Are leaves overrated?

Trees without leaves, I had forgotten what that looks like. Spring totally exploded on us last Friday which was Good Friday. Over night almost all trees blew their buds and leafed out. Amazing how quickly it happens! And now it's hard imagining what the landscape looked like without the leaves and flowers.

Feeling high

Not me but these guys perhaps. They're sitting at the very top of a tall, tall tree, I almost strained my neck taking this picture. I really wanted to take this picture, they look so funny. I can assure you, my Casio Exilim P600 would never have been able to take this picture. The birds would've looked like black specks on blue sky and you guys would have told me to clean my camera lens.

I am sailing....

These birds makes me think of Rod Stewarts old song Sailing, a huge favorite of mine. They're floating on a small piece of ice in the middle of the harbour. One of the first pictures I ever took with my Nikon, just to test the range of course. How far away can an object be and still make a clear picture, you know?

Don't be fooled by the icy settings of this picture, summer is here. I'm just mixing in pictures I took in the beginning of the year for variety.

For Japan

This is for the Japanese people. I lit candles in memory for those who didn't make it.

And I'm very grateful that my friends are safe.

(Hi Hiro / Hi Tad).

Fishing waters

The main traffic in the sound between Sweden and Denmark consists of cargo ships, ferries, passenger cruise ships and occasionally warships from different countries. Once I saw a huge American warcruiser with a helipad on it, Denmark is a member of NATO and American warships visit the Danish capital Copenhagen every now and then. Even submarines have been known to come through the sound although I've never seen one. Yet.

Except the Russian sub that lay anchored in Helsingborgs harbour for many years as a tourist attraction. A few years ago she was towed to India to be cut up for scrap metal, she was very old and falling apart.

Anyway, you can also see a few fishing boats. They're local fishermen from the coastal towns on both sides of the sound. This one is Swedish and very popular among the birds as you can see. It's one of those pictures I took to test the range of my Nikon but I like it very much. I love the sea and I take many pictures with a marine theme as you will find out if you follow my blog.

Easter lillies

The city is full of blooming Easter lillies. This year they bloomed just in time for Easter. Last year they were late because it was too cold. In the middle of the city there's a whole hill full of Easter lillies, that would be the picture to the right. It's an amazing sight, this ocean of yellow. And they smell good too!

Happy Easter!

An Easter post needs Easter decorations so here's classic Swedish Eastern decorations; twigs decorated with coloured feathers. I have no idea if this is done in other countries as well. We also have colored candyfilled Easter eggs and Easter witches that fly to Blakulla on brooms. That reminds me, I'm late for my flight!

Springflowers

 

 We've had some amazing spring weather this week. The trees are budding and more and more flowers are blooming. The snowdrop picture is from last month and the crocuses from last week. Crocuses are now abundant in the whole city and in many colours. The display on my camera is movable so I can angle it in several different ways. That means I don't have to throw myself flat on the ground when I want to take a picture of low growing flowers. Angled display was used for the crocuses but not for the snowdrops.

Filling a request

 

I posted a picture of the stone pillar for the Goddess of Seafarers the other day. A very good friend of mine, who lives in Brisbane, Australia (Hi Col) requested a picture of the Goddess herself. These pictures were taken yesterday evening especially for him. 

To get a good view of the front of the goddess, you need to place yourself in the middle of the harbour. Even though I have many talents, walking on water isn't one of them. These pictures are therefore taken from the opposite side of the harbour from where the Goddess is placed. I was standing on the old pier where the sailing ships used to dock back in the 19th century. But that's a story for another day.

First pictures

These are the very first pictures I took with my Nikon. This is a waterfall fountain close to where I live and the city usually turns it off by end of October. However, it got cold so quickly, the water froze before the fountain was turned off. I can only say thank you for the Kodak moment (Nikon moment?).

Monuments and statues

We have a lot of monuments and statues in my city. Which city doesn't? On top of this very high stone pillar stands the Goddess of  Seafarers. She has wings and a ship in each hand. She stands looking out over the harbor where the passenger ferries to Denmark docks.

And now for something else....

One of those pictures I took when I couldn't go outside. This is one piece of my photo wall. I have several framed photos taken by professional photographers. A group to which I will never belong but I'm happy anyway.

Talking about birds

While we're on the bird subject, birds often end up in my pictures. Since I live in a port city, there's a lot of birds around. And birds make good pictures. The bird on the left is giving me the eye and the birds to the right looks like they've made a decision to never talk to each other again. Or it's just me making up stories, it's been known to happen.

Feeding the birds - a true wintersport

I really like this picture. It's not a masterpiece from a technical point of view, that's true. However, I like it because of the scene, a young girl feeding the birds. This winter has been rough on the birds, they need help from humans to get through and this girl is doing her piece.

Sailing - not a wintersport

The small boat harbour. I don't think any of these boats are in a hurry for some Sunday sailing. Is it even possible to break them out of the ice? Without any damage I mean. Be that as it may, it made a good picture in my mind.

Spring anyone?

No, this is not pictures from Antarctica. The pictures show the sound between the southern part of Sweden and Denmark. It was actually frozen in several places except in the middle where the big ships sail and in the port areas of the cities. Speculations about the sound freezing from coast to coast so Swedes and Danes could walk over the sound was discussed in the papers. That did happen a couple of times during the 20th century. But it needed to be a bit colder and the cold needed to stay a bit longer so it didn't happen even though it was close. However, it was cold enough to make me freeze to a human popsicle while out taking pictures.

Here's six

These two stones are lying in my window. In English it says Harmony on the top stone and Love on the bottom stone.

This is a picture I took because it was too dark to go outside and take pictures. And my index finger were just itching to take pictures.

Here's five

Who thought "no more snowy pictures"? You might notice that I took this on the cemetary. I live almost next door to one of the cemeteries in Helsingborg which is the name of the city where I live. I like walking around looking at the grave stones, wondering about the stories of the people buried there. I especially like the oldest part, there's a lot of sea captains and nightwatchmen there. Many of the grave stones list peoples profession and many of the jobs mentioned doesn't exist anymore.

Here's another one

Still January, that's my footsteps plodding along in the snow. The path was covered in snow and totally pristine and untouched when I came along. And I really, really wanted to make a snowangel but decided against it. I just left my footprints so everyone could see "Annica was here"!

Here's three

Have you noticed my very creative subject headers? They show true inspiration indeed! Or so I tell myself just to make myself happy so I won't lose interest in blogging right away.

I took this picture in January, we had tons of snow and taking pictures with gloves on was a real challenge. Taking pictures without the gloves was not a challenge, it was pure stupidity. To my disappointment, I found that I have a stupid side that surfaces and takes charge of my body every now and then.

Here's two

Now this picture shows the flag flying. I took this picture because I liked the way the sun is shining through the flag making it transparent. And because I wanted to see how far my camera can reach and still take a reasonable good picture.

Here's one

There's nothing like standing in your window with your brand new camera at the ready looking for something... anything... to take a picture of. And I thought to myself, the flag on the building opposite my building, it's worth a picture.

This picture is fantastic for one reason only: the flag isn't flying. That means no wind. And in my city there's always wind. And the closer you are to the sound, the more wind you get.

So, enjoy this picture of the non-flying flag.

Project 365

Buying a new camera just before Christmas last year made me think that doing Project 365 for  2011 would be a good idea to learn how the camera works. Taking one picture a day and add it to a blog, how hard can it be? Seriously? I soon learned that when you don't have kids, pets or a garden and it gets dark hours before you get home from work, there's nothing to take pictures of every day. I gave up the Project 365 for this year but the blog is now coming to a computer near you.