And so it begins...

Autumn. Höst. Fall.

Vegastaden

Vegastaden, or Vega City in Haninge is growing every day. I haven't been following this as much as I should have. Here are two an aerial views filmed by Jimmy Striger showing the new city.

New Park

New trees and bushes planted at what will be a new park in Tungelsta, near the new houses at Stav/Lillgården. Still some work left here, including paving the walkway/bike path that runs parallel to the stream. No rain despite the dark clouds. Both photos shot with my new 85mm lens as panoramic images and then cropped a bit.

VELOTHON Stockholm 2017

My last post of this years Velothon Stockholm bicycle race. A collage and a slideshow. In it you can spot the photographer that came home with nearly 4000 photos. To see the photos at flickr press here. It was a good day for cycling, great weather and many happy riders out on the roads. I met one woman at the FikAnn cafe who after the race rode back on her bike to the cafe, (an extra 20km),for a well deserved rest and a bite to eat.

Panning Shots

Four panning shots of cyclists taking part in the VELOTHON Stockholm race that took place yesterday. I'm still going through my photos. I took around 800 photos and was quite pleased with that number. Then as the closing car drove by in the early afternoon I invited two photographers that I had just met to coffee at the FikAnn cafe and was impressed by both of them. Both when it came to equipment and numbers. Lars told me that he had been out since five in the morning! He shot at f/11 when snapping cyclists coming directly at him so to speak. He used a tripod and didn't move around much, very unlike my method as I prefer the panning action. The other guy, (didn't get his name), used a zoom lens ten times more expensive than mine and he had taken 3800 photo during the race. Expect a few more posts from this bike race in the coming days.

VELOTHON Stockholm

The third annual VELOTHON Stockholm took place on Södertörn today. Around 2500 riders took part in the race. After a few cold days the sun ant warm weather returned just in time. You could choose three different routes. The longest one was the 180 kilometres race, and that's the one that I focused on. I took my fixie bike and my old Canon,(with the silent zoom lens), and headed out to document the event. My first stop was in Tungelsta, just a kilometre from home, and that's where I snapped these two shots. When I'm done showing you photos from this event you will probably never want to see a photo of a cyclist ever again!

That Old Tree

Walked over to the old tree earlier in the week. The sun came out as I made my way down the path, that continues down to and around Klems Hill. No one else around on this my 521th visit to the Swedish Whitebeam. Shot with my Yongnuo 35mm lens.

The Birch

Took a walk in a birch forest yesterday. in Handen. Came home with enough photos, taken with my new Chinese 85mm lens to make a collage, so that's what I did.

Crime Prevention

There were a couple of community service officers patrolling the Haninge Gatufest,(street party), that took place in Handen last Saturday. One of them was very photogenic so I walked over and asked for a portrait.

Sam Paris

It was the day after the terrorist attack in Stockholm that killed 5 people back in April of this year. Suddenly a man started to sing in honour to the victims. The song he sang was Amazing Grace. He did it with the help of a choir, (thanks for spotting my bad spelling Umepojken). He stood among the flowers at the stairs at Sergels Torg and his song moved a lot of people that day. This is that man, Sam Paris. I took this photo of him on Saturday when he performed on the big stage at Poseidon's Square in Handen, during the Haninge Day celebrations. www.facebook.com/JoelOsteen/posts/10154267048181695

That Driving Beat

That Driving Beat on stage at Poseidon's Square in Handen during the Haninge Day celebrations on Saturday. Great performance as usual. They play Northern Soul. It was a busy day for the band, after this gig they packed up their instruments and made their way to another concert, that one at Hasselbacken in Stockholm at the Rockers vs. Mods meet-up. Enjoy the slideshow. If you can's see the photos check out my flickr album with the band. Spotify. Facebook.

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.

On Patrol

This is Robert Landén. A familiar face for anyone visiting the mall in Handen, because that's where you can find "Robban" patrolling most days since at least three years. He used to work in the Stockholm Underground and is known to patrol on his own in and around the mall. I met him at Poseidon's Square on Saturday during Haninge Day.

Grand Prix Raggarbil 2017

It took me a few days to go through the photos I took at the big greaser meet, Grand Prix Raggarbil, (it means Greaser car). I have uploaded around 200 of them now. All shot with the Canon 6D using two of my new Chinese lenses, mostly the 100mm. So enjoy the slideshow. And as per usual, if you can't see the photos Press Here to see them at flickr.

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.

Details

The Death Proof Duck. The Ritterkreuz. A miniature car. Lots of interesting details worth an extra look at the big greaser meet.

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.

Rat Rides With a Difference

These old rat rides are known as råttsoffor, (rat couches), or pilsnerbilar (beer rides), in Swedish. They are very popular with the younger raggare, (greasers), and with photographers. There's always a few contests at this meet. One category is for best Rat Ride. These were some of my favorites in that category.

No Regrets

This is a Swedish subculture with a difference. Some people live it 24/7, and this guy is one of them. Met him at Vegabaren yesterday during the annual Grand Prix Raggarbil event. It was a great Summer day, everyone was happy and I came home with more than 700 photos of cars and people.

Greaser Girl

I visited the annual Greaser Meet at Vegabaren in Handen today. The Grand Prix Raggarbil 2017. It was a fantastic Summer day. The famous drive-in was packed with classic cars and fun people. I was there for around four hours. Filled one 16 GB memory card,that took just over 700 photos, so I have a lot of editing to do now. This was the first portrait I took. Many people dress up for this event and this girl was one of those people, looking great as a Grease Girl from way back when.Expect a lot of photos from this fun event in the coming week or so.

4-ever tattoo

That Old Tree

The old tree. Shot with the Yongnuo 35mm lens on the Canon 6D.

Muscle Car Meet

There was a muscle car meet in Jordbro over the weekend. Lots of cool cars from the late 1960s and the early 1970s to photograph, and just to challenge myself I decided only to use one of my new Yongnuo lenses, the 100mm lens. I stayed for a couple of hours and the cars just kept coming. If you can't see the album follow this link to flickr.

Not just a sunflower field

Thousands of sunflowers blooming on a field near Berga. Nothing special about that, but there's a note by the side of the field. It's from the students at the Berga agricultural college informing us that they planted the flowers for all the bees and insects, and if you want a flower go ahead and pick one, but they would appreciate if you donated 10SEK for every flower to the Swedish Childhood Cancer Foundation.

Two candid photos

Two candid photos from the recent rock festival in the park in Tungelsta. You might recognise the girl in the top photo, that is Sarah, my Yongnuo model from a couple of weeks ago. I snapped the candid of her when she was standing in the crowd listening to Ban Bianca while filming one of their songs.

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.

Hot Rod of The Day

Registered as a Halv 8. So now you have seen a photo of the only Halv 8 car in existence. As seen from the pedestrian bridge that crosses Gudöbroleden in Handen. And I have no idea where the name comes from.

Prins Bus and Sara

This is Prins Bus, (Prince Mischief). He is a Gotland russ, and a work horse. He lives at the dairy farm Björksättra in Huddinge, a neighbouring municipality to Haninge. But in May, June, August and September Prins Bus works a few days every week removing garbage from Brandbergen and Jordbro. The kids love him, but he is not that fond of them as they are a bit too lively for Prins Bus, but it usually works out fine. I met him and his human Sara earlier this week as they were on their way back to the garbage station with a carriage full of garbage. Sara is a dairy farmer. She has 50 cows and a bunch of sheep at the farm. Her farm is an ARLA farm which means that they are open for visitors and they have around 15 000 visitors to the farm every year. One popular event is the annual kosläpp. That's when the cows see the grass for the first time every Spring. Fun Youtube video here from her farm for anyone interested in seeing happy cows jumping for joy

An Evening of Rock'n'roll

When the Summer day had become a Summer evening the rock band Lugnet took to the stage. Always a crowd favorite they looked very different this time around with three new members. I had a chat with the original singer, Roger, just before the band started to play and he was anxious to see,(and hear), how the new singer would handle his songs and lyrics. I have to say that he did good, as did the two new and possibly temporary guitarists. Lugnet plays Rock'n'roll from the early and mid 1970s and they are a great live band. Rock on! If you for some reason can't see the sixty photos slideshow above, just press here to open the set at flickr.

Ban Bianca

Ban Bianca put on a great show at the Trädgårdsrocken festival in the park in Tungelsta. The singer, Victor Ekvall has the energy of ten men and used all of it during the bands performance, even climbing up to the top of the stage for a bit of gymnastics. The band have played together for four years and released a few songs, and have been touring a lot.