Today’s deep dive
Ummm, what’s going on here? Vehicles from the Emergency Services on Skeppsbron. You know, there is a vulture in every human being and the smell of emergency and disaster brings it to life.
Surfacing bubbles – there is somebody down there. This is exciting!
Not! They were only practising and one of the divers enjoys the sunshine while waiting for his turn.
A sailingboat at the coalhouse quay?!
The red warehouse on the quay is the Swedish Navy’s first coal house, built when their first steamships were delivered. Thousands of tons of coal must have been bunkered here through the years. And now – a sailing boat anchored up for the winter outside the former coal house. I thought there were limits, but apparently not. đ
Angles
Lines and angles create excitement and depth in the image, so why not play around with them as a theme?
Here is a traditional rendition of the theme.
“Various sizes, shapes and designs”
And, finally, a conglomeration. That’s the way it goes when shooting images of tiny cottages.
A personally designed mailbox
I found this strange looking object when out on a walk the other day. It wasn’t some kind of low hung nesting-box, so what is it? It is a mailbox. Look at the little cottage shaped mailbox – it has snow on the roof!
A couple of things I saw yesterday
Heather, ivy, a simple flowerpot and a niche. That’s all that’s needed to create irresistable beauty.
An unusual wooden fence.
Another plain and simple arrangement with ivy involved. Arrangements like these allows us to see the beauty of the plant itself instead of letting it compete with the pot.
More night photos from The Old Town
I have just finished editing the images I took today, but I don’t have the time to make a selection, adjust the images to WordPress’s demands and write my usual short story (sometimes novel) about them, so I decided to take what was available in store instead. We are now paying a visit to another Staffan, because this street is called Staffan Sasses grĂ€nd. No need to say that I like the address.
BrĂ€nda tomten – I took a couple of shots from here on the previous post, but they were more oriented towards SjĂ€lagĂ„rdsgatan and Kindstugatan.
Another shot of BrĂ€nda tomten (a rough translation: The burned site) and one can clearly see how it got its name. Once upon a time there was a wonderful house here, but it caught fire in 1728 and the owner never built it up again. The town’s architect had suggested that the town should have the option to buy such lots from their owners to get places where carriages could turn. He obviously got it his way.
Footprints in the snow from people passing by.
A bronze copy of Bernt Notke’s wooden sculpture of Saint George and the dragon. The original is inside the Stockholm Cathedral.
An evening in The Old Town
The weather is full of surprises at this time of the year. One could feel and smell spring last week and then we suddenly got snow. Not what I wanted, but one has to make the best of the situation, so I took the camera and the tripod out for a walk on a snowy evening. This is what PrÀstgatan looked like.
I believe you have seen this before and yes, it is SolvĂ€dersgrĂ€nd. The only difference is that the image I posted earlier was taken daytime and there is no snow. Going back to the same spot on different occasions is something I often do. It is not because I’m going dement, but because it simply won’t be the same and I find the differences between various seasons of the year, different times of the days and so on interesting.
SjÀlagÄrdsgatan and a tiny slice of BrÀnda tomten. Loads of tourists stroll around here but only a few dog owners were out because of the weather. It was snowy and windy but have I always want to do what I have set out to get done, stubborn as I am.
A look at Kindstugatan and this is where I got water drops on the lens. It was bad enough with the snow, but the wind…
The photo of Baggensgatan was one of the last pictures I took that evening. Spending almost an hour outdoors in that weather is definitely freezing cold when most of the time is spent standing still with the camera and tripod instead of keeping in motion as a normal person would do, but I am not normal – I like taking pictures. đ
An evening at the railway
I brought the camera with me to my job last week. Who says that images must always be sharp? I find the lack of sharpness here adding more to the image by underlining the power of speed.
This is the signal to be shown on the last vehicle of the train.
and this is another way to signal “Stop”.
This is how some of my colleagues spend their breaks. Eat and read at the same time… bad manners.
Just across the table…
Take a look from a different angle
The heading struck me the other day and yes, why not? I realised that I had been using the same composition when, for example, shooting in the Old Town. Always taking the picture from the Old Town and out to modern times. Why not do it the other way round, I said to myself, followed my own advice for a change and this is the picture I got.
Encouraged by my discovery, I decided to repeat it five minutes later and it still made a difference. I think the same goes for life itself. We often follow the same, safe paths, walk the same streets, use the same tracks without reflecting over it. This means that we do not allow ourselves to make new discoveries.
New discoveries may not necessary be of the revolutionary kind. Walking on the other side of the street is often enough to discover something new.
Hello, anybody there?
Birds are usually difficult to catch with the camera, probably because they think they will become another kind of prey than being the victim of an innocent photographer like me. This couple were apparently used to people and paid no attention to what I was up to.
I also spotted this year’s first sightseeing boat. Okay, I know that ANGANTYR has been on that trade for a couple of years now, so I can admit a little cheating here. Nevertheless, the guide’s voice in the loudspeakers is all you need to hear – then you know what it’s all about.
The Royal Palace is apparantly undergoing some kind of renovation and some of the walls have been covered with a net. It made this wall look like a painted coulisse. Unfortunately, painting of the walls will not be necessary yet. I think most of us are waiting for the day when the Royal Palace will get its original yellow paint back but someone said that it is not likely to happen in about 50 years so I don’t expect to be around when that day comes.
Boats at the quay outside the Grand HĂŽtel waiting for summer time table when they will carry loads of passengers and tourists out in the archipelago.
Finally, I found this and it was only too obvious that this day was the first hint of spring! đ
Hurry, hurry!
People on the move, rushing by, never stopping, never reflecting – maybe it is their demons we can spot behind?
Details
Tiny details, often sadly overlooked, tell us stories about things they have gone through and things to come. The leaf has survived the winter hidden in the cliff; life from last year’s summer is waiting for another summer though in another shape.
The deepfrozen beach and its pebbles are representing a special kind of beauty. Soon the ice will be gone and they will look different. Nature’s beauty is always changing with the seasons.
Ice
We usually think of ice as nothing special. The truth is, however, that it is definitely something special. I took one of the shots from Sunday, played a little with it and here is the result. Look at the different shapes and figures. Is it a revision of the world map due to global warming, a satellite photo that became a flop due to clouds or is it glass? What do you find in the image above?
Hold on – the spring is on its way!
Do you mind if I write another post on the blog as some kind of comfort? I hope you don’t. The reason behind this is that I’m doing the laundry today. Not the weekly; the big one. It’s apparently something I don’t like doing and I therefore keep pushing the problem ahead of me for as long as possible and I realised yesterday that I had come to the end of the road, so I booked the common laundry room for a couple of hours today.
We got the winter back during the weekend with temperatures below the freezing point and occasional snow. I found these yesterday and they bring hope back by conveying the message “hold on – the spring is on its way”.
I also bribed myself to be a good boy today. I’m going to the cinema tonight. I had planned to see the French film Entre les murs last week, but of course I never got out of the house. Today I felt that I definitely needed a reward, so I have already bought a ticket for tonight. Besides, I have also bribed myself with a little chocolate so maybe, but just maybe, I can go and take the dry sheets down now.
Things to do on a winterday
As the blogging photographer I am, I felt that it was about time to explore new surroundings for future excursions with the camera, so I went to Saltsjöbaden. It only takes a little over 30 minutes by train from the city centre and then you are in the very heart of one of Stockholm’s posh places.
Last time I was here was four years ago, but things had definitely changed since then. The area next to the railway station still looked a little like a construction site so off I went to Restaurangholmen, a little island only a stone’s throw from there.
Time for today’s surprise number two. What I knew as a deserted island had suddenly got a load of newbuilt houses and people had apparently moved in too. Anyhow, the walk around the island was intact, so at least I could use that to make my observations from and so I did.
I first spotted these two skating gentlemen, obviously experienced and equipped with the things necessary for a safe trip over BaggensfjĂ€rden’s ice.
If one finds skating exhausting, one can always take a little help of a sail and transform oneself into a skating kite.
It doesn’t matter if the yacht is laid up for the winter awaiting the spring while getting an overhaul and to be equipped with the latest inventions – one can still sail an ice-yacht. It’s not a new fashion; ice-yachting was very popular over a hundred years ago and they even arranged races back then.
Today’s conclusion was that time flies if you got something to do, so I kept walking and exploring the surroundings before I went home after a couple of hours. Time flied…
Staffan goes architectonic
This looks like an ordinary stair – and it is (I know what I’m talking about; I’ve used it a couple of times). There’s nothing special about it and every photographer has a keen eye for different designs and shapes. So what did I do then? Walked away from there with a sigh?
No! I had a look at it from the other side, curious as I am when not stubborn or annoyed. The stairs made a quite different impression from there.
Take a couple of steps back to get the overall view of it and spot the difference! Thousands of people pass this place daily but I believe only a few catch the impressions they could get if the took it easier and spent about thirty seconds looking around them.
I stayed indoors today
I’m sorry but I stayed indoors today so you will have to bear with a couple of images from earlier this week. What did I do indoors all day then? I bet you are curious now. Okay, I did portraiture in my tiny home studio and had fun, but you won’t find any of those photos here.
It felt like the things I learned and the experiences I made on the courses were more like pieces in a jigsaw puzzle than knowledge and the best way to get the pieces in place is to practise. As you probably have seen here, I have done a little object photography now and then that I have posted on the blog.
Working in the studio is fun and I felt that this was something I wanted to learn more about and learning the basic technique on a course does not mean that one has it under one’s skin. Getting used to your own gear is important. I can now take a reading with the light meter and get the correct exposure and I can get the light I want for the image I am about to take.
Still I feel that I have a long way to go before I can say that I know something about it and the only way forward is practise, practise and practise. The things I have bought are not very special, but minimalism is good for the creativity and ingenuity is good for one’s development.
These are important things to be aware of, if you ask me, because most of the job behind a great shot depends on the photographer and not the equipment, even if a good camera and a good lens are inspiring tools. Pushing your limits forward is what it’s all about.
The daylight is on its way back
I took this photo earlier this week. There is nothing special about it, except that it proves that we are getting more and more daylight every day now and that is something we Swedes look forward to.
Sweden is a small country, but it the northern end goes above the polar circle. If you pin the southern end of Sweden down with a needle and swing the country around, the northern part of it would suddenly end up in Rome. That’s what I call a huge surprise!
Ok, I live in Stockholm which means that we at least have a couple of hours of daylight even in December compared to them who live way up north who don’t get much of daylight at all. On the other hand, they have the midnight sun during the summer and we never get that here. Still, we have more light during the summer nights in June in Stockholm than they have in the southern parts of Sweden.
Who cares about that now by the way? The main thing is that we now are heading towards spring and summer so I think I leave the mysteries of geography behind and enjoy life instead.
Look what I bought today
I have been looking for a writing-desk like this one for some time, but it was not to be found anywhere. Don’t ask me how many trips I’ve made to different shops. The same story everywhere – a smile and a friendly “Oh, I know exactly what you mean, but they are not in demand for the time being”.
Now I know that second hand furniture are also subject to the laws of fashion. In my case, it is more a matter of buying practical and useful furniture. Useful because my flat isn’t very big. Practical because it serves two purposes; a drawer and a desk in the same piece of furniture.
Yesterday, I moaned about my problems with finding this kind of furniture. A colleague of mine heard me and said “But I have one I want to get rid of”. We had a deal about 60 seconds later and a very favourable one for me. I got it very cheap and transportation to my home was included in the price so all I had to do was to carry it from the car and into my flat and pay for it. I only wish I would make bargains like that more often. đ
Another picture from yesterday
Here is another picture from yesterday. All snow was gone when I woke up this morning, the sky was grey and I decided to stay indoors and do what I had set out to do for a change. People who come to visit may think that I am an organised person and the harder they believe it the better!
Something strange happened in the late afternoon. The clouds disappeared and I could catch a glimpse of a blue sky. The moon is now shining from a clear sky as I write these lines. The weather is obviously changing fast. Cold weather is nothing I wish for with regard to how much it has rained recently. It has to dry up a little first. On the other hand: how often do we get the weather we want?
Mist and fog
When I woke up, I found that we had the kind of weather that would make a sensible person stay indoors reading a book with the teapot within reach. Unfortunately, I’m not that kind of person. I had made my mind up – I needed boxes to store things in and today was the day to buy them so I left the flat, opened the frontdoor and stepped in something that felt just as cosy as a wet blanket, but as I said before: I had made my mind up.
Waiting for the train can be boring, but taking pictures is the best way to kill time. Most of the bus terminal was once a shunting area and goods yard and the remaining part of it has been taken over by the cars and it has looked like this for many years now.
What was that? A dream passing by? Today’s weather and a little imagination can be a very creative combination.
Strange things happened in the Stockholm metro (underground/subway) today. The trains left Slussen but disappeared on their way to Gamla stan. The old myth about “The Silver Arrow”, a ghost train in the metro system, has got a modern successor now.
Otherwise, travelling by public transport can be nice. I met a friend I haven’t seen for years today and it made me happy.
I took a walk before I went shopping, hoping that a little fresh air would do me good (it did). At least one doesn’t have to worry about the background on a day like this.
A house to dream about or a house of horror? You decide!
The nature is still providing objects worth taking photos of. The thing is that one has to look closer to find them at this time of the year.
I did the shopping after the walk and, believe it or not – I found what I was looking for! IÂ got four plastic boxes (23 l) and covers for SEK 199. Now I can get better organised and if I don’t need them all here, the surplus will go to my country home. The only disadvantage with today’s purchase was that they were not the handiest this one can carry on board a train and the metro but I got home without problems and soon after that it went dark.
Digging among my stored images
Staying at home with a cold means that I don’t get so many opportunities to take new pictures. Tomorrow is another day and I’m going to work tomorrow and look forward to it. This meant that I finally had to dive into my stored photos and see what I possibly could dig out there. I found these images.
The photo above was taken on a cold evening in December 2007. I should have known better, but stubborn as I am, I decided to go out and take pictures despite the weather. It is taken from the top of VÀsterbron, a bridge connecting Kungsholmen and Södermalm. Getting acceptable night shots from there means that one, indeed, has to go out very late in the evening. Otherwise the traffic will cause vibrations and you can probably figure out yourself what the images would look like then.
When I came home, it was only too clear to me that these precautions were not enough. A couple of buses and trucks had obviously passed while I was taking pictures and it was obvious that the tripod and the camera had been shaking. Still, I had a load of acceptable images so I was content and believe me when I say that I felt good when I got aboard the warm bus afterwards.
The remaining two photos were taken under different and better conditions. It took the pictures a late summer evening in August when the weather was nice. Of course I had no tripod with me but, as we say in Swedish, the need is the mother of all inventions, so I used the closest wall as a support and it worked. Still, it is nothing I recommend.
Lucky me I was not spotted by any policemen on patrol. On the other hand, this would have meant that they would have been eyewitnesses to a miraculous recovery – I mean, how would they know that I just stopped and decided to support an old building while taking a picture on my way home from work?
I have posted an image similar to this one on the blog. The only difference is the orientation. I remember having difficulties when I tried to decide which one I should post. This one lost, but it has got its revenge now. It is a picture of MÄrten Trotzigs grÀnd in the Old Town and it is the most narrow lane to be found in Stockholm.
It is very popular among the tourists, which means that it is hard to get a good shot of it daytime. I found it deserted when I passed and took advantage of it. I usually find images of abandoned streets a little spooky, but it did not matter in this case; I somehow managed to catch the atmosphere anyway.
And that was the last word from Stockholm for today. Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see you here again soon. đ
A bright idea
I followed an impulse earlier this evening and began taking pictures of things and objects. I shouldn’t have done that because time flied. Okay, I had fun and I learned a lot, but still… Maybe I will get smart and organised one day.
PS The object on the image above is not antique and its not made of silver!
A walk through The Old Town
There are many ways to look at a church. This is The German Church's tower.
Now when I have to stay at home and get well, there is not much I can do than dig down in my collection of images. I took these pictures two weeks ago. Taking photos in The Old Town is a challenge and an excellent way to get to know the camera.
PrÀstgatan ("Priest street") still has its medieval standard width intact
Its narrow streets are shaded by the houses. This means that there are several f-stops between correct exposure in the shadow and correct exposure in daylight. You always get both on an image; daylight from a street crossing or from the roof tops, and dusk on the street.
Tyska stallplan
Well, there are ways to handle this. I took these images on a cloudy day with a rather bright sky. One thing I strongly recommend is the mantra “stop, look around, check for the details”. If you remember this trick, you will most likely take pictures of motives in more even light conditions. I often see tourists running around, firing their cameras like gunmen used to fire their shotguns. Many of them will probably get very disappointed when they download their photos from their cameras.
Can I see a part of the Main Square from here?
The history is always present here and I always find new things and new interesting angles despite the fact that The Old Town is small. King Karl XIV Johan wanted to tear it all down in the early 19th century, but luckily the town didn’t have the financial means needed to build new houses replacing the ones torn down. Besides, the authorities would probably have committed a crime. There are laws in force regarding preservation of ancient monuments since the 17th century.
Skeppsbron (the Ships' Bridge) and the sea is not far away from JĂ€rntorget (the Iron Square)
Anyhow, I’m grateful for living in the 21st century and that I can pay my visits to The Old Town when I want to. Centuries ago the stench and the filth must have been awful. Now it’s picturesque and free of smell, apart from the usual smells that one will find in a town.
Where ĂsterlĂ„nggatan begins
Finally, there is nothing wrong with my camera. Old houses can look like that. Find a straight angle if you can!
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