Comfy Riding

Smålandsgatan a few days ago. I have had some issues with my bicycle saddle this year. This guy came up with the ultimate solution to saddle sore I guess.

A dapper man

Do you have the correct time? Yes, we are currently in the middle of the Industrial revolution. Okay, thank you. You are welcome.
Short but fun encounter at Mariaberget on Södermalm in Stockholm. The dapper man was walking down the steep street with his female partner. There are some repair work here at the moment so when I asked for a photo and he agreed we held up anyone trying to pass us by. And it took some time as he first had to button up his vest and also find the correct pose. But in the end we got there.

Fine-tuning his guitar

It is déjà vu all over again. Red, back at his bench at Norr Mälarstrand on Kungsholmen. I have photographed him a few times before, always on this bench. Always dressed in red. Always with his guitar. And always a good sign of Spring. This time he was fine-tuning his guitar when he noticed me. I gave him the international sign for "do you mind if I take a photo" and that was that. When I was done, another photographer walked over for a few snaps and when I was back on my bike they were chatting away.

A man and a woman

Two recent candid snaps. The guy in the top photo is a local musician, as well as a new dad, and possibly a fan of Björn Borg. I have seen his band perform once or twice. Snapped that photo while at the cafe. I don't know the woman in the second photo but I found her photogenic in that orange top. I snapped that one outside the cultural centre at Poseidon's square.

Peter

There I was on all fours in a forest in Österhaninge trying to get a macro photo of an Autumn leaf when Peter walked by with his dog. He is an avid photographer, shooting mostly landscapes and portraits with his analog Medium format camera. Peter worked in IT for 35 years. Employed by Siemens. He spent quite a few years in the US working with the early Internet together with people like Steve Jobs. He was heavily involved with the first Telecommuting in Sweden. One of his clients was the Swedish camera maker Hasselblad. Then all of a sudden he collapsed. He couldn't think. Couldn't eat. His brain completely shut down, and with it his whole body. He lost something like 50 kg in weight. Today everyone knows about burnout and work-related stress, but when it happened to Peter no one knew what it was. It took him a decade to get back to some sort of normality but he hasn't worked a day since the burnout. To keep busy he took up gun shooting and was president in the local club for a long time. But these days he only shoots with his camera, just as he did in his youth. Because of all the stress, Peter took the decision to stay away from the online world completely, so he will never read this text, but I did show him the portrait.

Nicotinist

People watching at Poseidon's Square in Handen.

Mikael

This is Mikael. My barber going back a few decades now. When he first cut my hair I was your typical Swedish kid with blonde hair and he was the opposite with very black hair. Neither of us had a beard. Today we both have gray hair and a little beard. Weird that! Photo taken at his hair saloon earlier today. Shot with my new zoom lens at f/2.8, at 200mm.

Kenny Leckremo

So yesterday I showed you a candid photo of a guy standing out on a pier at a lake with his bicycle. I called it Moment of Zen. I had shot that the previous day. Then, yesterday the guy came biking towards me in Handen! So I waved to him, he stopped, took off his headphones and I then told him that I had a photo of him and showed it to him. He turned out to have an interesting story. This is Kenny Leckremo. A well known musician. Used to be the singer in the band H.E.A.T. They toured around the world, including gigs in the USA and in Japan. Back in 2009 the band took part in the Eurovision Song Contest and became famous overnight. A few months before that when the band had just released their first album Kenny had a scare during a gig and was rushed to hospital with an ambulance. Later he got some help from Hollywood star Peter Stormare and two days after that he had heart surgery in Stockholm. Kenny left H.E.A.T the following year. Today he is back in Sweden again after living in London for ten years. Kenny is working on a new musical project at the moment. He has written a lot of songs during the last seven years and a new band could be presented soon. I asked a few questions about it but it is still a secret, but they will play melodic American classic rock. Oh, and funny thing. When Kenny told me his full name I realised that I had taken a portrait of his brother, André a few years ago If you want to hear some of Kenny's music check out these YouTube videos.

Ronny Johansson

This is Ronny Johansson, but no one calls him that. He is known as Santa from Brandbergen, or in Swedish Brandbergstomten. I wonder why. I met him during the Haninge Day celebrations on Saturday. Ronny is the perfect description of the Swedish word Eldsjäl. Someone truly dedicated to his or her work. In Ronny's case it is all about a popular dance arena that he works with and has helped save a few times now.

Faces You Will Notice

A few more faces from the big greaser meet. For every year at this event (this was my tenth year), I see more and more face tattoos. That is a long time commitment.

Impressive head tattoo

Wow. That had to be a few painful sittings at the tattoo parlour. As seen during the big greaser meet, Grand Prix Raggarbil at the famous, first ever drive-in restaurant in Sweden, the Vegabaren in Handen. I still have a lot of photos to go through from that event.

Two Portraits

A couple of portraits from the big greaser meet. I tried and succeeded to take a few candid portraits of these photogenic "raggare" before the noticed me. and when they did see me I took a few more and here are two of those photos.

4-ever tattoo

The Lifelong Photographer

I noticed a photographer in action in Handen earlier in the week so I decided to stop for a chat and a chance to take another portrait for my Human Family Project. This is Göran. He lives at Myrmalmsringen in Haninge and was out photographing some of the recent changes in the area. He told me that he had lived there since that residential area was built back in the early 1980s. Photography has been a lifelong passion for Göran who started out at the age of twelve. Fiftyfive years later he still uses the camera most days. Back in the analogue days he had his own darkroom and experimented a lot with B&W photography. And he did a lot of work with reversal film as well. Back in the day he did many paid gigs that involved weddings and school photography. I told Göran to get in touch with the local historical association, Haninge Hembygdsgille as he has a lot of photos from around Haninge covering the last 35 years or so. Today he shoots with a Canon EOS 5D Mark III with four different lenses, including a quality macro lens and a good zoom. He also told me, (jokingly), that I might have to do a bit of image editing on the portrait as he preferred to be behind the camera but that didn't seem necessary to me.

Nils Skogmyr

This is Nisse Skogmyr. He is a man with a dream. And he made that dream come true! Together with his wife Lotta he has opened a nostalgia museum in the port city of Nynäshamn. It is called Mopedum. The museum part is very special. You walk in and turn to the left and are suddenly back in 1952. The Mopedum museum focuses on the years between 1952 and 1979. There are lots of info about all the products, fashion items, mopeds and what have you that were popular during that era. And you can follow the life of Clas-Göran and Barbro through that time. After spending a long time in the museum recognising more and more as I headed into the 70s, I walked over to the cafe. It is called Kafé Radiokakan, named after a popular cake from way back when. The cafe is also very very vintage, they even serve pastries that were popular between the 1950s and the 1970s. There's also a jukebox at the cafe and we listened to a couple of tunes from the 1970s, including Airport with The Motors. Nisse started the cafe back in 2012. If you visit during an evening you will find yourself in a popular pub with live music! I have to say that I was very impressed with everything I saw during my visit and I will probably go back again. I will show you the museum snaps tomorrow.

Piotr Ksiazek

He came walking towards me in Västerhaninge. So I really didn't have a choice. I had to stop and ask him for a photo. Hard not to with that big red hair and beard. But there was one problem. The language barrier. We couldn't communicate properly. He spoke,(only),Polish and although I know a few Poles, the only words I know are not meant for print. But I managed to get a few facts. This is Piotr Ksiazek. He is from Poland, obviously. I asked him if he was here working, many Poles are these days, but not Piotr. He was here for medical reasons as I understood it. Waiting for an operation. But he seemed to have a favorite soccer team here, AIK, so he must have been here for a while.

Tibor Hajnal

I noticed this recumbent bicycle in Västerhaninge. Didn't think it was that special until I noticed the electric battery. So I stopped the guy and asked for a few photos. This is Tibor Hajnal. Works as a teacher at Ågesta folkhögskola in Farsta. Lives in Västerhaninge. Born in Yugoslavia, moved to Sweden as a kid. Grew up in Enköping. Later he moved to Handen. He bought the unusual bike from the guy who built it. Tibor has beaten cancer, and is slowly getting his strength back. He hopes to be able to ride to and from work in a not too distant future. He asked me where I was going after I had snapped a few photos and as we were heading the same way we continued to talk while cycling. That turned out to be a bit tricky because Tibor cheated and used his batter power and, boy his bike can fly! He then asked more specifically were I was headed and I told him that it was time for lunch at Malmens konditori, my favorite cafe. He then asked me, who do you know at the cafe? Everyone I answered. Do you know Tompa Eken ? I see him every day was my response. How about Gunnar Borg? On a weekly basis I said. Turns out Tibor used to hang with the Ultrahuset crowd back in the day. Years ago Tibor was a member of a photography club but that was back in the analogue day. This far come in the conversation we said our goodbyes and I turned right as he continued straight ahead as he was on his way to his daughters place. I have a feeling Tibor might drop in at the cafe any day now.

The IT Manager

So I spot this guy from a distance. Figure him as an old hippie. Or maybe a retired sailor who will tell me that "I have sailed the seven seas, and here's my story". Not at all. This is Oscar Ian Borgström. He was waiting for his bus at Port 73 in Handen yesterday when I asked him if I could snap a few portraits with my new 35mm lens. I told him that it was the combination of a few things that made me want to take his photo. The big white beard, the deep tan, the sunglasses and of course the Hawaiian shirt. Turns out Oscar wasn't the old hippie I took him for. And he didn't sail the seven seas, and he never visited Hawaii. He is a former IT manager! And the closest thing to a hippie life in California was a trip to Nevada for a computer and electronics fair in Las Vegas back in the day. I'm sure Oscar could have told me a few interesting stories from his life, but just as I took up my notebook his bus home to Jordbro arrived.

Hipster on a cool bike

I don't know anything about this guy but I'm guessing he is in to Metal, that he likes to work out at the gym, that he really loves his dad and that he is good with tools as I'm also guessing that he fixed up the cool bike.

Tattoo of the day

I'm sure there's an interesting story about the ink job here. But I didn't want to intrude too much. English dude with his Swedish girlfriend at the Lower Lake at the Rudan nature reserve yesterday.