Åbonäs wedding

I was honored with the assignment as the photographer at the wedding of Frida and Christian in late August at the beautiful manor of Åbonäs, just outside of Tranås in Sweden. Built in 1860, Åbonäs is still one of the youngest in the region, and for a wedding photographer a manor like this one offers a great deal of stunning interior, and exciting light conditions. At the end of the photo session we found a really cool looking room that took us back to the 19th century. I thought we were all done for the day, but still wanted to play around in the room a bit. After a while I realized that this is it, the best scene of the day so I called in the bride and groom again and made them pose for a few last shots. They turned out to be pretty nice looking!

We all had a great day together, even though the weather god didn’t respond to our prayers. It was great fun to get the chance to experiment with the soft and beautiful natural light from the big windows. Many of the best shots was captured with natural light and a big reflector. Here are a few more shots from the day:

Which one is your favorite?

Wedding shoot

My latest wedding turned out to be one of the most stressful days in my life… Earlier this year I got an inquiry to shoot a wedding at June 11. Since I knew my baby girl was due in the end of the month, I asked my girlfriend what she thought about it.

– Well, that’s almost three weeks before due date so it can’t be a problem. Book it!, she replied.

So I did. My pregnant girlfriend even agreed to be my assistend for the day, adjusting flashes, holding reflectors and diffusers… But so it didn’t turn out. The day before the wedding I held my newborn baby girl in my arms for the first time. Although happy and euphoric I desperately needed to go from plan A to plan B to be able to make the wedding shoot.

Problem: I had no plan B, and a wedding shoot can’t be canceled last minute. Furtunately, my girlfriend rocks. She let me off the hook for a few hours that day. I quickly recruited my father as assistent, and decided to meet him at home to pack all the photo gear. As soon as I got out of the car at the parking lot back home I realized that I left my home keys at the hospital. F@#@#ck. Back to the hospital, ended up in the Saturday midday traffic jams. As soon as I stepped into the maternity department at the hospital I realized another thing. The. Keys. Are. In. The. Car. Oh well, back through the traffic once more. I ended up just in time to meet the bride and groom, and we got to work.

Climbing in Bohuslän

Erik Heyman, one the hardest trad climbers in Sweden, wanted some photos of his recent contribution to the trad climbing in Sweden: the FA of a route at Häller in Bohuslän called Doktor Snuggles. Erik started working the route during the fall of 2010, but a very cold and snowy winter forced him to leave it for few month. After a few sessions on the route early this year, he finally sent the route. He thinks it’s a solid 8b.

Mr Heyman, contemplating the last attempt.

7b climbing to a good rest...

...where the last pro is placed...

...before the 12 move intensive power endurance crux.

---

The last hard move before easier ground. If you miss this, you get about 20 meters air milage.

Ice climbing

Hiked along with my two friends Peter & Peter to check out the local ice climbing in Gullmarsfjorden, a fjord in Bohuslän on the west coast of Sweden.

Going deeper into the fjord. Skates instead of boots makes it a whole lot faster…

Checking out potential climbs:

Powder running

Can running in fresh powder snow be as thrilling as skiing?

My good friend Anders Andersson owns almost every outdoor gear you can imagine. It seems like he can squeeze in way more than 24 hours in day. Running, kayaking, multisporting, mountainbiking, hiking, climbing, cycling…

When I asked him if he wanted to be a “powder model” for a few hours he thought about it for about one millisecond before turning his face into a big friendly YES. Thanks Anders.

So, back to the question. Is it as fun as skiing in knee deep powder? No, not really but nevertheless a fun thing to do.

Happy new climbing

Winter climbing in Sweden can be frustrating cold, but on the very first day of the year we got a window of sunshine. The winter here in Sweden is keeping its grip on us, forcing us to work on our plastic project most of the climbing days. But when there’s a window of sunshine we fight the cold. What is better than start 2011 with a bouldering session with some good friends in a stunning environment out on the island of Öckero, just outside of downtown Gothenburg. After only 30 minutes on the island I dipped both my feet in almost knee deep freezing water… The rest of the day was spent in climbing shoes.

Cold? YES.

We find what we think is yet an unclimbed problem just right of Gullik’s Surf’n Turf. Carl-Johan Svensson trying it:

Winter wedding

A winter wedding in Sweden can be a real gamble if you want to do the shooting outdoors. Per and Lina Granlund got married on the beautiful island of Marstrand just outside of Gothenburg, and plan A was to do most of the shooting outdoors. The weather in Sweden can be very unpredictable; you need to be prepared for anything between very cold with lots of snow to very wet with heavy rain. And sometimes you feel very lucky and can actually spot the thing we call sun

The weather turned out to be mostly on our side even though it was cold and occasionally windy.

Here are some photos from the shoot:

Using flashes and big softboxes on windy days and close to water makes the job impossible without a good trustworthy assistent. My nephew Alex made a terrific job making sure the Elinchrom Ranger flash stayed dry on land.

The moped wasn’t only used for props, it also served for effective transportation between shooting sites.

Fjordland ice climbing

Gullmarsfjorden is one of the most typical threshold fjords in Sweden, and in a good winter (i.e. below 0 Celcius for a consistent time) a few nice ice falls forms. This past winter has been very good in that aspect. I went up to the fjordlands to check out the ice falls. The falls are not very high but the surrounding is beautiful.

In the middle of the fjord approaching one of the ice falls.
 

Some people just can’t stay out of your way, can they?

Another popular activity on the fjords is ice fisching. These guys could sit still on their foldable chairs for hours in freezing cold. And I thought that ice climbers were tought, hard men made of steel. Today, it felt more like the ice climbers were fragile papermen that
could easily break, and the fischermen were the real hardmen.

The ice climbing is over for today, but the fisch is still there, lurking in the dark beneath your floor…

My hometown

I needed a few new photos with motion blur for a workshop in the spring and what is better than shooting fast moving cars in a freezing cold hometown of Gothenburg?

Well, what could be better is a cup of hot chocolat in the couch… Never the less it was fun, and as always a great experience. I also had the chance to get a few shots of the ferry Stena Line setting out, and coming in. These machines are impressive…