Scenes from Vrango

 At the moment I am putting together a portfolio for stock photo sites in the hope that over the course of the year ahead I will increase the income from my photography. Whether I do or not remains to be seen but it will help me to focus on quality (I might have said this already in a recent post, I can't recall, I have been asleep since then) and improving as a photographer. As I have not been out much to get new pictures I am revisiting my older files and I am pleasantly surprised by many of the images I have put together over the years. I am also really pleased with the memories that come flooding back too. So most of the pictures I will share for a while at least will be from the archives.

These pictures were shot in Sweden in the summer of 2018. As I am writing this I am listening to the album Treeless Plain by Australian band The Triffids and the song playing right now is "Hell of a Summer" (click on the song title to listen for yourself).

I was on a road trip around Europe with my youngest son and we fulfilled an ambition to visit Sweden. We drove up from Copenhagen in Denmark across the Oresund Bridge which was a fantastic experience and then up to Gothenburg which was possibly the highlight of the trip (although there were several highlights to be honest) and while there we took a trip to Vrango, one of the islands in the archipelago close by. It was a really hot day and we had great fun walking around the island and enjoying the sun and the brightly coloured buildings that were all around the village and the harbour.

I have shared a mixture of colour and black and white images and while I like all of these photos and I would often prefer the black and white images today I much prefer the colour pictures because they are far mor evocative of the overall atmosphere on the island which although it was a quiet refuge from the busy city was still vibrant and uplifting.

Feathered Friends

 

Here are three different birds, the first is a Western Jackdaw, the second is a duckling (possibly mallard or possibly Rouen Duck) and the third is a Scania Goose.

All three were photographed in Gothenburg in the summer of 2018, more precisely in the Slottskogen which is a public park opened in 1874 with a free zoo. It is a really extensive park with so much to see and do (frisbee golf, beach volleyball, the zoo, a theatre and lots of walks) in the heart if the city.

I think the Jackdaw is quite a handsome specimen while the duckling is very very cute. The goose is a rare domestic breed native to southern Sweden apparently in 2011 there were only 172 registered birds of this variety so that does make them quite a rarity. 

Little House On The Rocks

Cano EF 70 - 300mm F 4-5.6 IS USM

ISO 100  150 mm  F/16  1/250 sec

ISO 100  135mm  F/16  1/250 sec

ISO 100  220 mm  F/16  1/250 sec

I am really loving the current spell of warm weather, it feels like a proper summer at last. The only drawback being that I have to be in work so I can't fully enjoy the sunny conditions. So when I was choosing these pictures for today's blog I was drawn to these shots of the little house on the rocks.

One of the things I was most keen to do on my roadtrip was to see something of the archipelago near to Gothenburg and on a hot and sunny day lots of other people had the same idea. If you ever get to visit this part of Sweden I would definitely recommend visiting the islands and even though lots of people take trips out from the city it is possible to find quiet spots and feel as though you are miles from anywhere and anyone else. What's more it is a cheap day out because a day ticket for the trams and buses is also valid for the boats which shuttle between the islands and you can get on and off to explore as many of the islands as you choose.

We headed to Vrango one of the southernmost islands in the group and it wasn't long after we got off the boat that we found ourselves away from the other day trippers. There are no cars on the island so it is really safe to walk around.

Here I have selected three different shots of a little red summer house which was perched on top of a rocky outcrop, it had stunning views in every direction and I think it looks great. I like the colour and black and white images but whereas I would often prefer black and white in this instance I think the colour images are much better. The colours really pop out and yes the sky really was that blue. This was one of the hottest days on our roadtrip and quite a surprise given it was the furthest north on our trip around Europe and we had expected things to be a few degrees cooler. 

There was lots more to see around the island and so I will be sharing more shots from Vrango in the days to come.

Somewhere Over The Rainbow

So today you find us in Gothenburg, Sweden's second largest city and the most northern point on our trip. We are here til Thursday when we will be taking an overnight ferry from Malmo into Germany.

The drive up from Copenhagen was excellent as we first crossed the magniOresund bridge. We were greeted by a somewhat surly border guard but as we made our way into Sweden we were pleased to get another country under our belt. To start the scenery wasn't much different to that in Denmark but as we got further north there were more wooded hills and small lakes and lots of rivers and I felt there were a lot of similarities to driving in parts of Canada. 

My son and I chatted away giving each other little quizzes and having a bit of a lark. We spotted a few cranes in the fields, not a bird we would  see at home.

We spent the afternoon exploring a park in the city called Slottsskogen which is huge, there are lots of walks and different activities, there are fountains and cafes and even a petting zoo. There is also a wildlife park which is home to a variety of native species including seals, moose, elk and reindeer and a breed of pony that has been around these parts since the stone age. There was also the Scania goose (Skånegås) that is so heavy that it has difficulty flying.

While I was watching a dogfight between some beautiful dragonflies I noticed the rainbow in the spray from the fountain and I thought it would make a nice image to share with you.

The second of today's pictures is of a secluded lagoon just visible from one spot along one of the woodland paths and it was a good spot to pause along the way.

Tomorrow We will be heading out to visit one of the islands in the archipelago, there are quite a few, each with something special to offer so deciding where to go may be difficult but with the promise of more good weather I don't think we can go far wrong.