With the new year came a gale strong north wind with snow and cold. With a cold effect in the wind below -20°C you need to be prepared before you go out. Woollen underwear, extra socks, winter ski pants and thick winter jacket.
To sit down out of the wind with a cup of hot chocolate with this scene makes it all worth it.
Stay warm, ha de Gött!
Safe passage, ha de Gött!
As a landscape photographer you sometimes feel like a detective in a crime novel. There are some apps available to guide you but if you want to find the unexpected you have to go out there and detect.
Finding the motive will take you on many dirty back roads. On the major roads you will create long lines of angry, honking drivers. Wonder what that middle finger in the air means? If you find a parking spot you struggle onwards through dense forests and muddy paths in thunder and rain.
It it’s all worth it when you find that spot. Makes your heart pump with joy, or is it trying to catch up from the walk? There it is, but what do you want to tell with this scene, what is the intent? You walk back and forth like a nervous first time dad in the delivery room. You realise you’re talking loud to yourself. Looking around for the guys with the long sleaved white jacket.
Finally you find a good angle. Then you realise you miss the final ingredient, the perfect light! Will the clouds clear, will the sun shine? You could wait for that perfect opportunity, but then you should not have sat down in an anthill!
I have to plead guilty to this passion, ha de Gött!
We stand there like a Christmas tree, strong, tall, bright and joyful. Then it all starts.
In Sweden we hand out all presents on Christmas eve and we get to see Santa handing them out in person! Well that’s everyone except all dads that for some strange reason all go out to buy the newspaper, or nowadays go to the basement to fix the WiFi. Being a dad I now own a fair share of newspapers, hoo, hoo. Poor Santa soon has to rush off to the Anglo Saxon world. Squeeze through an old chimney and put presents in old, hopefully washed, socks for Christmas Day morning.
Luckily we gave him some real dark Christmas brew and one or two schnaps before he went off. Now both he and Rudolph has a red nose lighting up the night as he flies with super sonic speed over the skies.
Wonder if he feels like the bottle in this last picture after Christmas? I know I do!
Don’t forget why, ha de Gött and Merry Christmas!
Do you know how hard it is to fly around, scream and shit all over, asked the gull. Especially in this dreadful storm. Can’t I just sit here in leeward for awhile and rest, maybe taste some of that lunch?
I said, sure but can you guarantee that you will not take of, call your friends and have them dump all over me and then fly off in screaming laughter. Try me, he said. But are you willing to take the chance not to share?
I let him have a bite of my sandwich, and for a moment we were the best of friends, sitting next to each other in silent coexistence. I put the remains of my lunch into my backpack and stood up ready to go. A final look at each other before he took of with a loud scream. He circled a few times around me, and I think he waved with his grey wings.
Be kind, ha de Gött!
A cover band must be the ultimate dedication to an artist. Especially if they do it good like this Danish band, Johnny Horsepower. I took these pictures in Göteborg as they gave a free concert playing songs from the icon Johnny Cash. I was on my way somewhere else but they were so good I had to stop and listen.
The band are available on Spotify and YouTube so go check out for yourselves.
Dare to enter the ring of fire, ha de Gött!
What if there is no heaven
nor a hell below
You would constantly be reborn
Not as a mouse or a wolf
You was forced to live
Someone else's life
A middle age king in abundance
Or a homeless on the street
A character in a crime novel
The handsome bright detective
or the victim, just a beautiful corpse
An endless cycle
Like the Tellus spins around the sun
Would that mean
Heaven and hell
simultaneously on earth
Just a question of
Fortunate, have it all one percent
Struggling, ninety nine percent
A throw of the Universe dice
or, how did you love here and now
Tänk om
Det inte finns någon himmel
och heller inget helvete där nere
Du skulle ständigt återfödas
inte som mus eller ulv
Du skulle tvingas leva om
Någon annans liv
En medeltids kung i överflöd
eller en hemlös på gatan
En karaktär i en deckare
Den snygga och smarta detektiven
eller offret, bara ett vackert lik
I en evighets cykel
Som Tellus snurrar runt solen
Skulle det innebära
Himmel och helvete
samtidigt på jorden
Det är bara en fråga om
Lyckosam, en procenten som har allt
Kämpande, nittionio procenten
Ett tärningskast av universum
eller, hur du visat kärlek här och nu
Try not to overthink, ha de Gött!
Don’t be one, ha de Gött!
I sometimes wish, I would go blind
Untouchable from the darkness
Finding that only path to walk
Guided by an invisible beacon inside
A shepherd holding on to his rod
I wish I could have that blind
Faith
Svensk version / Swedish version
Önskar ibland, jag kunde bli blind
Onåbar av mörkret
Vandrande den enda vägen
Vägledd av ett inre ljus
En herde som håller i sin stav
Önskar jag kunde hitta den blinda
Tron
What’s never challenged cannot grow, ha de Gött!
The world is full of lost hopes.
Grab one as you pass by.
Root it, in your heart.
Nurture it, let it grow.
Spread it out, like branches.
As a leaf silently falling.
Hope is never truly lost.
Swedish version.
Hopp
Världen är full av förlorat hopp.
Plocka upp ett när du passerar.
Låt det slå rot, i ditt hjärta.
Vårda det, låt det växa.
Bred ut det, likt trädgrenar.
Som ett löv tyst faller.
Är hoppet aldrig helt förlorat.
Just hold on to it, ha de Gött!
UlleHaddock 