The first sunbathers

Four girls sunbathing at the beach at Nickstabadet in Nyäshamn. I arrived at the beach after a 30km bike ride on what was a really fine May day. It was the same day as I took all the photos of cyclists. After snapping this I rode down to the dive tower where there is a big bench, it was a bit too crowded so I sat down nearby and ate a light lunch. No one was swimming in the sea but I noticed a few people out in a dingy. After enjoying the sunshine for a while while reloading my batteries I continued my bike ride down to the harbor, I showed you those photos two days ago.

Beach Find

Two recent finds during my visit to Årsta Havsbad, my favorite beach earlier in the week. A dead gull and a seashell. Both photos taken with my Canon 60mm lens.

Still Summer

Still Summer. Nice day for some singing&sunbathing on the bench and in the water at Årsta Havsbad. 16C in the water, 22C on dry land at Årsta Havsbad earlier in the week.

Autumn At The Beach

There was no one to look at on my recent visit to the beach. No one was diving into the water from the dive tower. The sandy beach was deserted. All sunbathers had packed up and gone home. The season had come to an end.

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.

Warmest day of the year

Sunday was the warmest day of the year so far and the beach at Årsta Havsbad was crowded when I arrived in the early afternoon. No Aussie Summer of course, or Death Valley temperatures, but still warm enough. I even had to bring an extra bottle on the bike ride! Both these snaps are panoramic images. Tricky to shoot with many people walking around, but I think they came out okay.

Summer Break

Most of the schools have closed for the summer now. I made a pit stop at my favorite beach on Tuesday. Two people were busy preparing the open-air dance floor for the Midsummer celebrations. Down at the beach a few kids were busy screaming and shouting as well as sunbathing, swimming and jumping from the dive tower. The name of this bay Is Horsfjärden. I know for a fact that the water isn't all that warm this early in the Summer so these are soume tough kids.

Patterns on the ice

If you take a bicycle ride on the warmest day of the year (9C), and end up on the beach, Årsta Havsbad, where the Horsfjärden Bay is still semi-frozen, and if you walk out onto one of the piers and climbs up to the top of the dive tower and shoots a fifteen photo panorama/composite with the Canon, this is the interesting result you will get.

The Beach

It wasn't much of a Summer. And it looks like it is over now. Shot this on Tuesday, which might have been the last day with Summer temperatures. This is my favorite beach at Årsta Havsbad. I counted two people at the beach. Met a woman who said that she hadnt gone for a swim this year, too cold in the water for her taste. Here is a look at how the beach looked back in July.

One Sentence

It was a good thing that all the people that decided to spend part of their Sunday at my favorite beach, Årsta Havsbad, down at the Hårsfjärden Bay, did just that, and you can see a few of them here, because on Monday the more typical weather of this summer was back,i.e. clouds, clouds and more clouds, and no sign of the sun.

Beach Candids

We had a few hours of sunshine on Sunday. I decided to hit the beach. I wasn't the only one with that idea. Arriving at my favorite beach Årsta Havsbad, I sat on the grass for a while relaxing. Then, as I usually do, I walked over to a bench from where you have the best view over the beach. A family was sitting there, so while I was shooting we got talking about photography in public spaces. That is always an interesting topic. I only shot two candid photos and here they are. Pretty girl wearing a pink bikini, and cool guy with big back tattoo. Might show you a very wide beach photo tomorrow.

Rickard & Emelie

Summer is here, and down at my favorite beach I met Rickard and Emelie. They are originally from up North in Sundsvall, but are now living in an apartment at Södermalm in Stockholm. Rickard is a craftsman and Emilie works in retail. Both of them are former football players, but have given up the sport now. Emelie was a centre back in a second division team so she must have been a good player. Rickard spends a lot of time in the gym these days. After I had taken a few photos they were happy to get back up on dry land again as the water here in the Baltic Sea is still a bit on the cold side!

A Day on the Bay

The sun was shining from a clear blue sky on Sunday so I jumped on the bike and headed for the beach. After shooting a panorama from one of the piers I sat down on the big bench near the water and started talking with Gunnar and Annette. They are from Haninge and have a summer house here at Årsta Havsbad. We talked about this and that for a few minutes as we were enjoying the sunshine and looking at the ice skaters out on the frozen Hårsfjärden bay. Skating on natural ice is a big winter sport in Sweden so I decided to get a portrait of one of the skaters. This is Elisabeth who lives and works in Stockholm. And just like Gunnar and Anette, Elisabeth has a summer house here near the beach. On this day she was out skating with a friend, (another Elisabeth). She told me that they were rather new to this sport so they decided to stay close to the beach.

The Frozen Bay

I took the bike down to my favorite beach the other day. This is Hårsfjärden, part of the Baltic Sea, where the Swedish military chased those subs back in the 1980's. In a few months time people will be jumping into the sea from this dive tower which is hard to believe looking at it now. It's also hard to tell the icy and snowy pier from the frozen bay. On my visit I was hoping to find a few ice fishers, like on my visit three years ago, but there was no one around. If you want to, you can walk across the bay, there was a cool photo in my morning paper yesterday, taken a bit south from here where a man was biking across the bay!

The National Sea Rescue Society

Rescue Paul Lederhausen. That's the name of the boat on the top photo. Paul Lederhausen is a business man and when he turned 70 years old, his wife donated the money necessary to buy the boat, hence the name. I took this photo at Årsta Havsbad when the National Sea Rescue Society visited the Hårsfjärden Bay. The second photo shows the rescue runner, a specialized scooter that saves the man in the water. The non-governmental organisation has been active for more than 100 years. They don't get any government funding, but are still responsible for 70 per cent of all sea rescues in the country! They have around 1700 volunteers and some 160 rescue stations around Sweden. When they get a call after an accident or incident they are very quick to respond, and are usually on their way within fifteen minutes. If you would like to know more the society has some information available in English.

A Little Museum

Sven Wallander was a man with a vision. He was an architect and had a dream that the average worker in Stockholm should be able to enjoy a weeks vacation down by the coast. In 1929 that dream came true as four hundred summer houses like this one at the square at Årsta Havsbad were ready. As were the new roads to the seaside resort and the all the stores needed for the summer visitors. Another architect, Osvald Almqvist designed the houses that were built at a factory in Sparreholm. There were a few different models to choose from. They were all very small not bigger than 16 square meter. They were very basic and had no running water or indoor toilet. You could stay here for one week with your family. The cost was ten kronor. The first people that took advantage of this opportunity worked at the Dagens Nyheter, the big morning paper in Stockholm. Later some of the workers bought their own houses and many more were built. Today it's a different story. Many of the 800 houses have been rebuilt and redesigned and a number of people live here year round. Last weekend Årsta Havsbad celebrated 80 years and I decided to have a look in the museum at the square. This sports hut was donated by Sonja and Evert Jalke in 1999. It is today a museum and looks just like it did back in 1930 when it was built. All the furniture and home appliances in the hut are gifts from the locals. During my visit I met Richard Roosvall who showed me around. Instead of picking two or three photos I decided to use the flickr slideshow and I hope it works. So press the little arrow to start the slideshow.

World War II Torpedo Boat

This ship was built at Kockums in 1942. During WW II thousands of T 26 were used by the military in Great Britain and in the US. And also by the military in Italy, and Germany. It was a very advanced ship for it's time. Today it's a museum, and I got a chance to go aboard last Saturday when the 1st Marine Regiment at Berga, also known as the Amphibious Regiment showed some of their new and old vessels at Årsta Havsbad. And as you can see on the second photo I wasnt the only one interested! Climbing down the ladder and stepping into the machine room was very interesting. And warm! The officers that guided us around said that it was like a sauna down there on a hot day. The commanders bunk wasnt much bigger. All in all a very giving visit. I was told that this is the only remaining T56 in the world that is till in working order. Everything aboard the boat is still functional even all the equipment in the radio room.

Combat Boat 90

The 1st Marine Regiment at the Hårsfjärden Bay at Berga here in Haninge, also known as the Amphibious Regiment showed some of their vessels at Årsta Havsbad on Saturday. This is the Combat Boat 90. A fast and light-weight assault craft with twin water jets. It can perform sharp turns at high speed and go from full speed to a complete stop in a few seconds. I have seen them in action out on the bay here before and they are very impressive. The difference this time was that anyone who wanted got a chance to go aboard a couple of the vessels. I was more or less first in line, and spent 30 minutes checking out the boats while snapping a few photos and talking to the officers.

Bay Side

I spent one hour down at the ferry pier at Årsta Havsbad at the Hårsfjärden Bay on Wednesday. Relaxing in the sunshine near the kiosk as I was taking photos of boats out on the bay. I also aimed the camera at a few tourists waiting for the Silverpilen ferry to arrive to the pier. The boat will take them out to the archipelago and the Utö island. Årsta Havsbad dates back to 1929. It was built as a summer resort for workers after an idea from the architect Sven Wallander. Seven hundred small wooden houses were built along with a hotel (it burned down in 1970), and a number of stores, including a butcher and a hair dresser. Today it looks a bit different as many people live here year round. Despite that all the stores are gone, except for a pizza place and a small convenient store at the square. If you recognise the name, it's because this is where you will find my favorite beach and I have shown you a number of photos from here over the last three years. Here is a link to a beach panorama I shot last month.

The warmest day of the year

Saturday was warm all around the country. We had around 26 C when I got on the bike, and by the time I reached the beach half an hour later it was probably even warmer. My favorite beach is Årsta Havsbad. It's a bay called Hårsfjärden, made famous all over the world in the 1980ths when the Swedish marine was hunting submarines that was said to be from the soviet union. As back then there was no sign of any under water activity on Saturday. The water was still not that warm, I'm guessing around 16C but it was warm enough for the kids that were diving from the tower, as you can see from the splash in the panorama. These photos were shot from an area above the beach, where there are a few benches, andalso an open air dance floor. I didn't shoot any portraits at the beach on this visit, but here's one from the archive.