Powered Paragliding

Great weather this weekend. Very calm, blue sky, quite warm, great for the outdoors types. Like me, and perfect for the powered paragliders. Spotted them at two different places yesterday. These photos are from Välsta in Tungelsta. Near the old tree, and I did manage to get one snap of the tree with a paraglider. Press here to see that one.

Monochrome Grass

Took the Steel Horse to the national park. It was a beautiful day filled with great colors that you can't see here!

Utility Boxes

↯913 ↯920. More utility boxes and graffiti. Found on a lawn near the library in Västerhaninge.

Tiny Flowers

Three macro photos of tiny white flowers. In the grass near the old tree. On a field in Österhaninge. And on the stone wall at the Medieval church. You would probably have missed them but I have a weird walk these days and spend most of the time looking down!

Stone Wall

I sometimes visit the Medieval church and cemetery in Österhaninge. There's always something to photograph. Like a rusty metal ring or an autumn leaf.

That Old Tree

It is getting colder now. Luckily for me the sun came out for a few minutes during my visit to the old tree yesterday. Both photos shot with the pancake lens. The tree photo is a panoramic image made from nine photos. Shot the red fruit using the extension tubes.

A Midsummer Memory

Remember Summer, or Midsummer even? Long gone now are the warm Summer evenings. This was the scene on a recent visit to my favorite beach. Overlooking the bay there once was a hotel. All that is left from that era is an open-air dance dance floor. And this years Midsummer Pole.

A closer look

I got a few funny looks from passersby while out shooting a bunch of photos of Geranium and St John's wort during the weekend. I should probably be glad that no one photographed me while I was crawling on all fours to get a few good macro photos near the Gullringskärrets nature reserve. I could use some quality knee-pad inserts and warm finger gloves because it is getting colder now. I am not going to tell you how many photos I deleted while shooting these, but it was a few!

Ultra Marathon Winners

The SUM took place today. Short for Sörmlands Ultra Marathon Race. A 50 km race that starts at Björkhagen and finishes at Lake Rudan in Handen. Must be one of the most beautiful places to run a marathon. The athletes run through nature reserves and also the Tyresta national park. The winners this year were familiar faces for me. Daniel Nilsson and Kajsa Berg. Amazing athletes both of them. Kajsa has won two European Championships before. Earlier this year she gave birth to twins! I decided to spend some time at the finishing area and you can see a few more photos from this years race at flickr.

Utility Box Art

In several cities around the world utility boxes have been turned into works of art. That is yet to happen in Haninge but I have still decided to start a new photo project called Utility Boxes. So far it is is only graffiti artists and taggers that use them as art objects but you never know what might happen in the future. This box or elskåp as we call them over here can be found along the bike path between Västerhaninge and Jordbro.

Macrography

Another Thursday Walk with the extension tubes and the pancake lens (40mm). This time I decided to just stop at a given moment and have a closer look around and this is what I found. Well, I found a few more interesting plants, but these were the two first photos that I took during this short walk in Jordbro. A Fibonacci spiral and a blue flower.

Autumn Red

You don't need too many words to describe this photo. One will do it I think. Red.

Now with balconies

Old City Hall in Handen. At the moment a busy building site as the old offices are being turned into apartments. And all of them will get a brand new balcony. The name of the apartment building is Argos.

Great Goldilocks

The very photogenic green moss Great Goldilocks. We call it Björnmossa, that in turn means Bear Moss. I noticed it in a forested area near the Söderby Gård in Handen.

The old Smithy

Another photo in my series with the old smithy at the Nödesta farm. That is fairy flax on the field.

Road Salt Kills

Road Salt Kills. Sign on a hay-bale by the side of the road at Dalarövägen in Österhaninge.

An Autumn Promenade

This is what I found in the forest yesterday. I decided to take a Thursday Walk, and picked the Rudan nature reserve for the promenade. The surprise of the day was the wood anemone, which is your typical Spring flower. The hugly fungi grew next to the anemone, which in turn grew next to the other fungi. I named that photo Umbrellas on the beach.

Shelter

This was tricky. Been keeping my eyes open for a shelter for quite a while and this was as close, (or as far away), as I could come. A very old hut at Alby in rural Haninge. Theme Day at CDP.

Girl in a Blue Dress

We had a fantastic Autumn day yesterday. Warm and sunny from a clear blue sky. I decided that I should take at least one street portrait. This girl in her blue dress and knee-high black boots came walking towards me near the Haninge mall and I knew that I had to ask her for a photo. Her name is Zhan Xinhua. She comes from Jiangxi in China, but lives in Sweden since about three years. Xinhua works at one of the restaurants at the mall. So it's no surprise that one of her hobbies includes cooking. I'm guessing fashion is also important for her.

RGB

The colorful season is here. The days are still warm, at least if you stay in the sun, but Autumn has arrived to Haninge.

Super Blood Moon my ass

Well that wasn't much fun. I spent the last ninety minutes (from 4 o'clock in the morning), up on the hill here at Bergdalen in Tungelsta, in the dark, looking for that Super Blood Moon. I'm sure it was there but all I could see was clouds. So just before I walked back home i took this four-second exposure of the filling station. Back to sleep now I hope!

Hood Ornaments

Hood ornaments are fun to shoot. Here are a few that I photographed at the Classic Cars & Customs show. The Spirit of Ecstasy is probably the more expensive, but I like the other face more. Shot one with the silent zoom lens and the other with the pancake lens.

Cool Cars

A few cool cars from the Classics & Customs show at Sundby gård. A Clénet. A Ford. Something registered as a Moberg, and of course Black Betty.

To The Hupmobile!

Spotted a Hupmobile at the Classic Cars & Customs show. This is a Hupmobile Luxe 8 from 1929.

Miss Marla Kay

This is Miss Marla Kay. She is the real deal when it comes to pin-up girls, just look at that dress. She is part of a group called Swedish Top Pinups. They describe themselves as a group of lady bombshells based in Sweden. I will not disagree. I met Miss Marla Kay at the Classic cars & Customs event.

1954 Monarch Lucerne

A Canadian Monarch Lucerne from 1954. Spotted at the Classic Cars & Customs show at Sundby gård. This is the only one in Sweden. Only 252 cars of this particular model was ever produced. The owner is the guy with the white mustache, he told my buddy Bengt that he would never ever sell the car.

Poupoupidou

There was a pin-up contest at the big Classic Cars & Customs show at Sundby gård. This is one of my favorite pin-up girls at the event. Carin Oxanna Backlund. She was very photogenic.

Fat Dream

I visited the big Classic Cars & Customs at Sundby gård recently. The place was filled with cool cars and more. This is the latest project by Sven Sandberg from Tyresö. He has been designing Hot Rods and what have you for something like fifty years. This is called Fiat "Fat Dream" 1949 Topolino.

Museum of public objects

The artist Anna Ådahl have filled the square at Stora Arken in Handen with trees, benches, lamp posts, a litter bin and crush barrier seen here. The objects comes from all over Europe. One bench originates from the Beyoğlu Municipality in Turkey. Another comes from Russia and a third from Paris. There's a palm tree, a Norwegian spruce and one Japanese cherry tree. The lamp posts also originates from other countries. The installation is called Museum for public objects and it opened today. As the art curator Åsa Mårtensson told us about the project I sat down on the Turkish bench with a friend, and enjoyed a free French lunch from the Le truck food truck.

Autumn Colors

Bike ride to the Tyresta National Park earlier in the week. Sunny, and around 17C. No real signs of Autumn until I walked down towards the new bird watching tower.

The Smiling Police

It was a busy day for the police on Sunday with the big Velothon bike race and the Haninge Day celebrations. They were everywhere, in full force. Arriving to Poseidon's square I noticed a police van and standing next to it talking to a few citizens I spotted a familiar face. And a very pretty face I might add. I had my first encounter with this police officer two years ago at another local event. She happily posed for a few photos and that of course made my day. Oh, and a friend mailed a copy of this photo to the police and it looks like they want to buy the photo and possibly use it in brochures and what have you.