This time, I photographed the games with the soft focusing Lensbaby. Not one single photo where you can see who’s actually participating. I just love it. (But the friend who asked if I got any good images of him might think otherwise). I uploaded a few of them to Flickr, as is, but processed the one below into b+w. I like the melancholic feel I get when the image is unfocused, when there is no apparent depth of field. By making it b+w, the image becomes even more suggestive, as fading memories often are. Very special, too.

This weekend is special for many Swedes, although not for me. This year, however, it was really pleasant. I had worked a lot with late nights every evening up until last Thursday, so when Friday and Midsummer eve came up I was really tired and needed to rest, probably too tired to think of everything you have to be on a traditional holiday like this. I really had a lovely weekend and am fully charged again.

I have been shooting, creatively too. It’s good to feel that it’s enjoyable again. The image above is made with the Lensbaby and the double glass. I haven’t been shooting that much with the soft focusing glass, lately. I eventually became tired of seeing everything defocused, and with the double glass you get it at least sharp in the middle. As in real life , if you think about it.

This week will be dedicated to writing, though. I will participate in a feature writing workshop. Maybe I turn into a Pulitzer award-style writer, and starts to write captivating and interesting articles that have the potential to change you lives. What do you know.

It’s from last Winter, one of those mornings when the night had our car coated in a thick layer of ice, impossible to work through with the ice scraper that always seems to be the one from past year. Nothing else to do than leave the engine running and wait while the defroster slowly comes to life. Then, after having seen myself in the rear-view mirror for a few good minutes, threads of melt-water starts to work their way down the window.  When vision finally is clear enough, I can’t help feeling I don’t appreciate what I see. The defroster only worked on the window, the outside remained as is. So I stay seated a few more minutes,  looking at myself in the rear-view mirror, having no clue why everything all of a sudden feels so uninspiring. The longer I look, the more anxious I get over myself. Eventually I carry on to do what I’m supposed to.

There were many such mornings, last Winter; the Februaries, as my friend Ray so well calls them. They are long gone now, and I had actually forgotten about them. It was just this image that made me thinking. I found it embodying the feeling I have when I’m like that, and I just wanted to write it down and save it for the records.

I’ve been away for a while, away from everything that spells out Internet and present in the more tangible reality. Well, all I’ve been writing about and everything that I have been photographing, that has been real, too. This time, I’ve been busy with life and a course in graphic design that I participated in this semester. The former has perhaps not been very tangible, but it is nonetheless a reality show that is broadcast in my life annually. Not very fun, but it’s in the past now. The latter was really fun, and I learned a lot that I hope I can gain from in my profession. Now, I don’t only master Illustrator, I also know InDesign at my finger tips. Very useful. In fact, this takes me directly to SOFOBOMO.

Apparently, the SOFOBOMO window starts tomorrow!?! This came as quite a shock to me, since I though I should participate, earlier this year, at least. Well, I have not been thinking of quitting, there are still plenty of time to consider what to do, if anything at all, that is. And, as an answer to myself – yes, I’ve seen that some has started to blog on this topic, so there are definitely many that still are out there. Hardly a surprise, and I’m happy for it.

Hello, everybody!

Now, when I have been writing myself midway through this post, I realise I’ve entitled it nearly as one of my favourite photographer’s web site is called, While Standing Still. Her images have inspired me to explore colours again, although the images in this post are in b&w. Let’s see what will come out of that, and back to this post and the images.

I took them last week, an early morning while it was very foggy. I knew about this windmill and thought it would be perfect to shoot it in this light, so off I went. The time has indefinitely stopped ticking for it. It costs of course a fortune to maintain such an old mill like this. This one has probably been out of function at least the late 75 years, perhaps more than a hundreds, so the economical rationales to keep it standing are about….none. While people probably would be willing to pay 10 millions (divide by 7 to get a figure in US Dollars) for a house with a picturesque mill on the property, right here in Lund, this one is located a few kilometres outside, far too long away to attract those who have that kind of money. So, the decay is inevitable. It will only stand a few more years, as it looked like now. Large parts of it had already fallen down to ground and started to become one with Mother Earth. As life in the large, I guess.

East of Lund, facing South. Malmö in the horizon. Cold as hell, which you might think would be a hot place, but is not. If you think about it, it makes sense. It’s a cold place, considering the sense while freezing to death. It’s a very warm sensation.

Yay, that was lively. It’s not as bad as it sounds, it’s just my way of thinking. In reality, when I most often am on the lighter side, I’m a pretty positive thinker who takes the day as it comes. It’s in fact cold now, but I have so much work that I nearly don’t mind whatever weather it is. I’m doing lots of illustration work with a small portion of product photography, which is really good, since I want to focus more on my graphical side in work. You, who have learnt to know me through this blog, know that my imagery might appear rather dark, sometimes. I can tell you that I really have to fight that urge, to express me in darker tones. It really don’t work with marketing people. Quite understandable, too – so, I’m learning.

If I’m lucky, the worst portion of this Winter will be over when time slows down again. But, as it looks now (snowstorm outside my window), I doubt it ever will pass.

Is it possible to thrive during wintertime, I don’t think so. This has been the most terrible winter ever, at least since I moved from Stockholm to Lund, in 1989. In fact, most around here refer to that very year when they try to recall when it was as cold as this, last time. That winter, I were neither in Stockholm, nor in Lund. I was on Iceland, me and a friend thought we would become millionaires by working there, cutting fish to be specific, for a few months. How wrong we were. It took several months to earn enough money for the flight ticket home again. It was cold also on Iceland, that winter, but I think I was more hardy when I was young. Foremost, they had their most severe recession in economy for decades, that’s what I remember mostly. Before 1989, you have to go back to the early years of WWII, when it was a bit colder than now. My God what they must have suffered, a war like that and this kind of winter, without the convenience of central heating, hot chocolate and after ski fur shoes. My suffering gets pale in perspective, of course. To leave the sad thought behind, I get a little bit warmer at heart by seeing a window that seems to withhold and protect an entire rain forest, full of the most beautiful plants and flowers. A flower shop……..I can imagine even I would thrive in there…sleeping through the winter, waking up sometimes by the scent of the flowering plants, seeing all the people outside that cope with their everyday lives and covering themselves from the weather as good as they can. It wouldn’t take long to fall asleep again, and yet, these flowers are in full bloom. Amazing, and hard to understand.

Well, to literally cut the crap, BBC noticed this as well, which was about everything I wanted to say with this post. Many words for something not even originating from me, let’s hope all verbal noise not makes Internet melt as well.

Ganska snart efter att jag flyttat in gick jag lös på äppelträdet. Från att ha varit ett grannt, väldigt lövtäckt träd med tre stora äpplen, förvandlades det raskt till ett glest skelett. Jag fick god hjälp av Thomas, pappa till Erica, Felicias bästa kompis. Vi tog en varsin öl och klippte och sågade sedan närapå ner trädet. Nu är det vår och allt annat har börjat grönska. Men äppelträdet står där och tjurar med sina tjocka grenar utan någon som helst knopp tittar fram. Jo, förresten! en knopp tyckte jag mig se idag.

Idag har jag rensat bort maskrosor, hela trädgården var full av dem. Trädgård är kanske att ta i, täppa är nog mer beskrivande. Men det har jag i alla fall hört talas om, att man ska ta bort maskrosor. Egentligen tycker jag de är fina, men ska man vara god radhusbo så ska man. Grannarna blev säkert glada för att de slipper få alla maskrosfrön när de blommat ut. Tji fick de! I gengäld firade jag med att packa upp min nyinköpta grill. Vojne, vojne!

Är det någonting jag varit berömd för så är det att jag inte kan grilla. Jag kan bränna upp vad som helst. Dagen till ära hade fläskkarré införskaffats. Med egenhändigt komponerad marinad (självklart!) skred jag framåt eftermiddagen till verket. Men tro’t eller ej, det blev helt otroligt, grymt gott! Bara en köttbit lyckades trilla ner på kolbädden. Övriga blev gudomligt goda. Ungarna åt som om de inte hade ätit på flera dagar. Jag med! Är det radhuskänslan som gjort mig till detta? Fan vet?

Jag trivs här med mitt nya liv!