Årsta Castle

The view back towards the Årsta castle and part of the golf course. On the panorama you can see two female golfers walking over the course. Shot this from the tree lined avenue i showed you yesterday. The current castle was built by Claes Hansson Bielkenstierna and his wife Barbro Åkesdotter Natt och Dag around 1650. Two other well known owners include Fredrika Bremer and Hans Johan Hierta. If you would like to see a few more photos check out my flickr set.

The long way home

I decided to take the long way home from my visit to the farmers market at Årsta Castle. That meant riding the bike through the long tree lined avenue.

Farmers market at the castle

The annual farmers market moved to Årsta castle in Österhaninge this year. I took the bike down to check it out. Quite a few familiar faces there selling their produce. Some of the farms in Haninge where there, including Stegsholm and Sanda. You could buy anything from wool products to locally produced cheese, honey, marmalade and more. For the hungry there was a stew made from wild boar!

Dead snake up a tree

Biking through the Bronze Age burial site in Jordbro I suddenly found myself eye to eye with a snake. I think it's Viper, and in this case a very dead Viper.

Chrome & Rust

After a recent visit to the beach I decided to take a short-cut on the way home. That's why I spotted this rusty Ford Fairlane and decided that it was time to try a Brenizer-method photo with the new 85mm lens. The owner was a good sport because I suggested we would shoot at a nearby parking lot, and that's what we did. The car looked very familiar, as did the owner. Turns out he (and the car), was at the big meet at Vegabaren a month ago. This is umpteen photos stitched together, the effect is quite striking the Ford Fairlane looks almost like a toy car.

A Blue Eyed Girl

It was one of those warm and sunny Autumn days. I noticed a girl near the commuter station in Västerhaninge. She was listening to music while working on her MacBook so I obviously had to interrupt her and ask for a photo. Madde is a secondary school student, she was waiting for a friend so I had time to try a few photos with the new Prime lens. Second photo is a Brenizer method photo. It consists of 15 photos stitched together, I put the focus on Madde's laptop just to try something different.

A Tale From Klem's Hill

At night the people could see the bonfires burning on the fields. During those nights it was said that treasures were hidden under the fires.The bonfires were known as "vredeseldar", fire's of rage. Every Christmas Day a vredeseld would burn at Klem's Hill, and no one dared go there. One year a peasant from Välsta walked over with a steel axe in his hand. He saw a mound, and in it he could see two dogs. Fires were burning from their mouths. Under their paws he saw items of silver. That scared the peasant who threw his steel axe into the fire. The fire grew bigger and the peasant ran home and told the story. That was a big mistake because you should always sleep one night before telling such a story. The peasant fell ill, but the steel thrown into the fire stopped it from burning ever again at Klem's Hill. From a book with tales from Södertörn published in 1934, written by Viktor Pettersson.

Artists have too much free time

I don't know much about this one day art project/installation. Other than that it took place at Poseidon's square last week and that the material used was a lot of Polykordel 600. And that many people stopped for a look, took a photo of it and walked on, I was one of them.

Last Summer portrait of the year

This is Sara. I took this portrait last weekend during what was probably the last Summer week, although we did have one or two warm days this week. Sara works at the retirement home Ros-Anders Gård in Tungelsta. Named after Gustav Andersson who lived and worked at Rosgården for many years. His greenhouses are long gone, but if you have good imagination perhaps you can see them on this photo. When Sara isn't out hiking with her friend Heidi, she sometimes enjoy horseback-riding.

Autumn Leaves

The colors are changing very quickly now.

Hay, High Voltage and a lot of Sky

I noticed that the farmer had placed the hay in an unusual spot so I decided to test the 85mm lens. This is umpteen photos stitched together. Came out perfectly. Skywatch Friday.

Heidi

It was the last Summer day of the year (Saturday). I had enjoyed coffee and conversation at the cafe and was heading home on the bike. Closing in on the Bronze Age burial field in Jordbro I spot two women with red hair so I of course had to stop and take a few portraits. This is Heidi. She told me that she and her friend Sara had been out hiking in a forest for a few hours. Heidi is studying to become a mental health professional. I asked her if she had any fun hobbies, but she said that her kids took most of her time. Perfectly understandable.

Poisonous Toadstool

Summer ended last Saturday. Just like that. The temperature dropped significantly and on Sunday Autumn arrived. I still have a few Summer portraits to show you but figured I need to start with the Autumn photos. So here's a mushroom I found on a green lawn next to a pedestrian bridge in Västerhaninge yesterday.

The girl with the girly tattoos

This is Steffi.I took her portrait a little over two years ago in Tungelsta, and it's always fun with an update. This time we met at the big park in Handen. Since I saw her the last time she has graduated from secondary school. She would like to work as an art teacher in the future. She had a few of her own paintings with her. The band she plays in, Trimmad Rullator, is on a break. I showed the second photo to local music legend Tompa Eken at the cafe, and he immediately recognised her and told me about a gig with her band that he had seen.

That Old Tree

On my most recent visits to the old tree, I have noticed logging activity in the area around Mulsta. Many trees have been cut down. When I met Christina (Tarantino's favorite actress), on the field close to the old tree, she asked me if my tree was still there. I'm happy to report that it is. She was mostly worried about the habitat for the Lesser Spotted Woodpecker (Dendrocopos minor), at Klem's Hill, a small hillside that you can see down the path on my tree photos. Christina was on her way to talk with the loggers as she had gotten different answer from different people regarding where the loggers would go next. I heard back from Christina later, and she told me that she has put a temporary stop to the logging activity via Stora Enso. The portrait of Sweden's' most photographed woman was shot as a Brenizer-style photo using the 85mm lens.

The Haninge Glance

New art work that can currently be seen at Poseidon's square outside the cultural centre in Handen. This piece shows a woman's face. The text talks about a facial expression, Haningeblicken, that was first seen during a concert at the legendary Ultrahuset. All made up of course but I like the idea. Ultrahuset was a punk music scene in Haninge. Everyone played there. Both Swedish and international artists. Until that is, the municipality decided that the building should be demolished. After a brief occupation the house burned down in August of 1988. I had coffee with the arsonist 25 years after the fire. I told him about this artwork, he had already seen it and thought that it was truly great.

Photo model of the day

I noticed a girl with what looked like leopard tights and jogging shoes, an interesting combo, so I decided to stop her and ask for a portrait. She looked very familiar and the reason for that was that she worked at my favorite cafe for a while. This is Jonna, who is focusing on a career as a makeup artist. I took this a while back and it's shot with the nifty fifty.

A surprise wildlife encounter

I was out trying to find any early signs of autumn when I nearly collided with this elk yesterday. I's a "fjolårskalv", a calf born last year. It was munching away in what was once a private garden with a few apple trees near the Rudan nature reserve. We were both equally surprised, but I managed to get the camera out from the bag and had time to snap a few quick shots before the "älg" decided to disappear into the forest.

A report from the beach

Saturday was perhaps the last real Summer day. 25C in Stockholm and equally warm at my favorite beach, Årsta Havsbad. I was there to check out a new market and when that was done I walked over to a few benches overlooking the beach. I counted around 40 people on the beach. As I sat there I talked to a photographer/writer about this and that.

The Virgo

This was the first street portrait I took with the new Canon 85mm lens. This is Jimina. I noticed her outside the mall in Handen few days ago. She is a student at the entrepreneur college, Riksäpplet, and a future chef. Her interests include clothing and fashion. The tattoo says that she is a Virgo. It will take some time getting used to shooting portraits with this lens compared to the nifty fifty, but it will probably be fun.

Good Deed of the Day

It pays to be observant. I was on the bike when I noticed a designer purse on the walkway near a bus stop in Västerhaninge yesterday. I picked it up, opened it and saw that it was filled with stuff belonging to someone called Nathali. No one else around so I continued towards Åbyplan. Had a look around, noticed several people walking in different directions. Decided to stop at least one of them. And that's how I met Walezka. And it was her purse! How lucky is that! She's originally from Chile and have lived in Sweden for around eight years. When we met she was on her way to work, so now I gave her a good story to tell her work mates!

The Poet

I met a poet over the weekend. Karin Hultenheim. At the first annual market at Årsta Havsbad, (my favorite beach). Her book is called Tvättat vatten. Washed Water. In it you can read poems about water and nature. If you speak the local lingo you can buy a copy at Adlibris. Or read a review at SVD about the book. Oh and one funny thing. Lots of people think that they have met Kristina Lugn when they talk with Karin.

That Old Tree

I bought a new lens earlier in the week. The Canon 85mm f/1.8. Good for everything really, but I will probably use it for portraits and cool Brenizer method photos mostly. This was the first photo(s), I took. Just for the fun of it I placed myself on the spot from where I normally shoot the old tree with the wide angle lens. From that position it took 49 photos to cover the Swedish Whitebeam with the new prime lens! The effect you see here is what happens when PS tells you "scratch disk full".

Showing a bit of leg

One reason I had for shooting 1950s greaser girls at the big meet was a Utata project at flickr. The idea was to pay homage to one of six photographers, and I choose Bunny Yeager who took a lot of photos of Pettie Page. This is Mimmie. She was very easy to work with, very happy and positive. Two more Mimmie photos at flickr in case you are interested.

rear-end shooting

I did a bit of rear-end shooting at the big meet at Vegabaren. Lots of vintage American cars here.

Sideburn Danne

Meet Danne. A cool "raggare". With very realistic (not), looking sideburns! He had entered the competition for best looking hairstyle at the Grand Prix Raggarbil at Vegabaren.

Susanna

Shooting portraits of the greaser girls (raggarbrudar), at the big meet at Vegabaren is always great fun. The first raggarbrud I saw when I arrived was Susanna. She looked great with that red hair, yellow dress, handbag, red shoes and cupcake tattoos.

The Highway Patrol

Always fun to hang with the people in the unique Swedish subculture "Raggare" . That's what I did on Saturday during the 19th Grand Prix Raggarbil event at Vegabaren in Handen. That meant seeing a lot of American cars from the 1950s to the 1970s. Most of them in mint condition. But not all of them as you can see here. There are a few great competitions at the event, one of them being Worst Looking Greaser Car. This one has travelled all the way from Värmland to take part. And, yes this former Highway Patrol car has passed the vehicle inspection, that is a rule if you want to be part of this meet. I will show you much more cars and people from this meet in the next few days.

I see Pink

Everywhere I go I see pink. As proven in this collage where you can see Mikaela. The Lolita Emelie. The pink pop punk girl Steffi. Steve the busker.Pink scull on a Volvo and a photographers butt! All this for September Theme Day which is Pink.