Today I needed to get out a bit from the apartment, been ill and in bed too much and I am going to work tomorrow again so I ventured in town with camera ready to take some pictures. I went off the train at Centralen the city central station and then walked Sveavägen down. On the way I passed old Grand which is one of the well kept old cinemas that does a bit different films, not just the ordinary run of the mill action movies and dramas from the big Hollywood circus but also does more narrow French and Belgian movies as well as low budgets and Swedish movies you may or may not see again.

Photo Walk Stockholm this is the second annual Scott Kelby Photo Walk arranged in Stockholm. Make sure you mark the date 18 July off in your calendar and then join in by clicking the link above.

Välkommen till den andra årliga Scott Kelby Photo Walk (kamerapromenad) här i stockholm. Om du har lust att vara med så kom med den 18 juli. Läs mer på länken ovan!

Plats: T-bana Slussen uppgång Södermalmstorg, vid strömmingsbilen kl 13.00 den 10 maj 2009.

Vi går runt södermälarstrand med avstickare efter eget behov och så slutar vi på lämplig krog med en bit mat och kanske en pilsner ca 17:00.

När mer information blir tillgänglig kommer jag uppdatera det här.

Välkomna!

• Diskussion i Svenska Amatörfotografers flickr-grupp

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Place: Metro station Slussen (2 stops south of T-Centralen on the red or green route) exit towards “Södermalmstorg” it is the middle exit from the platform. Outside there is a cart that sells fried herring which is well known and that’s where we will meet. Time and date is 1pm on May 10, 2009.

We will be walking around the south shoreline of lake Mälaren with beautiful views over the Stockholm city and waters. We expect to end around 5pm for a meal and something to drink at some good restaurant in the cheaper range.

When more information becomes available I will be updating this post.

Welcome!

The photo walk is canceled!

In the end we were only two people who could do it this weekend so the photo walk will be moved to May instead.

See you then!

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On my way from Gamla Stan, the old town, to the south end of the city I stopped on the bridge and decided to try to get a handheld panorama of this part of the city. Usually I am not too much a fan of panorama pictures, they have a tendency to be awkward to frame if you know what I mean.

But I shot using my 16-85 set somewhere around 30 mm focal length and handheld. This pano is composed of 6 stitched pictures, all done manually in Photoshop. If you really want to see the picture you must click on it and view it full size, the limits in width on this blog does in no way make it justice.

I did not modify the picture in any way except that I worked a little bit with the contrast since it was a bit of a dull light in the air.

The tower in the far background is actually the city hall.

Fatburen is a small area in the south end of Stockholm. These days you find it between Medborgarplatsen and the Stockholm Södra train station roughly and the blocks in between. There are many very modern buildings here and fortunately the Fatburen park has been saved, fatbursparken in Swedish.

I passed by here last Monday and had the camera with me which was quite lucky because I got a picture that I have had in my head for some time now that we have finally gotten a bit of proper winter even here in Stockholm.

The picture is a full colour picture but the whole world seemed very black and white at this moment. The park was full of people as well and tourists taking pictures of each other with their cameras. So I had to wait for the right moment before I could squeeze off a few pictures and this is the result.

At the left in the very far reach of the picture is part of the railway that goes under the city into the Central station. This part will be rebuilt and probably covered to the dismay of some of the train spotters who use this place to spot trains passing by. I just hope that they will preserve this park even if it is a park that has a bit of a drug problem going in the late summer evenings…

Today I had the opportunity to take a walk around the city since I went early from work to my medical check (mandatory to do regularly for people working on or near the railway) and since I had to skip lunch to be fasting for the medical checkup I finished a little earlier so I spent the day in the city with the camera looking for three things and I found them all.

• Indian chai tea
• A nice haircut that’s not too expensive
• A nice salad lunch served after 14.30.

I was actually able to find all three and had a wonderful day walking around the city from Kungsholmen down to Södermalm and then taking the commuter train back home from Södra Station.

This was my fourth  attempt to reach the Woodland Cemetery in Stockholm, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the famous must-sees in Stockholm, especially if you are interested in architecture.

The previous times things have come up that have prevented me to go, and now I set out without telling anyone else and just went there. Of course I had some bad luck and killed one of my flashes so that one needs to go to the repair shop Always something. However the trip resulted in some pictures from a blistering cold January day in the south end of Stockholm at the woodland cemetery.

När jag ändå redan var nere vid sjön och fotograferade Bolinders gamla fabriker så passade jag på att ta några bilder vid marinan när solen stod lågt. Detta är en av dessa bilder.

When I was down at the old Bolinder factories to take some pictures I walked over to the near-by marina as well and shot some pictures with a low sun in the sky. This is one of the pictures from that shoot.

This is an old factory where they used to make iron cast wood-fired stoves and other products like that. It is now the home of a broad range of small companies inhabiting the old factory houses. Here are some pictures of the factories that I have taken.

Bolinders grundades 1844 då bröderna Jean och Carl Gerhard Bolinder grundade J. & C. G. Bolinders Mekaniska Verkstads AB på Kungsholmen i Stockholm. Under de första årtiondena var produktionen inriktad på ångmaskiner, träbearbetningsutrustning och råoljemotorer för till exempel båtar och sågverk. Man producerade också olika sorters gjutna produkter som till exempel vedspisar, kaminer och köksutrustning som stekpannor, grytor, våffeljärn och köttkvarnar.1893 byggde Bolinders sin och Sveriges första motor med intern förbränning. Motorn designades av ingenjör Weyland men var inte så framgångsrik. Istället tog man in ingenjör Rundlöf som konsult och 1897 hade man en tvåtakts råoljemotor som blev en väldig framgång. På 1920-talet hade man en världsandel av 80% av alla fiskebåtar tack vare motorernas pålitlighet, låga bränsleförbrukning och långa livslängd.Efter brödernas död i slutet av 1800-talet togs företaget över av Erik August Bolinder. Vid 1906 ansåg man att lokalerna på Kungsholmen hade blivit för små så man köpte Kallhälls gård eftersom man ansåg Kallhäll i Järfälla hade bra kommunikationer då den låg vid järnvägen mot Västerås och man kunde också använda sjövägen via Mälaren in till Stockholm. 1909 började produktionen i Kallhäll. Man tillverkade då spisar och köttkvarnar samt gjutgods som transporterades sjövägen till fabriken på Kungsholmen. Vid 1919 hade Bolinders 1900 anställda på de båda fabrikerna.1913 byggde Bolinders sin första traktor. Den drevs av en tvåcylindrig tvåtakts råoljemotor på 30 hästkrafter.

1932 delades företaget i två delar. Motoravdelningen slogs samman med Munktells i Eskilstuna och fick namnet Bolinder-Munktell. Resten av företaget fortsatte produktionen i Kallhäll under namnet Bolinders Fabriks AB. Under 1930- och 1940-talen tillverkade man Trim utombordsmotor, diskmaskiner, sanitetsgods och emeljerade hushållskärl. Under 1950-talet tillverkade man mycket kylskåp och elspisar men konkurrensen från Elektrolux, Husqvarna och Electro-Helios var svår och 1956 köptes Bolinders Fabriks AB upp av AB Svenska Maskinverken, som då flyttade större delen av sin verksamhet till Kallhäll.

Under andra världskriget tillverkade man mycket utrustning till den svenska försvarsindustrin som till exempel gengasaggregat.

Källa: Wikipedia

Walking around Görvälns Castle we studied several interesting trees and other specimens. The great thing is that they have signs everywhere telling you the lating name, where they live naturally and other information as well.

When we got to the pine tree we got a surprise.

Here in Stockholm there are many interesting pieces of art in the underground metro lines. This autumn SL, the authority running the three metro lines here in Stockholm arranges a series of train rides with a guide to guide you through the art pieces.

This will happen roughly twice a week starting this thursday (day after tomorrow) but unfortunately I am busy thursday nights. The second night is on the coming Sunday however when I think it would be a great time to meet up and bring the cameras along.

Anyone interested in joining in on a project and learn more about the beautiful metro in Stocholm and perhaps get the chance to photograph the arts in the subway?

Here is a link to the programme unfortunately all in Swedish but the dates are there.

So yesterday 50 people were enlisted for the photo-walk, I think more than 40 turned up at Högalidskyrkan and we started walking. It was a beautiful day, we had exeptional luck with the weather and it turned out to be a very nice event.

Lots of pictures was taken and due to an unfortunate accident I lost some good pictures on a memory card that decided to fail of course. But since I regularly swap cards in the camera this did not affect too many pictures and most of the really good ones I liked was saved!

Check out mine and the other people’s photos in this Flickr group!

Looking forward to the photo walk here in stockholm, to meet up with other photographers is always fund and I hope I will be able to get some good shots as well but I really suck when it comes to street photography. I have such a hard time composing that I miss the moments that I want to capture and I need to practice this. So I have considered “going light” this time with the stuff that I need mainly in my pockets and of course a tripod, camera and one lens.

Instead of focusing on using the proper prime lens for the job I will be lugging my 18-200mm lens that can do almost any kind of shot. Although this lens is a bit on the soft side and I prefer a harder sharpness in my photos it is still a really nice all-round lens that can do many situations instantly. It is also equipped with the VR function to reduce shakiness when hand-held and that should be a great help today.

Here are some street shots that I have done earlier which are not half-bad but I don’t feel confident I can actually “make” the photos the way I really want them. So this will be a very interesting test for me.

The walk starts at hornstull at Högalidskyrkan (the church) and then we are off in smaller groups. The walk ends at Mosebacke. I will of course post pictures as they are developed after the walk. The weather looks nice still and I hope we get a really nice evening in town!

I am also considering trying out IR photography in this setting. It could be difficult of course but I think it could be interesting. But this means I have to lugh around my tripod – something that has never been a problem before but it is of course time consuming to set it up to shoot when everyone else snaps a picture and moves on but I think that it would be cool.

So this is my plan equipment-wise:

• Camera D70s
• Lens: Zoom-Nikkor AF-S VR 18-200 f/3.5-5.6G ED-IF
• Micro-fibre lens cloth of course
• Circular polarizer Ø72mm
• IR filter Ø72mm
• Extra battery camera
• Memory cards
• Tripod with shoulder sling bag
• Towel to protect camera if there is rain

I remember when I got my first fishing rod, I must have been around five years old. My first task was to try to find some worms to put on the hook in order to bait the fish, it was my father who helped me and told me how to get fish to take the bait.

I have ever since enjoyed fishing although I don’t do it very often these days here in Stockholm. This picture was taken as I strolled past a young fella who was trying to put his bait on and I suddenly remembered these old times again.

One of my first jobs was working at a place where fishing equipment was made. Something I did in the summer when I was 16. I enjoyed it very much and I had the opportunity then to spend my money earned on fishing gear which I thought was well spent at the time! Since then the catches I have done (fishwise) are easily counted, but I still have the gear I bought then – in pristine condition.

I set off on a sunday walk and brought the camera along. On purpose I only took my 50mm lens because I really like to find more and more ways of using it.

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Link: Worldwide Photo Walk – Stockholm, Sweden | Worldwide Photo Walk.