The Parking Lot Workout

I will never go anywhere without a camera because you never know when the next photo opportunity will present itself. From a distance I heard music and a woman's voice shouting something. Closing in on the SATS gym in Handen the other day I noticed a group of women working out on the parking lot, so I parked the bike took a few quick snaps, jumped back on the bike and was gone in under 60 seconds. I wonder what they all though about that.

The Nigerian Nuns

I met two nuns earlier this week. This is Sister Veronica and Sister Lilian. They are from Nigeria. Both of them were invited to Sweden by the Bishop, Anders Arborelius. Veronica has been here for three years, and Lilian for four years. Their Swedish was quite good. I noticed them in Handen not far from the Catholic church, and decided to ask them for a portrait. We talked a bit about their work here in Sweden, and also about their religious habit. They either wear this blue dress or a white version. They don't know how long their stay here in Haninge will last. I told them about Sara, the priestess that I have photographed a few times. Lilian told me that she had met The Prince a few times. After this chat I took a few photos and showed them to the nuns and they looked happy with the result.

Taking the Backroad

I took a bike ride the other day hoping to shoot a few rural scenes and as I passed the farm at Ormsta I met these two horseback riders on the old gravel road towards Husby (where they have their horses). To the left with the big smile Rikke Strøyberg (she's originally from Denmark), riding on Venice. Next to her Céline Kristiansson on Vendela. The farm buildings and the fields here are used by Rolf from the Hammarby Farm.

Sunbathing at the amphitheatre

Talking with Rustan at the park in Handen the other day I spotted these two women over at the amphitheatre so I walked over for a chat. This is Anna and Anjelika. They were getting ready for some serious sunbathing and you can't miss such a photo-op! The girls have been friends for more than fifteen years, in fact they were in the same school class from day one, when they were seven years old until they graduated from secondary school 12 years later! Anna works as a personal assistant in Hökarängen and is a football fanatic. Her favorite teams are Man United and DIF (a Stockholm team). Anjelica holds two jobs. One at City Gross (grocery store), and one as a night time receptionist at a hotel in Älvsjö. She enjoys travelling and has visited quite a few interesting places including New York, Bali and Cuba. When the girls are not working they will often go for a pub round at Söder in Stockholm.

At the Cafe

I was having coffee at Malmens konditori in Handen with Jim and Fred yesterday afternoon. At the next table Sara and her baby daughter Saga was waiting for Lena and Agnes to arrive. The two young mothers who both live in Haninge met at the baby clinic some seven months ago. Sara (in the black top), is a secondary school teacher that teaches Swedish and Latin at the Skogås Gymnasium. Lena is an IT Support Manager. But at the moment they are both on parental leave. We talked a bit about Tungelsta, and all the abandoned greenhouses there, and I told Lena to head over to Wolmer's nursery and nick some roses there before they disappear, something she had planned to do, but not yet dared. Just blame me I told her.

Top Secret Recipe

This is Ann Wahlfors and Lena Kristiansson. And possibly Ann's daughter, I forgot to ask. All three girls took part in the traditional dancing during the Midsummer celebrations at Prästgårdsparken on Friday. Lena is the chairperson of the Sorunda Handicraft group and she told me a little about the old Sorunda Dress. Ann, also known as Sorundann is a weaver, but more importantly she is a baker, and she is one of the few people in the world that bakes the famous Sorunda Cake, three of which you can see here. The recipe is a well kept secret. Every farm has their own design of the cake. The recipes are handed down and kept by only a few family members, but I do know one thing and that is that there's lots of butter in the cake!

Free Water Anyone?

This is Caroline and Karoline. Two university college students. Caroline is a future economist, she will graduate in December. Her friend Karoline is studying law and has a few years left in school before she can title herself a jurist. I spotted their unusual bicycles in Handen on Thursday and decided to check out what was going on. The girls work extra for Manpower, and on this occasion that meant working for City Gross, which is a grocery chain. When I met them they were giving away water bottles, not a bad idea on a sunny summer day. And true to her education the future jurist Karoline asked me if I knew everything about The Personal Data Act.

The Poser

From a distance I noticed this Jack Russel Terrier playing with a pine cone while balancing on the green bench, and I figured that would be a fun portrait, especially as the bench was surrounded by snow. The poser is called Vincent, and his proud owner goes by the name of Ulrika. She works at a book store here in Handen, where they sell student course books. We talked a bit about books and while I still read my novels, Ulrika mostly listens to them while driving. I mentioned a few previous portraits with cool coincidence's and while doing that The Dude passed by on his bike just to prove my point that it really is a small world after all.

A Mother & Daughter Thing

This is Jennifer and Ulrika, daughter and mother. I met them at the Christmas market at Tyresta on Saturday. They were selling their home made candles. Jennifer makes gel candles, and her mother Ulrika, who has her own business, are into decorative molded candles. None of the candles in their stall were lit, which was probably a good thing, as it was raining most of the day!

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.

A shocking encounter :-)

I spotted these gals with their matching nail polish in Handen yesterday and decided to move in for a portrait. As I was about to explain what I wanted they cut me off and said "and now you want to take our portrait? That's right I said and that's when Emma (to the right),went into shock. When she came out of it her friend Matilda had already said yes to the photo shoot. But I don't have any make up on me Emma continued. I can't have my photo taken without make up! Can I hide my face? No, that doesn't make for a good portrait I said. But what if I hide my face behind my hair, that could work. Anyway, Emma (without the make up), works at a retirement home. Her friend Matilda works at an office. I asked if they had any fun hobbies and they told me, yes, we enjoy drinking wine! That's a hobby I am familiar with. What about anything crazy I asked and told them about Ego. And then they told me, we enjoy taking long walks. That doesn't really sound very crazy I said. But we do it differently they explained. First we make up a list with weird things we have to do during the promenade. Like what I asked? Like asking a guy if we can feel him up and grab his genitals! By now it was my turn to go into shock so that was that!

A Double Invitation

The top photo shows Gammelgården (it means the old cottage). It is situated in a beautiful part of Österhaninge, only meters away from the tree lined aveny that leads down to Årsta Castle. It is the oldest building in Haninge. The current castle is from 1650, and this cottage that once belonged to the castle is supposedly older. I have never been inside, but by chance I met the previous owner, Louise, nearby on Friday. Together with her friend Helén she was having a picnic in the sunshine near Stadsberga with their respective newborns, Sigge and Emma-Li. I stopped and was just about to ask them for a photo when Louise said: no photos please. That surprised me, but I don't give up that easy and we ended up chatting about this and that for ten minutes and Helén figured a photo of them then and there would be just fine! They offered me coffee, but I had just had a cup with flickr friend Jim at a cafe in Västerhaninge so I declined. Helén's boyfriend is Louise's brother so the girls are sisters in law. They used to play in the same korpfotboll team (7 player soccer for amateurs), but as they are newly mothers, promenades is what they have time for these days. It was when I asked where they lived that I learned that Louise had just sold the old cottage. Luckily for me she still has the keys as the new owners have yet to move in, so weather permitting I might take a bike ride down to the old cottage later today for a closer look. I took the top photo a couple of minutes after my meeting with the girls in case you are wondering. They were going one way and I the other, and as the weather was great I figured the white cottage would look good against a blue sky so I stopped by for a a few quick photos. Oh, and if you would like to see how it looks near Helén's place, press here to look at a big panoramic view over the Blista Bay.

Two different organisations

Many organisations took the opportunity to inform the public about their work during Haninge Day. Here are two of them. On the top photo you can see the blood bus from the Swedish Blood Centre. I decided to have a look inside and that's where I found Pia. She was dressed in her scout uniform (the scouts were also informing about their activities during the celebrations). I asked if I could get a photo of her while she was donating her 4,5 decilitre blood and she was fine with that, as was the nurse Ingrid who was making sure that everything was working fine. To donate blood in Sweden you need to be healthy, have an ID card weigh over 50 kilo and be somewhere between 18 and 60 years old. Every year people in Sweden donate around 2 million litres of blood.

Second photo shows the smiling duo Jenny and Cassandra. Two members of the volunteer organisation Bilkåren. The English title is The Federation of Women's Motor Transport Corporation. One of 19 volunteer organisations in the Swedish defence force. Bilkåren dates back to 1939. That's when the first female volunteer ambulance drivers and truck drivers got involved in the defence force. Today they have around 6000 members. Jenny and Cassandra seemed to be a big hit with the local kids, if you look closely you can see one happy kid behind the wheel.

1950's all over again

Together with Jimmy I walked around the cruiser meet looking for some of the babes that had entered the hottest greaser girl contest. And here are two of them. The top photo shows Anna. One of my favourites to the title. I didn't get the name of the girl on the second photo, as Jimmy was the one asking for a photo here. You can see his version over here. He had never before asked anyone for a photo, but after a few hours in my company he seemed to have figured out how to do it!

Turbo&Tyson

It's tricky not to meet people at Gullringskärret in Jordbro. It's a popular nature reserve, and there's also a big ancient grave field here. I have shot quite a few portraits here. Both dog owners and horse back riders. And this time I met this quartet. This is Jossan and Sara. The dogs are called Turbo (Rottweiler/German Shepherd ), and Tyson (Amstaff). The dogs where probably more interested in the surroundings, and wanted the photo shoot to end as soon as possible. Tyson belongs to Sara's son. Sara and Jossan both live nearby in Jordbro and are friends through their respective families. Sara works in marketing, and also in day care. Jossan used to work in home care, but are now thinking about open a dog care centre, or Hunddagis as we like to call it in Swedish. After I uploaded this photo to flickr I met Micke again (The Family Man), and he told me that he knew Jossan, which isn't that surprising to me, as it really is a small world we live in.

A Few Candid Portraits

If you read this blog regularly, you know that I shoot many street portraits with an added interview. But I also enjoy capturing everyday people out and about. That is, shooting photos without asking the subject, but always at a public space. Something I enjoy whenever I am visiting an event. So here are a few recent examples. All from the open-house weekend at Berga earlier this summer.

Portrait of two smiling women

A while back when I was out on a bike ride, I met these two smiling young women. This is Nathalie and Camilla. They were out on a promenade with Camilla's baby, and said yes to a portrait in front of the burial site at the Medieval church in Västerhaninge. It's my third portrait here. Last year on 080808 I met a man who was going to get married, he was dressed in a kilt (I'm still a little upset that no one took the time to leave a comment on that post). And in May I met a Bride & Groom. But back to the smiling girls. Both Nathalie and Camilla lives here in Västerhaninge. Nathalie works at 3 ,a mobile operator. Camilla is on parental leave. Normally she works at Coca-Cola in Jordbro just like two other people that I have met and photographed for this blog.

At the Grocery Store

I got an odd feeling today as I walked around in my local coop konsum grocery store in Tungelsta. I can't put my finger on it, but the employees looked a bit different. The woman at the meat counter scared me away so I didn't get any minced meat.



As I then looked for some pasta sauce, I ran into the manager, Helen Andersson, who I at first didn't recognise. Earlier this year she was voted coop franchisor of the year.



Then I had to look more closely at the check-out girl, because she too looked a bit different.



In the end I probably came home with a few missing groceries but I guess I could always try again tomorrow!

We Shoot Film

A little out of breath as I had been on a lengthy bike ride, I had to stop at St Eskil's Park in Handen when I spotted three young photographers. I quickly explained the 100 Strangers Project and the trio agreed to have their portrait taken. This is Bella, Oscar and Sofie. All three are third-year students at the nearby Fredrika Bremer Secondary School. I asked them if they were out on a school assignment and they told me that they were. We take a course in photography. We shoot film, and today's assignment handles Depth of Field they told me. I asked if there was any chance of seeing their work online but that wasnt the case. I told them that there are quite a few flickr groups for film lovers, so who knows, maybe they will set up an account. Bella, to the left comes from Dalarö . She's a swimmer and also plays volleyball for Dalarö Sports Club. Oscar comes from Jordbro and his big hobby is longboarding. Sofie lives in Tungelsta and enjoys travelling. When I asked her to pick a favorite place she choose Koh Samui in Thailand. After this short interview I took a few photos and that was it.
This is my 93th photo for the 100 Strangers project. You can see the rest of my strangers in my Set.

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