite a few of them bought a copy. As I always do when I take a portrait I gave Stefan a MOO card, he said he didn't know much about flickr and blogs, but figured his twelve year old daughter was more up to date with the internet.
About the paper, Situation Stockholm started back in 1995 inspired by The Big Issue in Great Britain.

A Swedish Marine Soldier

This is Roger. A man in uniform. But only for one more day. Tomorrow he will be a civilian again after finishing his Call-Up. He has done his eleven month long National Service at the Amphibious Regiment at Berga in Haninge. Also known as The 1st Marine Regiment. His immediate plan is to get a job as a security guard. In the future he is hoping for a career in the military. He might sign up ISAF which means that he could end up in Afghanistan.

Tree in the mist

There hasn't been that many photo-ops lately. At least not for me, the fanatic street portrait photographer. Whenever I have decided to go out with the camera it has started to rain. The weatherman said something about 90 minutes of sun this month, and that sound about right. And there's more of the same to come over the next week. It's very depressing. Yesterday was another grey day. Very misty and with a light rain falling. On my way home from a visit to the police (new passport and ID-card), I decided for yet another visit to the old tree at Välsta. Boy was the path muddy on that visit! But the tree looked good in the mist. Believe it or not, but this was my 199th photo of the Swedish Whitebeam.

The Babe and the Snake

The crappy weather continues, but I did actually take a few photos today. I spotted this truck at the lorry parking at the industrial park in Jordbro at lunch time and decided to head over for a chat with the driver. It was his truck, but it wasn't his idea to paint it like this. That was all up to the artist Mika Jefremoff, a artist from Finland who has been painting trucks, cars and motorcycles for the last fifteen years. The truck driver told me that the paintjob looks great in the sunshine as it then changes color. I haven't seen the sun for a few weeks so i will have to take his word for that!

This Just In

One month ago I showed you a photo of a burning car. Since then there has been a few similar incidents. Just a couple of days after that first fire, another car was stolen, dumped and torched on the same place. That is, just outside my bedroom window (first photo). And just like the first time, the fire fighters took their time, but eventually they arrived. The burning wreck was then left outside the school gymnasium for one week! A big hit both with school kids and pre-school kids. As that car finally was towed away, I found another stolen, dumped and torched car at Stenliden (second photo). It was a new SAAB. And next to that one was a fourth car. By now I had been in contact with the police and a few other people trying to find out if this was being investigated. Then followed two incidents in Jordbro. A drug addict went berserk and vandalised some 25 cars one Saturday night. He was apprehended and claims to have no memory of that evening. Then followed a car burning frenzy. Seven cars parked at three different locations burned on the same night! And just last weekend three cars burned at Ribby in Västerhaninge (third photo). I talked to two women at the scene who speculated that this last incident could have been a personal vendetta as two of the cars had the same owner. Oh, and speaking of incidents, there was an arson attack in Jordbro last week. One of my flickr contacts got a few photos including one where the fire fighters saved the life of a cat found in the empty apartment. I wonder what will happen next?

Robban & Myzan

November is not the best month to shoot street portraits in Haninge. It's mostly cold and windy, but here we go. This is Robban. I spotted his white hat from a distance in Handen yesterday and decided to move in and ask for a portrait. Robban lives in Handen and was out walking with his dog Myzan who is a Rhodesian Ridgeback. Myzan was a bit nervous, probably because of all the cars up on the road and possibly the wind as well. Robban works at Game in Vällingby. They sell video game consoles, and as it happens that type of games is one of Robban's interests.

Abandoned Fox Farm

There's an abandoned fox and mink farm at Skogs Ekeby in Tungelsta. Back in 1925 a man called Erik Sigfrid Larsson arrived to Tungelsta from Floda. He was thirty years old and married. Larsson started one of Tungelsta's many plant nurseries. Five years later, in 1930 he started Ekbackens Rävfarm, (Oak Hill Fox Farm). The farm was abandoned many years ago and the sad remains can now be found in an oak forest. On my latest visit I noticed a funny sign saying that the recent acts of vandalism had been reported to the police! Erik's son Karl Erik still lives in a house nearby so I'm guessing he is responsible for the sign. My father Sten Harald Jansson bought a dog from Erik Sigfrid Larsson back in the 1940'. It was a rottweiler that my dad named Jack. He used to say that whenever Jack saw or heard Larsson's old car the dog would start to bark.

Two Smiling Babes

I spotted these two smiling babes at a bus stop in Handen on Thursday. As you can guess it was their somewhat unusual face painting design that made me look a little closer. Meet Rosanna and Lisa. They work at Korpen, a healthcare and exercise organisation that has been around for a century. When I met the girls they had been at Torvalla where kids, aged between six and twelve, could fight against Gladiators on an obstacle course. Sounds like fun! As I took a few photos of Rosanna and Lisa all the kids turned up and wanted to know what was going on. One kid sounded a bit upset when he realised he wasn't going to be photographed!

Cyclist hit by car

As I was getting ready for a bike ride on Sunday I could hear the ambulance sirens nearby. A few minutes later this was the scene at Söderbyvägen in Tungelsta. A cyclist had been hit by a car. The injured cyclist looked very pale as he was lying by the side of the road. It's a two lane road and this happened near an intersection where there is a 90 degree turn. I think the driver of the car must have been speeding, and driving on the wrong side of the road when he hit the cyclist. It looked like the cyclists neck had been stabilised and I think he might have broken an arm. I stopped and talked to one of the guys from the rescue services as I took a few photos. As you can guess this shook me up a bit as I'm always out on my bike, year round.