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Posts Tagged ‘Stockholm’

It’s that time of year again, when somebody decides to hold the annual Stockholm photo expo, right around the 25th when everyone gets their salary. Seriously, people have got to stop doing that…
After missing last years’ photo expo I was happy to return and get a chance to play with the stuff they had on show. Being a total geek, I’ve already played with most of the gadgets, and since there were really no new releases planned for the show, I was just happy to be in an environment with that much technology. One thing that I haven’t played with prior to the photo expo, is Fujifilm’s FinePix Real 3D W3, a compact camera that like the name says shoots 3D. It’s basically two cameras in one, so two separate lenses and sensors, that get piped into the same processor for some image processing wizardry. Kinda nifty, but then at the same time kinda gimicky, since nobody actually goes around with a pair of 3D glasses.

One of my images was on display there, through Kth’s photo club, Knepp.

Anyway, I shot some video of the expo, Knepp’s wall can be seen at around 4:11 into the video. My image is the framed pano in the middle.

School tradition is something to be admired. Squvalp is a celebration of ingenuity and beer drinking skills. It’s a day when KTH students design and build water craft and then race them in an epic battle to the finish that according to tradition takes place at 14:08 at RÃ¥lambshovsparken.

In exchange for my photography services  at this event, I was compensated in beer, perversely  large amounts of beer, and some of the best grilled meat I have tasted in a long while.

So all in all it was a pretty full day, we were given the freedom to shoot what we wanted and how we wanted. I worked with the 24-70/2.8 on one camera body and the 70-200/2.8 on the other. I figured this would be easier than swapping lenses and I was right… changing lenses in full on rain mixed with sawdust and beer is not the safest thing for your glass or your cameras. I’ve come to realize that a rain coat/poncho is a crucial tool. Due to the weather the light was pretty bad too, I shot a few test shots with flash while keeping the ISO as far down as I could but wasn’t getting the results I wanted so I opted for higher ISO and batch noise reduction in post. To be fair ISO 500-800 images from the Canon 50D come out relatively crisp, apart from the obvious color noise which is easily corrected.

This is the first time I’ve done event photography and it was a blast. Photography generally involves a lot of solitude, and this is something I enjoy. It gives me time to think, to relax, to take time and compose an image so that it conveys a certain emotion, to focus (pun intended). But once in a while it’s good to introduce a social aspect to it. This extended not only to the other two photographers I worked with, but to all the participants as well. Doing something you love and meeting new people in the process can’t be bad.

Squvalp 2010 - Sjösättningen

I also used this opportunity to test the  spring 2010 refresh of the 13″ Macbook Pro I recently purchased. I’ve edited the entire shoot (ca 1200 images) on it and boy am I impressed. It’s at least on par with my more powerful Win 7 desktop when it comes to running Lightroom. I haven’t had too many issues with the glossy glass screen, but I guess coming from a white 2007 Macbook I’ve gotten used to a little gloss. However the glass screen on the Macbook Pro provides way more contrast. The real improvement is the trackpad, which compared to the 2007 Macbook is actually very usable, though for most of the editing I’ve used a Wacom pen. For smaller jobs I see this being my main computer.

As a side note, the Lightroom catalog I worked with for this event contained about 1300 images. I still have to test how the Macbook Pro performs with my main image catalog containing around 70000 images. Here are a few more images from Squvalp 2010:

You realize how big a part something plays in your life when you wake up at 2:30 am just to do it. The Early Bird photowalk in Stockholm is part of the Scott Kelby Annual worldwide Photowalk.

After meeting everyone at 4am in front of the Grand hotel we walked over to Skeppsholmen, then back over Gamla stan and ended up at around 6am at Monteliusvägen for breakfast and a phenomenal view of Stockholm. Two hours was just too little to get the creative juices flowing, especially if you’re meant to keep up with the group. Generally I tend to try and not cut a walk short as long as I’m feeling creative, but this is supposed to appeal to the masses and the masses don’t like carrying heavy photo gear. Here’s the route we took:

The weather was more or less exactly what I hoped for. Clear skies, warm and sunny, but I wouldn’t have minded a cloud or two just to make the sky a little more appealing to shoot and cast some interesting shadows down onto the city.

I was accompanied by the lovely @Pamstorr who shot some pretty great images herself.

Here’s a selection of mine:

Some of these images can also be viewed larger on my photoblog, just click on the thumbnail in the sidebar.

To wrap this all up, this was one great experience, meeting new people, seeing the way others work and exchanging tips, tricks and techniques is well worth getting up at some ungodly hour. Looking forward to next year.

Scott Kelby of Adobe organizes an annual worldwide photowalk. The concept is simple, you go to a website and you sign up for a photowalk in your city. On the 18th of July you meet up with up to 49 other photographers at a predetermined location and walk for about 2 hours. After that you all go to a cafe/bar/restaurant and review your work, exchange tips and tricks, and network and socialize over refreshments. There’s also a mega-prize involved if you want to submit your work. The walk leader will pick out  the best shots within your group and they’ll get submitted. Scott will then pick out the overall winner out of those. This is a prime example of how you create a movement and promote photography (not to mention Adobe). It’s not a training event in any way, but some basic LR and PS training will be provided on the Scott’ website. The walk’s not limited to any skill or experience level, it’s just a great way to enjoy photography in a social environment.

The walk I signed up for is a bit of a special one (click here for the website). It’s even got a very fitting name, the Early Bird Photowalk, because it starts right at the crack of dawn, at 4 am (sunrise that day should b at 4:03 am).

Stockholm is a really beautiful city, and that beauty doesn’t disappear at night. The element of a sunrise should only make the images better. I’ve walked around the centre of Stockholm so many times now that it’s becoming hard to pick out something new and interesting to photograph, so this in itself will be a challenge. Seeing things in different lighting conditions than what I’m used to might make easier. This’ll be a chance to try out new techniques on subjects I’ve already covered. The do-it-yourself custom bokeh seems like something fun to try especially in combination with timelapse. Painting with light is another neat thing I’m considering. As far as the weather’s concerned, I’m almost hoping for something out of the ordinary. Mist would be great to shoot at dawn because it’ll diffuse the city lights and make the scene look surreal.

Here’s a small selection of my earlier Centre of Stockholm at night shots:

All that said, I’ll write a wrap-up post and post some photos from the walk after July 18th.