I went one day last week to Malmöfestivalen, the festival held in the city of Malmö every year.
I had other things to do, like going to a music store, but walked around for a while, but did find it kinda boring, but took a few shots from around the festival area but mostly from other parts of Malmö since the festival is kinda boring.
I've got a lot of photos of bikes. I guess I like them...
Yet again due to public demand (lol) here are some more shots from London...
A few days ago I went to the city of Malmö, visited my favourite music store owned by my favourite music sales guy ever. We haven't met in a while so we shared a few laughs and other stuff, and I tried a couple of acoustic guitars (I'm slowly starting to look for a new one). And I also visited Malmöfestivalen who was on its second last day.
Anyhow, while walking on the back streets of central Malmö I saw these cool looking pillars who were casting shadows on the ground. So, I thought I should take a couple of photos, since at the time and place it looked kinda cool. And there were a few people, maybe a family (I'm not sure since I really didn't look that closely), who were going into a private doctor's practise (I saw that when I walked passed it). And I waited for them to go in to the building because I didn't want them in the frame. And I took two shots when it was clear.
When I started to walk again I heard a guy with a very bad accent, I'd say he was originating from the middle east (yeah, I'm such a racist) saying something from inside a car. So I took out one of my in-ear buds, leaned into the passenger side and said "excuse me?". He then said (and all of you politically correct people might want to stop reading here since this is oh-so-racist) "why you take photo of people, who you work for?!", and I said "well, I didn't and I work for no one" so, he said once again "why you take photo of people?!" and once again I told him that I didn't. So he said "what you take photo of if not people?", and at this point I didn't really want to discuss with this guy, but said politely at first (at first, may I remind you) "well, it's none of your business really, but I took photos of those cool looking pillars and shadows".
He didn't understand that.
And once again he repeated more aggressively "why you take photo of people, you can't take photo of people?!", and my patience with this guy started getting close to zero at this point, so I replied, "dude, this is a public place, do you understand? I can take photos of who or what ever I like" and he replied "no, you can't take photo of people" and I replied "well, I didn't but yes I can". He then said and was getting even more worked up "no you can't take photo of people!", once again I said (and now I'm starting to get a bit irritated, since I don't have much patience with idiots) "yes I can, you should study the fucking law!". He replied "no no, you can't take photo of people!" and "you can't take photo of people, can I take photo of you?" and then started to grab his phone. I kinda chuckled and said "sure you can, it's a public place". He just stopped and looked like if he was thinking "oh crap..." and then said "no, no I can't take photo of you, you can't take photo of people, let me see your camera, show me your pictures!". So now I started to laugh at him and said "dude, I'm not showing you shit, deal with it". He was now very frustrated and looked like he was going to get out of the car and I started to get ready to put my camera away so I could punch him in his face if had to, but then he just said again "you can't take photo of people!" I laughed again, said "bye bye now" and started to walk away. I heard him mumble something more from inside his car, but I put back my in-ear bud and walked on.
The End.
That was a fun anecdote. A free guess is that maybe he thought that I was working for the Swedish "Försäkringkassan" and was afraid of getting caught of insurance fraud or something, I don't know or maybe he and his family is in the country illegally, who knows? Anyways, while this might come off as being racist, I'm sure I'm not one of those guys. I just don't have patience for ignorant people of any kind really. And I can assure that I'm not a violent guy at all, but I wouldn't hesitate to punch this guy if he'd try to grab my camera or attack me or something. I've nearly done that to a kind of aggressive guy in Copenhagen 6 months ago.
So, this is just one of the joys of doing street photography. And also, know your rights as a photographer when you meet someone like this. :)
So, I haven't posted any photos from Copenhagen lately, except for the ones from Copenhagen Pride which I have a few more to post, but that will come later.
So, here they are.
Prayers will get you nowhere...
Scientology. Yes, laugh about it, since it's fucking stupid...
I've got a lot of photos of people checking their phones. I guess it's one of the most typical things people do these days...
Since everybody is filling my inbox with requests (yeah, sure...) of more photos from my latest trip to London in May, I give in and post a few more...
So, this week has been the annual Copenhagen Pride festival in Copenhagen, Denmark (duh, obviously). And yesterday was the big finale and the actual parade and I went there for the first time, the first time at any pride festival actually.
I support the rights for LGBT though never been supporting before in the way that I've been there to see the parade and stuff. But now I did and it was fun and I'll do it again.
So, as usual there will be posts in a number of parts when I feel like it, starting now.
Okay, I'll post some shots from London, just because all of you are asking me so much about...
Or wait, no one ever did that...
Anyhow, here are some more London shots.
Haven't posted anything for quite a while and quite frankly, I haven't really done any photography for a while either since I've been working and being on call a lot and not had the time or inspiration to really go anywhere. But yesterday I did a portrait shoot for a couple getting married.
I will post some of them later on, but not until the couple have got the photos themselves first.
But, I've got one week left to work before my vacation and then I'll probably do some photography, though I will concentrate a bit on my home studio and working on music, but soon there will be some more new shots here.
Time for yet another post with photos from my recent trip to London.
Btw, that phone booth reeked. I just opened the door and it was really fucking gross. I believe one would catch Insta-AIDS by entering...
Insta-AIDS
It teaches bullshit.
...nothing. Really.
Today is what's called "Midsommarafton" in Sweden (Midsummer's Eve). For most people I guess it's about eating herring, fresh potatoes and drinking lots of stuff made from potatoes...
It's about getting an extra day off from work for most people. And it's about bad weather, really bad weather. Bad weather is synonymous with "Midsommarafton", since it's basically always cold, windy and rainy. Someone wrote on Facebook yesterday wishing for it to be over so the weather can get better, and they're probably right. But it's basically usual "summer" weather for Sweden, at least for the southern part (if it's not blue-ish skies, hazy, hard light and too hot). In other words, mostly shit.
At the moment I'm about to update my home studio and work on music instead of doing photography for a while. I have a few more photos ready from London and also some from Copenhagen that I haven't posted yet and I've also got some more to go through and post process from my recent trip to London, so I will update here soon with some more shots.
But as of for today, instead of fraternising with people (I'm not very social), stuffing my face with herring, getting drunk and be embarrassing, I think I'll sit in solitude with Lightroom for a while and listen to black metal. Good times.
Again, here are a few more shots from my recent trip to London.
So this is the first blog post I'm doing after my long awaited upgrade to a new computer. My old laptop started to seriously fail me and making pretty much anything computer related to being a pain in the ass.
So I upgraded from a laptop PC to a desktop iMac (the 27" Retina 5k model).
And after a couple of confusing hours on Thursday, I'm really starting to get a hang of this machine and I have to say that it's pretty f*cking brilliant. OS X, where have you been all of my life?
Well, Windows (and especially Windows 7) has been pretty good, but I do like OS X Yosemite a lot and I did not like where Microsoft is taking its os, so in my opinion this was the only way to go, and I did want a change after 20 years on a PC.
Anyhow, this was not going to be a post about PC vs Mac, but about a few more photos from my recent trip to the magnificent city of London. So here they are.
This is so great, I just have to share it here.
A series of videos about Fujinon XF lenses, its history and heritage.
So it's been a few days since my last post, so here's another small batch of shots from the city of London.
A few more photos from my recent trip to London.
Here are a few more shots from my trip to London the other week.
Please also check out my Cityscape section in which I've also made a major update with new architectural shots of this magnificent city.
Alright, so now I've had this backpack for a while and I've put it through daily use to and from work and for use in an urban environment such as London. This backpack is awesome, end of review.
Not really...
But yeah, it is a really awesome backpack. As my other two F-stop bags, the quality is top notch. The Guru is smaller than the Loka, and pretty much perfect for day trips especially in urban areas where you just need an extra jacket or something similar. As a day pack for use in the outdoors I don't feel that it's quite big enough, if you want to bring food, clothes and things like that. But if you take out the ICU (Internal Camera Unit) it would be, but for me that would be to go against the whole point of buying a camera backpack of this sort, but it's still an option though and easy to do.
For anyone not being familiar with F-stop bags, the following is a summary definition. Kinda...
All bags in F-stop's Mountain Series can be described as being empty shells, and then you use a separate camera unit called ICU (ICU = internal camera unit) that comes in different shapes and sizes.
This means that you can customize how you want your backpack to be depending on how much camera equipment versus other equipment you have or want to bring.
For the Guru I've chosen a Small Shallow ICU for my Fujifilm cameras, because I want to bring other things than just camera gear, bigger one would mean nearly no space left for other things inside of the main compartment.
An ICU has removable inner walls so that you can customize it, like camera bags normally have and are as good as any other that I've tried.
The Guru follows international luggage dimensions, but you can easily take out the ICU and bring it into the cabin if you would need to check in your backpack on a flight.
Well, on with the description of the Guru. In the main compartment (where the ICU goes) there's also a pocket that can be used to store an iPad or a smaller, maybe 13" MacBook or similar laptop (check F-stops website for exact info on that), or to hold a hydration system like Osprey or CamelBak. I have an Osprey Hydraulics 2L, but I haven't tried if it fits, I might do that eventually and update this review, but since I have this backpack for more urban use and not nature hikes, I simply haven't tried that. It should be used with the optional waterproof bag that can be bought and hung inside the backpack (for extra leakage protection). A special opening marked H2O where you pull the hose out and attach to the right shoulderstrap through some mesh and a velcro loop.
You've got an extra (large) compartment with different pockets to keep daily general stuff or extra batteries, cleaning cloths, filters and those things. There's also a key holder in there. On top of that there's an outer compartment to store, well anything, but would hold something like a rain jacket for example. In addition there are two exterior mesh pockets, one on each side where you can have water bottles or put down tripod feet into.
There are compression straps on both sides and also on the back, which can be used to attach a tripod and/or skiing/snowboarding/hiking poles/snow shovel or whatever you need.
In a number of places there are loops where you can attach additional straps (called GateKeepers which is optional) if you want to secure a tent/sleeping bag/sleeping pad or similar.
In addition, on the waiste belt, there are anchor points compatible with the MOLLE system (Modular Lightweight Load-carrying Equipment), which for example the police and military use and there are a plethora of bags and other things that you can attach there if you want.
D-rings are also available to offer yet another way to attach things to the backpack.
Adjustment possibilities are many, and the support system is great and I think that it fits most people. The good thing with all but the Kenti backpacks of the Mountain Series, is that the opening to the camera compartment is towards the back, which means that you can put down the backpack where it is wet or muddy without getting it on the shoulder straps or on the back and if you're in an urban area, your precious camera gear is safe from pickpockets. All zippers are sturdy YKK.
If you need something for urban use, or of course in the outdoors, check this bag out. If you need room for more gear, well you could get a slightly bigger ICU for this backpack or maybe you should look at the Loka instead (look to the right for the link to my Loka review) or maybe you need something even a bit smaller, and something that looks even less than a regular photography bag/backpack? Then have a look at the F-stop Millar Series (look to the right for the link to my Brooklyn Sling review) of bags/backpacks.
Even if the Guru and the rest of the F-stop line is outstanding, things could still be improved.
The backpacks doesn't come with a rain cover, though it's probably not very often that you need it, but still. F-stop backpacks are quite expensive and a cover could or should be included in the price, but then again, quality is usually not cheap. And also, it can be quite hard to even get your hands on one of these backpacks. The people at the customer service are friendly, but otherwise the actual service (as in delivering orders to people) still needs to be improved.
But as a conclusion, these backpacks (including the Guru) are as good as it gets. If you're a serious shooter, do yourself a favor and get one.