First morning after Sweden changed from driving on the left side to driving on the right, 1967

"I was just following the other guy."

via

Drum 'n' organ

Swedish friends are great to have, and I am lucky to have one who introduces me to amazing things like this 60's duo, Hansson & Karlsson, one on drums, one on organ (and everyone knows organ is the best instrument ever). I can't really put it better than the introduction to their biography on Spotify:

"The two members of Hansson & Karlsson are both better known for other things - Bo Hansson as the composer of the progressive fantasy album Lord of the Rings, and Jan Karlsson as a second-rate actor."

Fortunately in the 60's they combined to create this moody, manic mish-mash of amazing sound that I am going to spend all afternoon lying on my bed listening to, trying to drown out the thumping bass emanating from downstairs.

Be sure to watch the video above - special moments to watch out for - Karlsson (drums) grinning like a buffoon the entire time, Hansson (organ) the 'serious' one obviously, but who also happens to play in socks, and random guitarist who keeps cropping up (sorry dude, it's just drums and organ), and when they go crazy at the end and all pound gongs.

And best of all their albums are all on spotify for your (and my) listening pleasure.

Diagonal tourism

When your camera takes film and you only seem document your holidays, it sometimes takes many months for images to see the light of day. These are a few more from my summer touristing in Stockholm in August, these four taken at Drottningholms slott, the private residence of Sweden's Royal Family.

It appears I have a propensity for taking photographs on an angle, perhaps to make them more "dramatic". I think I just rue the fact that a camera does not have the same peripheral scope as my eyes.

Travelogue - vertical

Photographs of tall things. Portrait orientated but no portraits. I turn the camera around every once in a while to break up the landscape monotony.

Travelogue - horizontal

A collection of horizontally orientated photographs taken from my 2nd hand 60kr Konica camera. Having this camera is one of the best things, and I am happy to eschew a little bit of technology for something which forces me to be more restrained, selective and patient when documenting. It also gives me a chance to actually enjoy physically inhabiting a space, to have a chance to actually see things without another lens in front of my eyes.
My ability to 'point-and-shoot' is also improving I believe, if that is actually possible.

Horizontal images of Malmö, Frederiksborg, Stockholm, plus Claire.

And coming soon: Travelogue - the second installment. Vertical.

Back To You

Claire has recently departed after an amazing two weeks in Scandinavia. Based in Malmö (where I currently reside) but also featuring a 4-day visit to Stockholm and a couple of day trips (perhaps night trips would be a more fitting phrase) to Copenhagen and its surrounds. In due course of our travels many photos were taken. With me equipped with a trusty point-and-shoot Konica film camera, and Claire with her Canon digital camera as well as her (smart) phone, we were armed to the hilt.
On looking through the accumulated snaps, a certain trend became rather apparent. And what was meant as documentation of two friends exploring three cities, ended up looking like Claire just followed me around in a rather stalkerish manner - a generous chunk of the images are of my back, or me in various stages or turning around. Perhaps there is now enough material for a 'Florence strides forth' tumblr or some such lunacy. But here let's keep things to only the choicest cuts.
My photos are due to be collected next week,and should hopefully even out the disproportionate number of Claire stalking Florence photos.

All photos by Claire Cooper.

PLACES: Drottningholm / Copenhagen / Drottningholm / Frederiksborg  / Stockholm / Frederiksborg /

Focus de luxe

Swedish designer Folke Arström's stainless steel cutlery "Focus de luxe".

I scanned this image at work from a book about Swedish Industrial Design which was to be inter-loaned.
I was flicking through it hoping to find an image of the cutlery set my Granny had.

And all of a sudden, there they were.

Originally introduced at the H55 architecture and design exhibition in Helsingborg, the cutlery has been back in production since 2006, and would be a wonderful merging of beautiful design, Sweden, and happy memories of dining in style with my grandmother, should I purchase a set.

The Story of a Crime

                   






Two book covers from the Martin Beck series, collectively titled 'The Story of a Crime'. Both covers are almost opposites, one a watercolour, the other and photograph; Roseanna showing just the head, while The Man Who Went Up In Smoke shows a business suit in motion, sans body - it wafted away with the title.

The writing duo of Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö each wrote alternate chapters for every book, a sort of collaboration I find particularly amazing - the ability to create characters, from the brains of two people, and keeping a believable continuity to their personalities.

I wonder if you can tell which chapters are written by whom? Did Maj Sjöwall take the odd numbers, and Per Wahlöö the even? Did they switch that around every book, so as not to give the game away? There is something pleasingly rounded and symmetrical about the whole process, in the way I find happiness in every Tintin book being 62 pages long.

Architectural Examples

Ringmuren, Visby / Café/Restaurant with Ringmuren through the roof, Visby / Thatched house, Fårö / Fårö fence / Seaside apartments, Visby / 3 doors, Fårö / Ingmar Bergman's property, Fårö / Facade with four different windows, Visby / Church with wooden roof, Stenkumla, Gotland.

Village

Wandering around the Helgummanen fishing village on Fårö. Small wooden cabins filled with wooden bunks and wool blankets, miscellaneous tin objects, small rocks and pieces of glass, sea shells. I liked the use of driftwood as makeshift wall brackets, and the stones weighing down the lids on the dinghies, which tourists had used to spell out their initials, like I used to do with the rocks in the crater of Mt Eden.

I loved the juxtaposition of natural materials in the grain heavy timber, the different rich shades of varnish each cabin had, and the walls created by layering flat slate rocks on top of each other. The small cluster of sparely but sturdily built shacks reflected the village's sparse rocky surrounds and muted colour palette - greys, browns, greens and blues.