Winter Picnic

I have visited the lakes at Rudan three days in a row now. Normally that only happens during the Summer. When I photographed the skiers on Saturday, it was 7C and quite nice. On Sunday it was a little colder, maybe 3C. And yesterday when I snapped this photo of the Viking couple out on a picnic near the Lower Lake it was -3C, but they claimed it was warm enough. Looks like the woman was clever enough to bring some warm coffee with her. Hubby had to do with a Fanta.

Bride and Groom

Tying the knot. If you enjoy street photography with a difference, Stockholm City Hall on a Saturday is a good place for a visit, as quite a few couples will get married there, and have their wedding photos taken. It is always fun to look at the big-eyed tourists sneaking a photo or two with their smartphones of the happy couples, just like I did here, although I used my mirrorless Canon. This couple's photographer had set it all up, and her assistant saw to it that no one walked into the scene, and when the photographer told the couple to walk towards her, I snapped a few quick shot's and moved away so not to disturb them.

Coming & Going

People watching at Poseidon's square. If you keep at it for a while chances are that you will see the same people twice. Like this hand holding couple that was on their way to the grocery store at the Haninge mall earlier in the week.

Not Without My Smartphone

People watching is great fun. I spotted this couple sitting next to the stairs at Poseidon's square earlier in the week. Very busy on their smartphones. A little later the came walking towards me, still very busy on their smartphones. But then again I was busy on my DSLR.

Vintage Mopeds

Monica and Peter out riding their vintage mopeds. A Puch Alabama from 1971, and a Crescent "raketarsle" from 1967. They both own two mopeds each. And a couple of motorcycles. And a few old cars. They are a couple, but they don't live together. I met them in Västerhaninge a few days ago. They try to visit a weekly meet in Haninge, popular with bikers and lovers of old American cars, a meet I am yet to visit.

The Music Student and the Magician

Sure was a fine day Friday. I'm guessing around 14C. Perfect weather for a bit of longboarding. This is the love birds Elise (the girl can sing), and Alex. Spotted them near the mall in Handen. Elise will graduate from secondary school studies this Spring. She works extra at Foderboden. Her boyfriend works at the book chain Akademibokhandeln. One of his hobbies include stage magic. This is another Brenizer method shot, nine photos stitched together. Shot with the nifty fifty at f.2.0.

A kiss on the cheek

Earlier this year Fredde was out jogging in Handen, he usually combines a visit to the gym with a five kilometre run. On this run he met a girl. They started talking. Fredde suggested that they could maybe go for a run together one day. Little did he know that Kristina was a very good Ultra Marathon runner.

Get your mojo on!

Met a great couple in Västerhaninge, on what must be described as the first day of Summer. Mantas and Nathalia. They were out skating with their new LandRollers. I had never seen LandRollers before and they told me they were made popular by Cesar Millan. Mantas is originally from Lithuania. For sixteen years he lived in England. Nathalia is Swedish and her family originates from Colombia. They have that newlywed Zuckerberg to thank for everything as they met via Facebook. After chatting for a while Nathalia invited Mantas to Sweden and now they live together here. Nathalia works with cosmetology and shares a skin care saloon with her mother. Mantas is an artist. He paints with brushes and is also an illustrator, concept artist, 2D animator, and character designer. Oh, and Nathalia had been looking at a Canon 550, so I told her to get one as it is the model I am shooting with. If you are curious about the title, Mojo is the model name of their skates.

A Different View

One of the places I often return to is the nature park Slätmossen in Handen. It is always fun to see the changes from the last visit. Today's photo is rather unusual. This is Ami and her boyfriend Tomas. They were standing on the bridge when I arrived, so I figured it would be fun to take a portrait of them, especially since Ami was sitting on her boyfriends shoulders! And if you would like to see the changing seasons check out the slideshow, it is 50 photos, the oldest one dates back to December 2004 and the newest is from Thursday. To see it full-screen press on the four arrows to the right.

The Forest Gold

A basket full of golden chanterelles. That's what Kerstin is holding in her hand. I met Kerstin and her husband Bror near the Björklund farm yesterday. They found the chanterelles somewhere in the nature reserve Gullringskärret. The exact location is a secret, but there's plenty more to be found. Kerstin and Bror loves the outdoors life. Be it in the forests, or on the water. They have sailed in the Stockholm archipelago for more than forty years. A few years ago they sold their house and now live in an apartment near the old vicarage in Västerhaninge. One of their neighbours (and good friend), is the former Mayor of Haninge whom I met here last year.

The Tourists

This is Renate and Erich. From Switzerland. I met them in Handen yesterday. They are out on a three week long bicycle holiday. They took the train to Copenhagen. From there they have travelled on their Swiss made Fateba bikes through Sweden. A bike like this is very good for your back, and these bikes will set you back around 4000 Euro. The couple have visited Malmö, Karlshamn, and Kalmar. Their latest stop was Sweden's biggest island, Gotland. When I met them they had pedalled from the ferry port in Nynäshamn, that's a 40 km ride, and were now heading to Stockholm, another 20 km. In Stockholm they are going to a big family get-together as Renate's sister is married to a Swedish man. This is my second Swiss bike couple of 2011. Earlier this summer I met Roland and Theresa.

Hiking In Paradise

This is Yankee and Nike, Josefin and Erik. They are out on a five day trek on the Sörmland Trail. I met them near Lake Rudan on Friday, and that was their next stop. It was a very warm day so they were planning to go for a cooling swim in one of the lakes. They started the hike at Björkhagen in Stockholm on Wednesday. Their goal is to walk to Paradise, or Paradiset in Swedish. It's a very popular destination for hikers. Josefin and Erik are from Stockholm, but they live in Linköping at the moment, where Erik is studying to become a psychologist. Josefin works as a teacher. As I am typing this they will be on their way home again.

Hand in Hand

Whenever I visit a festival or any other fun event I always try to shoot a few candid portraits. Here are two such snaps from the classic car meet at Torvalla. Two couples holding hands.

Rickard & Emelie

Summer is here, and down at my favorite beach I met Rickard and Emelie. They are originally from up North in Sundsvall, but are now living in an apartment at Södermalm in Stockholm. Rickard is a craftsman and Emilie works in retail. Both of them are former football players, but have given up the sport now. Emelie was a centre back in a second division team so she must have been a good player. Rickard spends a lot of time in the gym these days. After I had taken a few photos they were happy to get back up on dry land again as the water here in the Baltic Sea is still a bit on the cold side!

In It For The Kids

This is Saga and Ilja.They are lovers that sort of live together at Ilja's place in Haninge. Saga works at a kindergarten, and Ilja is a teacher. He passed the exam only two day ago. Both like to draw and paint. Saga used to compete in show jumping, so I told her that moving to Haninge could be a good move, as there are horse farms all over the place here. Ilja sees himself as a future Doctorate in pedagogy. He is currently working on a new art project where he will make a large sized deck of cards with video game characters. Saga is a keen photographer and has taken a few good ones over the years so I told her to set up a flickr account. I met the couple at Poseidon's Square in Handen yesterday.

A Day on the Bay

The sun was shining from a clear blue sky on Sunday so I jumped on the bike and headed for the beach. After shooting a panorama from one of the piers I sat down on the big bench near the water and started talking with Gunnar and Annette. They are from Haninge and have a summer house here at Årsta Havsbad. We talked about this and that for a few minutes as we were enjoying the sunshine and looking at the ice skaters out on the frozen Hårsfjärden bay. Skating on natural ice is a big winter sport in Sweden so I decided to get a portrait of one of the skaters. This is Elisabeth who lives and works in Stockholm. And just like Gunnar and Anette, Elisabeth has a summer house here near the beach. On this day she was out skating with a friend, (another Elisabeth). She told me that they were rather new to this sport so they decided to stay close to the beach.

Thomas & Emma

I had planned to take a few portraits of dudes on this day, and when I saw Thomas near the commuter station in Handen I moved in for a portrait. After finding out that he is a locksmith and that his hobbies includes hanging out with friends and being a bit of a computer geek I was ready to take a few photos. And that's when his girlfriend arrived from the train station. I knew that they were a couple the moment I spotted her possibly for their identical body candy. Emma looked a bit surprised as I lifted the camera, but after a quick explanation I found out that she is a student at the Nynäshamn secondary school. Three years from now she will be a a carpenter. And that one of her hobbies includes drawing.

Lovers at the Lake

I interrupted a photo shoot at the lake the other day. Paulina was busy taking portraits of her boyfriend Mikael. I needed to get out onto the jetty to take some photos myself, and luckily I managed to do that without falling into the water. Paulina then asked me if I only took nature photos, which gave me the opportunity to ask them for a portrait. Paulina studies at the Stockholm School of Economics, while Mikael is a web game developer student at the Stockholm University. When he is not posing in front of his girlfriends camera he plays tennis at Torvalla in Handen. As you can guess Paulina's big interest is photography. Her blog is called Camera Click. She also runs a photo club at her school, but that site is open only to the students.

Next Stop the Tattoo Parlour

I met Mona and Bengan, and their dog Bullen on a warm summer day last week. They were heading to a tattoo parlour, surprise surprise, but had time for a portrait and a chat. Mona works at SvD, the morning paper. Her big hobby is crosswords. Bengan works at Åhlens in Jordbro. His big hobby is Mona and he also interested in tattoos and airbrushing. He got his first tattoo fifteen years ago. In fact he did the tattoo himself! It's the red one on his wrist. Bengan knew a few people I had previously photographed.One of them being Gissen with the head tattoo. In a not too distant future Mona and Bengan plan to get married.

JoJo & Deh Stah

Meet JoJo and Deh Stah. They live in Handen. JoJo works at City Hall and enjoys travelling. She will be volunteering during he upcoming Haninge Day celebrations so I will probably see her again on that day. Deh Stah used to run his own web design company, but today he works as a personal assistant,although he still takes the odd web design job. On his free time he does a bit of deejaying. But their lives are about to change big time. In October they will get married at City Hall in Stockholm. And come the new year they will quit their jobs and move to Goa in India, a place they have come to love. They have a few projects planned, but we didn't talk about that. Good luck with your new life!