Nina

A while back on what probably was the warmest day of the year I had just decided to cut my bike ride short due to the heat. And on my way home I spotted this woman at Torvalla in Handen and figured she was up for a quick portrait and a question or two. This is Nina. She turned out to be the manager of the big restaurant Parabolen at City Hall here in Handen, so she has probably met a few of the other people I have photographed around here, like perhaps Rikard Lundin, the city planner who work in the same building. Nina lives in Handen, and when I met her she was out on a promenade that would probably end down at the beach at Lake Rudan.

H1N1

The biggest scare with the outbreak of the swine flu isn't that it could be as severe as the 1918 flu pandemic. No, the worst thing is that a lot of people wont be able to produce and consume for a long time! That's the interpretation by Klaus Appelt for the 2009 Art Promenade in Österhaninge, where the theme this summer is Money. This is the heaviest sculpture I have seen here. The pig and keyboard weighs in at more than 100 kilos. To show you a little more of the setting for the art promenade, here is another photo of the same sculpture taken from the nearby cemetery at the Medieval church.

The Biker

Sometimes it's very easy to get good portraits of interesting people. Shooting a couple of photos of this rough looking biker (check out the tattoos), was dead easy. I say rough looking, but it's pretty easy to notice his big smile behind that impressive beard that must have taken a few years to grow. I was at home when I heard the motorcycles drive up the road. A minute later my brother told me that it was probably time to get the camera ready. And a minute after that I was talking to Tony. A long time member of Slackers MC, and he sure looks the business, doesn't he. Tony drives a 1999 Harley Davidson Roadking. If you want one, expect to pay around 170 000 SEK. Slackers MC has nine members, and their headquarters is only a couple of kilometres away, at Håga. I mentioned some of the other bikers and people that I have met since I started shooting portraits, and sure enough Tony knew all of them. And I'm quite sure I will meet Tony again, later this year at the big bike meet at Vegabaren. If you live locally and like cool bikes, be sure to get up to Handen on the fifth of September. I'm guessing you all really want to know what Tony was up to when I met him. The answer is that he was waiting for his girlfriend who was buying some flowers from Blomorado. They got the laugh of the day when I said that I thought Tony would stand out a little in a crowd. Just a little you say? Yes, just a little.

A Murder Story

I'm reading a novel about a murder at the moment. It's a true story. A man was murdered by three of his employees. It happened at Näringberg a very long time ago. It's an old estate near the Hårsfjärden Bay, with a long and dramatic history. In 1719 the Russians attacked, and the estate was burned down, only to be rebuilt on the same spot a few years later. The mansion is situated on a small hill, from where you had a good view over the surrounding landscape and the bay. The murder took place on a summer night back in 1853. On the day I started reading the book I decided to see the place for myself. So I took a bike ride down to Näringsberg, which today is in the hand of the military. Luckily for me there was no military activity on this day. They use it as a training facility, and there are warning signs all over the place not to pick up any ammunition you might find! I passed the rusty old gates without any problems and continued down the impressive tree lined avenue leading up to the house. The place was empty so for one hour I walked around looking at all the buildings while taking a few photos. The murder victim, Hugo Jaedren, was a very brutal man and he probably got what he deserved. Arriving home one night he had to stop his horse and wagon as the gates to his estate were closed. And before he knew it he was attacked and beaten to death. His helper, a young boy, managed to sound the alarm, but when help arrived, the murderers were nowhere to be seen. The police was called in. Three men were soon arrested, and they all later confessed to the murder during the following trial. One of them was sentenced to death, and he was the last person to be executed at the execution rock in Jordbro. For many years the buildings at Näringsberg stood empty and the place was slowly decaying. But luckily the authors to the book, Bo and Anita Stjernström has managed to raise the necessary funds from the Swedish Fortification Agency to restore the place.

Under the shade of a tree

This is Anna. I noticed her at the commuter station in Jordbro a while back. She was getting ready to jump up on her bike and pedal home, and as you can see she said yes to having her photo taken. It was very sunny so we walked over to a tree for a question or two in the shade. Anna lives at Jordbro, she is married and have a kid. She's currently looking for a job. She enjoys the outdoors and is a keen cyclist, and she often goes on long promenades around Haninge. Some of her favourite places includes Lake Rudan and Dalarö which I will have to agree with, as those places are on my list as well. After I finished my questions I snapped a few portraits ( I did have some camera trouble), before we jumped on our bikes and took off in different directions.

Hay Harvesting

It's that time of the year again. Hay Harvesting. All around Haninge the farmers have been busy with the harvest. I have seen it in large scale near the Häringe castle, where they use many big machines from the Fituna Farm, and small scale like this at Husby in Österhaninge, where there is a small stable just up the hill where the hay from this field will end up as food for the horses. Nice to see the young and old working together here. Shot this last week on one of those very warm days. I believe that the people here are members of Helena Persson's family. Helena is one of Sweden's best English Riders.

The Strawberry Girl

Heading home from the beach on the warmest day of the summer so far (this was a few days ago), I stopped at Håga to buy some strawberries from the stand by the side of the road. This is Tove. She is from Västerhaninge and come the fall, she will be a ninth grader at the Ribby school in Västerhaninge. This summer she will be busy selling strawberries and cherries. And when I left with my purchase, there was a long queue of cars at the bus station near Mulstavägen, so business was probably very good today. Tove is into soccer and is a member of Tungelsta IF. Because of a foot injury she hasn't been able to play for a while, but when she is fit again she will join the Tungelsta ladies team. And probably score a few goals. Go Tungelsta!

An exiting day in Österhaninge

Husby is an old farm in Österhaninge. Back in the good old days this was the place where the local farmers paid their taxes to the king. They would arrive on their wagons that were filled with their produce. This is the old watermill that was also used as a sawmill, and later it also got a turbine which generated the electricity to the farm. Today there is a golf course here. And believe it or not, to get to the tenth hole you have to walk through the old mill! I spent some time here on Thursday with a flickr friend and photographer, Jim, who you can see here on the steep stairs, zooming in on a detail from the old mill.



We started by having coffee at the golf club, and that turned out to bee a big mistake, as it was very warm, and I was beginning to feel the heat. Luckily it was a bit cooler down by the stream. This is the view from inside the mill. What you see here is the Husby stream and a salmon staircase, also known as a fish ladder.



What you don't see here is what happened one hour after the visit to the mill. By then the temperature was around 30C and I was really feeling the heat as we were walking through an ancient grave field where you will also find Haninge's biggest ant hill in an old barn! Anyway, I was very dizzy and needed more water and as we made our way back to our bikes, we were chased by a bunch of angry horses through a horse pasture! Hard to believe, but that is what happened. I ran as fast as I could, while Jim hid behind a tree. Back at the stable, we told a bunch of girls what had happened as I drank around three litres of water in under five minutes. They probably got a big laugh out of that. Luckily for me it started to rain, and as I had a ten km bike ride home that rain probably saved me as my temperature slowly turned back to normal in the rain.

Marcus and Liam

On another beautiful summer day recently I decided to shoot a couple of street portraits. This is Marcus and his son Liam. They were out on a promenade in Handen and live nearby in Brandbergen. Marcus comes from Skåne in the very south of Sweden. He used to live in Båstad, but love made him move north. Today he is married and works as a IT consultant and is employed by Manpower.

Maria From Zakopane

This is Maria whom I met in Handen a couple of days ago. Originally from Poland where she lived in a village in the Tatra Mountains region called Zakopane. These days she lives in Haninge and have just finished a course called Swedish as a Second Language. And now she is qualified for further studies and she has decided that she wants to work with kids at a Kindergarten and those studies will take place here in Haninge. We talked about the fact that there are quite a few people from Poland living and working here now that we are all members of the EU.

A visit to an old castle

On a very hot summer day (it was yesterday), I jumped on the bike and via a few rarely used gravel roads winding through a rural landscape, I arrived to the Häringe Castle some forty minutes later. If you read this blog last summer you may remember my meeting with the musical duo in the castle orchard here. Or perhaps my encounter with Mr. Grotesque.




On the doors to the old castle that today is a popular hotel, you will find a couple of impressive knockers. Ha ha, I really nailed that last sentence didn't I! Lets have a look inside.




You really get the feeling that you are in an old castle by looking at the stairs leading up to the second floor here. Everything looks just like one would expect. And lets pretend that it's the middle of the night, and that you for some reason are walking down those same stairs, this is what you will see. A Knight in shining armour! Enough to wake anyone up I would imagine.



I will show you some more of the castle and it's surroundings in a couple of days.

The Punk Rocker

On the same spot where I took a portrait of Sandra a couple of days ago, I ran into Matte. He was a bit hard to get talking to, but I guess that is the sort of attitude you need to have when you are a punk rocker. But when I mentioned that I was shooting for my blog, his friend Fredrik got a bit exited, as I had previously met and photographed Fredrik's dad. Matte is from Vendelsö and the band where he sings and plays the guitar is called Rasera (it means destroy or tear down). If you know punk that's not a bad band name, as it was the title of one of Imperiets albums. Rasera have a MySpace site, but there's not much good music there yet, Matte told me. But I'm sure they will have some time during the summer break to write new material.

Driving to the beach

Meet Stefan. He is a bus driver here in Haninge. A job he has had for five years. I spotted him sitting at his bus reading the paper, and he had a few minutes to spare. He is from Tyresö, and lives in an apartment at Granängsvägen. A great place to live he told me. He spends a lot of time with the neighbours. Playing boule and fishing are two hobbies that they enjoy together. I noticed his rose tattoo and told him about Sandra that I met a few days ago. I like that type of coincidence. The tattoo was made by his son, who is a tattoo artist that works from Gamla Stan in Stockholm. The route Stefan was driving on this day was back and forth to the beach six times! Only problem with that is that he can't see the beach from the road, but it's probably still a good feeling driving all the people down to the beach and the ferry pier where the bus turns around. As I was taking a few portraits of Stefan, he got the call and had to drive away so that more people could hit the crowded beach.

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.

The Rose and the Dolphin

Closing in on a tattoo parlour in Handen, I noticed a girl with a big red rose tattooed on her arm and figured I had to talk to her. This is Sandra. She's the store manager for the Skokanonen's shoe-shop here in Handen. I asked about her tattoos, and sure enough, she had the rose made at the tattoo parlour around the corner. On her right arm there is a tattoo of a dolphin. She got that one made on a visit to Eilat in Israel, after a diving course that included swimming with dolphins. A very memorable experience she told me. I wonder if I need new pair of shoes any time soon?

The Law Student

This is Joakim. He was in a hurry as he came charging towards me on his longboard in Handen the other day, but still had the time to pose for a few quick shots and answer a couple of questions. He is on summer break. A former student at the Södertörns College in Huddinge, where I took that cool photo on June 14th. Later this year he will continue his education at the Stockholm University, where he will attend the Juridicum, the Department of Law. So this could be a future lawyer.

A Finansvalp

Time for another look at this years art promenade at the gallery in Österhaninge. This artwork may need some explanation. At least if you are not familiar with the word "finansvalp". Because this is supposedly one of those. The expression was made famous 20 years ago by the then union leader Stig Malm, and refers to the young traders on the stock market back then. You know the type, a yuppie who only cares about making more money. And now with the financial crisis upon us, the yuppies of today are running around looking for help to survive. They used to be fat cats ( the word valp means puppy, but you get the picture), but are now thin and ragged looking. When the times get better again the finansvalp will disappear only to become fat again at other peoples expences or something like that. This sculpture that you can see at the side of the road, next to the Medieval church, was made by the artist Annie Forsberg.

Una Bella Donna

After a slow start the summer has finally arrived with some matching temperatures so I figured more street portraits were in order. This is Therese. I spotted her at the Eskils Park in Handen yesterday and asked her for a portrait. She is from Handen and works in the health care industry. She is into yoga and chi gong, and is hoping to become a licensed esthetician, or a spa therapist in the not too distant future. So if you want a relaxing face massage, Therese is your girl. The title refers to the fact that she is a babe, but also that Bella Donna is an alias she uses online. I have meet a few people at the park before. Including an upset former Death Metal musician and three young photographers.

Does Money Make The World Go Round?

That's a good question. And as it happens Money is the the theme for this years Art Promenade at the gallery in Österhaninge. And with the economy as it is it's probably a good theme. For the fifth year running I have documented the promenade. So over the summer I will show you a photo every now and then. And this is the first one. The artist is Sylvia Sinel. Sylvia has set up a web site as her part of the project. It is called Alltförpengar, which translates to Everything For Money. Sylvia has also placed 100 coins all around the garden near the gallery. And as you can see I found one of the coins. On them you can read a question, on my coin it said, Now, what are you going to do. There are of course a few options. Take the coin with you. Leave it. Move it, or perhaps use it to buy a coffee at the gallery.

The R&B Fan

This is Taglou. I spotted him on the sidewalk along Lillsjövägen in Jordbro a few days ago. He was on hos way to work at Dagab, the big logistics company, but had time to pose for a few portraits. He lives at Hässelby in Stockholm, so he has to commute with the train every day. I figured Taglou for someone who loved hip-hop and he told he was. But he also listens to reggae and R&B . The Jordbro industrial area is filled to capacity and there are a few hundred companies here. You will find both smaller work places with only a few employees to the large corporations like Dagab and Coca-Cola.

Hot Dogs To Go

Who doesn't love a hot dog every now and then. If I see a new "korvmoj" as we call these places I will have to try it out. This one has been opened for about one month according to the owner. It is situated on Poseidon's square in Handen. Near the mall, commuter station and the cultural centre so it's probably a very good place to sell some fast food. I bought a hot dog with bread (set me back 15 SEK), and it tasted a bit overcooked.

Disc Gold Anyone?

Lake Rudan is a favorite place for me. If you enjoy the occasional theatre show in the old barn, or sun bathing at the beach, or at the cliffs, or if you prefer mountain bike riding, or fishing, or even ice fishing in the winter, or Nordic skiing, you will appreciate this place. Over the last three years I have shown you all of that and more. And here is another popular pastime activity from the lakes. Disc golf. Meet Robin and Niklas. They were playing disc golf at the Rudan Frisbee Sport Centre k when I met them. The guys told me that they have been enjoying this sport for thirteen years ( that's how long they have known each other), and that they haven't improved anything during that period. Very impressive indeed! I don't play myself, but from what I have heard, this is one of the better courses in the country. The first Frisbee club opened here back in 1979. Robin, the tattooed fellow to the left lives in Jordbro and has his own business. Niklas is a student and will spend the next few years studying computer science at a few local schools. After our brief chat I took a couple of portraits and that was that.

Traditional Midsummer Celebrations

Midsummer is the most Swedish tradition there is. Celebrated in some way by pretty much everyone in the country. Usually there is a Maypole which is raised and decorated with flowers and wreaths as seen here behind the church in Tungelsta where two very young and talented musicians stood for the traditional music. This is followed by dancing with dancers dressed in local folk costumes. The couple you see here are from the dance group Haningarna. They are dressed in the Haninge costume. The group has been dancing all around the world for many years. The man here is Kjell Heimdahl from Tungelsta I know that because I have known one of his sons all my life. The music for these dances is normally performed with accordion and guitar. After this dance follows a few funny dances for the kids of all ages. Like the Frog Dance. On the bottom photo you see a dance called the Halling dance. The guy to the left is playing a drunk and is not welcome to dance so he picks a fight. People always seems to enjoy this number, probably because it reminds them of previous Midsummers. This scene is repeated in many places around Haninge today. For the teenagers Midsummer is a different story. I remember a few rainy and very drunk summer nights where we went on camping trips to one of the islands in the Stockholm arcipelago but that is another story. Happy Midsummer everyone!

A little summer light reading

I stopped at the nature park Slätmossen for a few photos the other day and that's where I met Andrea. She had a day off work and was sitting on this bench and table reading a Nick Hornby novel, Slam. Today Andrea lives in Handen, but for two years she lived in Thailand. Together with a friend she owned a restaurant at Koh Phangan. It was called Sultan Cafe. They focused on a Swedish/Mediterranean menu as her parter was from that area. The restaurant is now history as the 7-Eleven chain bought the land. This is my third portrait from this great park. Earlier this year I met The Sun-Worshippers here and last February on a warm and sunny day I shot one of my first ever portraits when I met Kristin here.

Summer Path

After what feels like two weeks of non-stop raining, we finally had a blue sky yesterday. So I decided to head over to Välsta for another visit to the old tree that really should look familiar to you by now! As I closed in on the Swedish Whitebeam I recognised the man and the dog that were approaching the tree from the other direction. It was The Bird Man. Since meeting him for the first time last year, we seem to run into each other once a month or so. And on this occation he was able to help me out. I had some bike problems here a while back, and has had one of my bikes parked here, hidden behind a tree, and as Jocke had his car nearby he offered to put my bike on his bike rack. In the end we managed to get all three bikes on the rack and we took the car back to Tungelsta.

A picture is worth a thousand words

A moment frozen in time. A while back I took a photo (not this one), of an every day situation. A few people standing around talking as a car drove by. Since that day I have had my eyes open for similar photo opportunities. Pictures that speak for them selves. Where you don't need any words to describe them. Like this one. One of my favorite photos from this summer. Taken on a warm and sunny day at Berga. I was sitting on a wooden fence, talking to an acquaintance when I noticed this couple hugging so I just lifted the camera and that was that.

Patterns of Failure

If you are an artist like Sirous Namazi this is what you get when you mix porcelain with epoxy glue. This is a sculpture from his project Patterns of Failure, where he smashed porcelain and made sculptures from the pieces. Sirous is a former student at the Malmö Art Academy. He is originally from Iran and came to Sweden at the age of thirteen. From my recent visit to Flemingsberg.

Reaching For The Sky

Today's photo is not from Haninge, but from the neighbouring municipality Huddinge. And it shows the new student apartment building at Flemingsberg. Thirteen stories high with a total of 169 one-bedroom apartments of approximately 24 square metres, with fantastic views. Ninety one of those apartments will have a French Balcony. On the entrance floor there will be a gym open 24/7 run by Fitness24seven. The first students will move in sometime around August I think. It's part of the Flemingsberg Campus where you will also find the Södertörns College.

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.

The Corvette Man

My fourth and last portrait from the Retrorun meet. This is Per Strandberg. He was at the car meet with his wife Barbro (who snapped a photo of me), and their dog Greta, an American cocker spaniel. They have a Little Red Corvette from 1989 and drove all the way from Eskilstuna (120 km), after finding out about the event online. They have two kids and says that the car and everything around it is not a lifestyle, but a hobby. They are members of the Swedish Corvette Club. The weather was great and I sat down with Per and Barbro for a while and talked about this and that on their blanket. Later I found a video posted at Youtube it's 8 minutes long showing most of the cars at the meet. If you look closely Per is the guy that waves to the camera.

A Very Lucky Guy

This is Rune Thorsell from Österledinge in Norrtälje. He was at the Retrorun meet with his 1956 Ford Crown Victoria. A beautiful car with a few interesting and weird details as you can see! Rune has always been interested in motors and back home he has a Indian trike that he has been working on for eleven years! The Ford is worth around 400 000 SEK and he has no plans to sell it, ever. The very cool custom paint job was made by the well known artist Daniel Fahlström. The cars that you see painted here are a 1957 Buick that belongs to Rune's daughter, and a 1954 Chevy that belongs to Rune's best friend Leffe. Pretty cool. Rune was an interesting guy to talk with and he told me a cool story. A few years ago he bought a lottery ticket to the Bingolotto TV show and won a chance to appear on the show. And a week later he spun a wheel of fortune and won 2,2 Million SEK. Not bad.