Fog

As long as "Storsjön" (or the "Great Lake") hasn't frozen, the cold brings about a thick fog from time to time which dresses everything in a frosty lace. It's often so thick you can look directly at the sun without hurting your eyes.
It reminds me of a sandstorm, but without the wind and ice crystals replacing the sand. The fact that it was -20 C today takes away the last of the likeness to a sandstorm I guess.
The image below: A sunny day in Lit if the fog over the unfrozen river hadn't erased the sun almost completely.
Those petrol prices look good, but unfortunately I think the sign was broken. Perhaps it suffered from frostbite?



The central heating plant in Östersund works hard trying to ward off the cold for the households connected to it. I feel there is a global warming issue somewhere in this image.

Moonlight

Since it's impossible to take a photograph of the moon and still keep the landscape correctly exposed, the way to do it is to take two photographs and use an overlay technique. Basically that means you blend the two photographs into one, something which my camera can do automatically.
I used a 3 min exposure for the house and trees and a 1/320 sek exposure for the moon itself. I also used an 80mm lens for the house and changed to a 200mm for the moon. That way I could enlarge the moon and create a more dramatic effect.

Summer Dreams

-16 C and it's dark by 3:00 PM. It feels as if we're living in a freezer at the moment. Winter may be beautiful but I just had to add some summer photos today.

Winter Wonderland

On days like this I have to admit that winter isn't all bad. Lorienne and I felt as if we were living in a Christmas card today and I only hope it stays more or less like this while our visitors from USA are here.
Sparkling white snow wherever one looks. Buildings and trees look like pencil sketches on paper which would be completely white if it wasn't for the hint of pink making up the colour of the sky.



Oh, and Henrik went skating again. He will soon be better at it than his Mom and Dad.

Hounds and Starry Skies

It has been cloudy for weeks now so my plans of taking pictures of the night sky have been delayed somewhat. In fact tonight was the first time I got the chance to try it again and straight away I discovered another problem. I don't mean the two dogs from the house closest to the old church who ran out barking and trying to bite me, and I don't mean the owner of the house who kept trying to spot me with his (or her?) spotlight either. No, the problem now is the snow. I mentioned before how I had realised there was a lot of light pollution around and that I would have to find a darker place. Well I did, or I would have if it hadn't been for the snow now acting as a giant reflector. I miss the nights in the Kalahari. They were dark. Really dark.

The old Church of Kyrkås has been around since the 12th century and is still used today. It seemed like a good setting for something as timeless as the stars.

Town Hall Östersund

Ice and Snow

Our retired neighbours Gillis and Vivi-Ann have taken it upon themselves to prepare the schools ice rink every year. Fortunately for us our house is no more than approximately 50 metres away from it, so thanks to them we have "our own" ice to skate on. This is great since neither Lorienne nor I are good skaters and now we can practice our skating skills (or lack of) without throwing our names away. Swedes usually learn to skate before or during their school years and therefore can't understand how some people can't do it.

Keeping the ice rink in good condition is almost daily work. First a more or less even surface must be prepared and after that it takes many layers of water before it actually becomes skateable ice. Maintenance means clearing it every time it has snowed.
These photos were taken last winter when Gillis and Vivi-Ann went to clear away snow. They had only just started when the skies dumped what seemed like a whole years supply of snow on top of them. They bravely carried on working but had to give up after a while since the snow was actually falling at a greater rate than they could get rid of it!