Michelle

This is Michelle. She enjoys dancing. I met her on a very warm and sunny day a while back. She was on her way to my favorite beach, Årsta Havsbad, with her mother, Mayra whom you met here on the blog yesterday.

Posing For The Photographer

The last two weeks have been warmer than usual. It was on one of those hot days that I met Mayra. I had just made a pit-stop at a grocery store and was cooling down on the bike, enjoying an energy drink when she came walking towards me with her daughter. They sat down on a bench, so I walked over and asked if I could take a few portraits. Turns out Mayra who lives in Brandbergen enjoys having her photo taken, which I can understand as she has a great figure. She works as an esthetician and when we met she was on her way to the beach to work on that tan.

Wanna go for a ride?

You can probably not afford to buy your own Italian Supercar. But for just 895 SEK you can go for a ride in this Ferrari.

Cash is King

I met Desiree in Västerhaninge. It was the butterfly tattoo on her neck that made me look one extra time. She is a bit camera shy but with the sunglasses on it was okay with a portrait. She likes street dancing and tattoos. She used to be a "raggarbrud" or Greaser Girl. She likes the Rock'n'roll of years gone by, but her all time favorite is probably Johnny Cash and that is why she has the King tattooed on her hand.

Volvus Raggisus

Look what I found! Your typical "Volvoraggare" (Volvus Raggisus. A very Swedish subculture of the even more Swedish subculture Raggare that I have shown you here many times before). Driving his pimped car with the hot girlfriend riding shotgun. Oh, and I'm pretty sure they noticed me.

Ginger Portrait

Nora was easy to spot when she walked towards me on a walkway in Jordbro. And well informed. She already knew about this blog and my flickr photos. She is originally from Bulgaria. She enjoys art and is a keen photographer who enjoys the Stockholm archipelago. These days I will always offer to send photos to anyone I have photographed. Nora took me up on that offer and also wanted me to send the previous two candid photos that I had taken of her! That was surprise for me. If you are interested you can see the photos here and here.

The Madonna Truck

Noticed this truck (hard not to), at the Port 73 mall a few days ago. It belongs to Juha Ristimaa from Finland. His Scania truck won the Nordic Trophy 2013. Not surprisingly the truck is called Madonna. The impressive artwork was made by Perrtu Papunen. I talked to the chauffeur who told me that he was on his way to a trucking festival in Poland.

Ananya

Who doesn't like shoes? I have to confess that the first thing I noticed when I spotted Ananya in Handen a while back was her high heels. And she had no trouble walking in them. She is a student who, if everything goes according to plan is a future dentist. Ananya moved to Sweden four years ago from Bangladesh. She lived in a city and the differences between the two countries are very big. She enjoys travelling and visited Germany recently, she has also been back to the old country once.

Digitalis

Or Fingerborgsblomma as we call it.

Anna Sali

Anna Sali was waiting for a friend when I noticed her in Handen so she had time for a few portraits. She works as a youth worker. She enjoys Zumba dancing and travelling. A few places she likes include London, Miami and Gran Canaria.

Raspberries

Soon it's raspberry season. I have stopped twice at this bush in Västerhaninge in the last few days. A bit unripe, but good enough for a few macro photos

The Pilot

Met a SAS pilot a while back. Hasse Grafström. He was on a rather long bike ride. From his home in Uppsala to the port city of Nynäshamn. That is around 160 kilometres. He wasn't sure about the way when I saw him in Västerhaninge, so I guided him right. His wife "stole" the car, so he had to travel by bike! His goal was Gotland, and Tofta where they have a house. Hasse is toying with the idea to move there permanently when he retires next year. He took his commercial pilot license back in 1979. One of his hobbies includes travelling, not very surprisingly for a pilot perhaps.

Adeline

This is Adeline from Bromma. I met her in Handen a few days ago. She told me that she never looked good on photos and I said well, you will now. Adeline works at a preschool. She stays fit by a lot of dancing and visits to the gym. She's got a thing for Spain and have visited both Barcelona and Gran Canaria. One more photo at flickr.

Dude of the Day

It was one of those warm Summer days when it was too warm to ask any questions. So I only asked his name,this is Jesper.

A Helping Hand

It was the warmest day of the year. Closing in on 30C. Cecilia was sitting by the side of the bike path near City Hall in Handen. She had a flat tire so I stopped and asked if she needed a hand. She did. It was tricky to get the inner tube out, but we managed to replace it, before realising that her pump didn't work. So I guided her over to the commuter station where we filled up the tire. Cecilia works as a welfare officer. Her hobbies include cycling and Brazilian jiu-jitsu.

A Sea of Wildflowers

Cornflowers and oxeye daisy blooming on a wheat field at Välsta. The old tree is just to the right of this photo.

Nicole

Nicole is in a band. They play Japanese Rock. She is the bass player. It's a newly formed band, so they don't have a cool name yet. I spotted Nicole as she was walking in front of me near the commuter station in Handen a few days ago. It was of course her cool hair that made me ask her for a portrait.

Pick Your Color

It's a hard pick. Do you want a lime green Lamborghini Gallardi, or an orange #lambotaxi? I just can't decide!

A Profile Portrait

This is Klabbe, (that is Klabbe with a K as his girlfriend pointed out). He works as a carpenter. Interests include, you guessed it, tattoos, but also fishing (girlfriend butting in again and suggesting the beers might have something to to with that particular interest and I didn't hear any complains from Klabbe with a K.) I met him at Poseidon's square in Handen on a very warm Summer day.

Summertime...

...and the living is easy. What better way to spend a lazy Summer day. Sunbathing at home, without a care in the world. I was out on a bike ride with a friend and while I was taking a portrait of a (you guessed it), cute girl he spotted this scene and when I caught up with him a few minutes later he just said look at the window.

These Boots Are Made for Walkin...

...and shooting. I was enjoying coffee at my favorite cafe when Ellen arrived. As soon as I noticed her boots I knew that it was time for a photo. She bought them at Myrorna for only 325 SEK.

Petit Goatee

It was Johan's beard that I noticed first when we met in Handen. He is very interested in brewing. Be it coffee (he is a barista), beer or wine. It's something he inherited from his maternal grandfather, a man he never met. Five years ago he made his first wine. An apple wine with strawberries and raspberries. It was spectacular in it's taste and Johan was immediately hooked to the art of wine making. And he still have a few bottles left from that first vinification.

The Handball Player

On the day when Summer returned (last weekend), I met a young girl at the Eskils park in Handen. This is Tanja. She is a very good handball player. Her team is IK Bolton in Stockholm.

Coffee Talk

There's a new waitress at my favorite cafe, Malmens konditori. At least during the weekends. She is a very fun girl. Very positive and talkative. And she has great eyes which I noticed the first time I saw her, so on a recent visit I chased the poor girl around the cafe before I could get a few snaps. She works alongside her grandmother Elisabeth, whom I have at least one photo of. She is the woman behind the wheels here.

The Colors of Nature

We interrupt the portrait sessions with colors of nature from around Haninge. I took the first photo by the side of the bike path at the Jordbro Industrial Park. On all fours for a minute or two. The butterfly is called Ängsblåvinge (Mazarine Blue), and the plant Gul Fetknopp, which is a funny name as that means Yellow Fat-Ass. Second macro photo, also shot with the Tamron zoom lens, using the macro feature, shows a Bellflower, also found along a bike path in Jordbro. The third and last photo is all thanks to the farmer Janne, at the Nödesta farm, as he has been nice enough to leave this part of the field blooming with the Ox-Eye Daisy, or Prästkrage as we like to call them. Shot with the new pancake lens.

Tiger Matz

Summer returned on Saturday. I made a stop at the Rudan nature reserve and found a few guys buy fishing at the Lower Lake. This is one of them. Tiger Matz. The big Tiger tattoo was designed by his brother who is a tattooist and a photographer.

A Girl From Siberia

Met a girl from Siberia yesterday. Luba moved to Sweden one year ago. She's an expert in international affairs and a real globetrotter. Recent trips include visits to Sicily, Norway, Spain, Denmark, USA and The Czech Republic. Her next trip will take her to the Netherlands where she plans to visit Amsterdam, The Haag and Rotterdam. One of her hobbies include photography but she hasn't had much time for that lately because of her study of the Swedish language. Top photo is a Brenizer method photo. Shot the second photo in the shade just to theright of the path. Funny how very different the two portraits turned out. Oh, and this is the second time I have met and photographed a girl from Siberia. Three years ago it was Azalia.

With The Warm Wind In Her Hair

It was very windy when I met Anja in Handen. I decided to try a few portraits with the pancake lens and this close-up portrait is one of them . Anja is smitten by Britain, she likes everything about Great Britain. In the future she might work as a speech-language pathologist if everything goes as planned. Oh, and she has very photo shy friend called Matilda.

New Apartments

Time for a building site update. Construction workers are working seven days a week on the new apartment buildings here at Stora Arken in Handen. I shot this with the new pancake lens. This is 19 photos stitched together with a bit of overlapping of course. Second photo shows how the panorama looked before I cropped it. The builders are working fast. You might remember that I showed you the crane setup in May. A few of the workers watched me shoot another panorama, and they looked rather amused. They were from Poland if I'm not mistaken.

Grass Straw

I recently bought a new lens. The Canon 40mm. Also known as the pancake lens. The weather hasn't been all that good this week so I haven't been able to do much shooting with the new lens, but here is a fun shot I took yesterday. A grass straw from above! It was windy so it took a while before I could get the shot that I wanted. You can focus as close as 11.8 inches and that is what I tried here

Strike a Pose

The Summer in Sweden is short. Too short. The days are long and the darkness of Winter are soon forgotten during the (sometimes) warm evenings. Theme Day at City Daily Photo. Celebrating Summer. This is Tora. She screams Swedish Summer to me. From her blonde hair to her Summer outfit and of course the nice tan. Although a recent trip to the Mediterranean helped a lot with that. Tora will be back studying Economics after the Summer break. She will spend the rest of the Summer in Sweden with visits to Gothenburg and of course Gotland, which can be a magical place during the Summer.