Alla goda ting kommer till ett slut | Avslutning på Fotoskolan

I fredags förra veckan, efter 2,5 år på Fotoskolan Sthlms Bildbehandlarutbildning stod vid där för sista gången tillsammans, utanför porten till våra snart gamla lokaler, med passerbrickan i handen.

Jag hade precis blippat ut mig, ceremoniellt i mina egna tankar, och tog steget över tröskeln - ett språng ut i det okända - såsom jag en gång hade gjort en fin vårdag åt motsatta hållet för ca. 4 år sedan.

I en klunga på andra sidan dörren väntade den sista gruppen av klassen på mig. Som försatta i ett kollektivt trans stod vi där och tittade på varandra, lika oförmögna att ta de där sista stegen vidare till receptionen. En slutgiltig påminnelse från Cronwall om att "glöm inte lämna tillbaka brickan i receptionen innan ni går" låg kvar i luften som ett högtryck innan ett svalkande regnskur.

Det kändes som att alla våra kollektiva minnen från Fotoskolan sköljde över oss samtidigt, som en orkan över en ensam surfare mitt på öppna havet. Tårarna forsade, kramar utbyttes och sakta men säkert började transen att tappa sitt grepp...vi steg ut i den mörka december kvällen tillsammans och åkte hem till våra nära och kära.

Alla goda ting kommer till ett slut!

I close my eyes to old ends. And open my heart to new beginnings.
— Nick Frederickson

Jag har haft turen att få dela de senaste 2.5 åren med världens bästa klasskamrater på Fotoskolans Bildbehandlarutbildning i YHB17. Jag är så tacksam över att ha fått vara del av denna grupp, en härlig blandning av kreativa, kompetenta, roliga och varma personer. 

Ett stort tack till alla som ledsagat oss på Fotoskolan Sthlm, framförallt Mikael Cronwall, Mats Andrén och Julia Hallengren. Tack till alla lärare vi haft och alla yrkesverksamma personer som gjort inhopp i våra diverse workshops. Tack till alla praktikplatser som tagit emot oss och tagit sig tiden att ta hand om oss. Tack bästa Cissi på CR-Studios för alla tips, härliga samtal och goda fikastunder, en mer ödmjuk och härlig person får man leta efter.

För drygt 4 år sedan, tog jag mina första steg över den där tröskeln in till Fotoskolans lokaler som hade öppet hus för sina utbildningar. Den dagen tändes en gnista som gjorde att jag efter mycket självrannsakan gjorde en helomvändning från mitt trygga tillvaro inom IT-branschen. Den dagen bestämde jag mig att ta första steget mot att följa hjärtat, d.v.s att söka mig till Fotoskolan Sthlm. 

Det mest värdefulla jag bär med mig från denna resa är egentligen detsamma som Mikael Cronwall många gånger förmedlat oss sedan första dagen i form av ett A4 papper i klassrummet med texten “Tänk på känslan!”. 

Tänk på (mag)känslan, följ hjärtat och våga ta ett steg ut i det okända!

Bilderna nedan är från vår utställning “It’s in the details” på CFF med efterföljande AW. Tack för mig!
/Ramin


Liit B'day Bash! | Blueberry Night V_2.0

Rafael & Stefan | 20180821

About three weeks ago I had the honor of documenting Rafael and Stefan's big day. The ceremony was held at Solna Kyrka and the reception at Kräftan Värdshus. It was such a beautiful wedding with great atmosphere including lots of laughs, love and the occasional tears of joy. Thank you so much for having me guys, I had soo much fun!!


Family Summer Vacation | Biarritz & San Sebastián

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This photo story is looong overdue. Considering the circumstances with our baby boy Leo arriving 3 months early I've sure had other things on my plate. During the holidays however, I've finally had some time to cuddle with Leo everyday and go through the images from our summer vacation.

We'd talked about going away together for so long time so we were all so excited for this vacay. Also, this was the first time that we'd go on a family trip, so what better place to have as a destination if not for Biarritz! If you've read my posts in the past you'd know that wifey and I are well travelled and have put in many miles together. Biarritz and San Sebastián (and Barcelona of course) are the destination that we keep coming back to. These places are kind of like our away-from-home homes :)

Since we wanted to live together, we rented a house through our friend Sophia at Biarritz Living. They provide stylish, comfortable holiday homes with character in Biarritz’s best neighbourhoods, so make sure to check them out if you're ever going there. Then for a week we just hung out and enjoyed what the Basque country has to offer; awesome vistas, beautiful beaches, world class surfing, great food & service, super friendly locals and breath taking sunsets. 

Since we were in the Basque Country we also made sure to clear a couple of night for a visit to San Sebastián. As always we love this combo, so great that these two wonderful cities are just 1 hour apart. Also lovely meeting up with my amigo Ikeya and his friend Jon. Thanx guys so much for showing us the gems of your remarkable city. We had the night of a lifetime; muchas gracias chicos, fue una pasada. Jamás lo vamos a olvidar!!


Biarritz


Donostia | San SebastiÁn

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Family Photo Session | The Eklunds at Gamla Stan

I did an introductory post about our friends the Eklunds a couple of months ago. Well, it's about time for them to guest star the blog again. This time including photos from a family photo session in Stockholm Old Town a couple weeks ago. I had so much fun doing this session and It's so easy for me as a photographer getting good shots when my subjects are this photogenic!

Have a look, aren't they super cute??


Throwback Tuesday | Hanging out with the Cappellaros

The summer is usually the high peak of photo opportunities for most people. For me this is also true, I guess the two biggest factors being that wifey and I are on vacation and travel a lot it's hard not to want to get out there with the camera. This year however was a bit different. We did some travelling but mostly spent the summer at home in Stockholm. Given the weather gods were on our sides we did have a hell of a nice summer. This included time spent with friends, family and also a couple of photo gigs for me! 

After four weeks of inactivity on this here blog, it's time to get back at it again 'cause I've got loads of images to share. First off a throwback to late springtime in May when we had the pleasure of spending time with the Cappellaros and I got the opportunity to shoot Edith on her soccer game. 

Hasta la vista, baby! ;)


Sebastian & Stella The Chronicles | Cuteness Overload!!

It's been a little over a year since the last post, but it's time again for me to share a collection of photos including my bestest buddies in the whole wide world!

These are my favourite moments captured of Sebastian aka. "Bullen" & Stella aka. "Patata" Englund from the last year.  <8


Mosquito Beach Party 2017

Last year was the first time we attended the Mosquito Beach Party event at Smedis. We had so much fun that this years National Day Celebration was auto-booked in beforehand. 
Even more people had joined compared to last year and fittingly enough this was the only day of the week that the sun blessed us with it's heavenly presence.

We sure did have a blast and I managed to snap away a bunch of images. 

Et Violà!!



The Picture Perfect Family | Introducing The Eklunds

I've been wanting to share a photo story about our friends the Eklunds for a while now. After our last rendezvous I felt that I got away with enough material to make their introduction on the blog justice. 

It's always such a pleasure hanging out with this picture perfect family. Whenever we're invited to Jennifer and Richards beautiful home it feels like entering a interior design magazine. On top of this they are wonderful hosts and always prepare super delicious food for us all to enjoy. On this particular Sunday, the sun was shining vigorously (no pun intended) and we as everyone else in the northern hemisphere bathed in hopes of restitution of the ever absent Springtime. The light illuminated everything just at that right angle...I'll let the images speak for themselves...

Thank you guys for having us over (again) and kiss the girls for us!!


The Basque Country Revisited | Biarritz

Magnificent Biarritz shot during a stormy sunset from my favourite spot up at the Lighthouse.

Finally!!...The last part of our 2016 summer vacation is ready to be published. I still have a couple "Hero Shots" to edit, but I don't wanna rush that process so I'll be updating this post later on when I've had the time and inclination to do so.

I feel that I've already praised Biarritz in so many previous posts that I'm out of adjectives to use and/or don't want to repeat myself. If you still haven't then here's the five part photo story I did as part our 2015 summer vacation. I'll just end this one by quoting myself and also...I can't wait to get back there in July this year!!

Here in La Côte des Basques, Biarritz is the last bastion of the South West bordering Spain and jostling with the Michelin stars of the culinary San Sebastián.  
Its mild climate and the beauty of its awe-inspiring scenery, its curved inlets punctuated by rocky outcrops, all those cozy boulangerie, patisserie & crêperie’s, and the great events that it hosts, make Biarritz a destination of enchantment to which we will return to over and over again!!

Later!!



Mixing Business With Pleasure | Dinner With Colleagues

It's not everyday that you get invited to the CIO's residence for dinner. But then again, it's not every company that fosters such friendly and "open to the floor" mentality plus great social atmosphere as it is done at ÅF. 

The theme of the dinner party was "Your Hobby" and everyone had dressed accordingly to their own interest. So of course I had to bring along my camera and also managed to snap some shots during the evening.

Lena, thank you so much for having us over at your lovely home. It was super!! 


Mixing Business With Pleasure | The Gothenburg Sequence

A couple weeks ago I needed to do some work from the company offices in Gothenburg. Whilst there I also managed to squeeze in some quality time on the streets with my X-Pro2.

You know it makes sense that they call this city "Little London" because the default forecast is super-windy and freaking grey and rainy weather. However, I did make a point to out-brave the dull canvas that I had at my disposal, set my film simulation to ACROS and went to town. 

Below is a 2 part sequence of what I got away with.

Hasta la próxima!


1 - IN TRANSIT


2 - THE STREETS 

About feeling inspired and seeking for the extraordinary in the mundane

I thought that this was going to be easy. To put down what had inspired me, sparked my enthusiasm so immensely recently for creating and wanting...no, longing to continue putting a part of me out there in the discrete digital universe through the art of visual story telling.

I now realize that I have to give you some context, take a couple step back, so... Ever since I got hooked on the art of photography I've aspired to create images with that WOW factor. On the path towards that goal, my mission has been to learn as much as possible about all aspects of the game; gear, technique, preparation, visualization, composition, post processing etc.

I absorbed every little piece of information I could find, I read tutorials, reviews, blogs and early on found myself being pulled toward the slower genres of photography, i.e. landscape, seascape and cityscape. If I would name one photographer that inspired me most then it's without a doubt Elia Locardi. He's work and journey is a HUGE inspiration to me.

The thing is that for these type of images I wanted to create, I was confined to the times of day around either sunrise or sunset. But I embraced the laws of physics. I would barley shoot at other times of the day. What kind of self respecting photographer would want to make an image in the middle of the day? This was my default approach unless away on a vacation. Until not long ago when I started feeling that same pull as before but now towards Street Photography. The source of inspiration this time was Vancouver based Ian MacDonald. Around the same time I made the switch from my Canon fullframe DSLR system to the smaller and much more sexy mirror-less Fujifilm system. The result; a lighter and less conspicuous system including great IQ, manual control and awesome retro look. Now I had my camera with me at all times and was able to be out there shooting at any time of the day, it was soo liberating!  

I don't remember how, but recently I happened to stumble upon a blog that has made me open my eyes to yet other forms of story telling. Patrick La Roque, who's imagery and the way he expresses himself  makes me keep coming back to read yet another of his masterpieces. To be able to turn any mundane and ordinary moment into a visual fiesta and a compelling story, that is the direction I feel I want to be taking my story telling. 

With that prequel, here's the first photo series in my approach to share my mundane and ordinary moments with you guys. 

Peace!!


07:17 Saturday Morning.
View from the Kitchen Window.


Breakfeast. Mother-in-law. Deep Conversation.

09:45. Kitchen Window again.
Time for me to hit the shower. I'm off to Gothenburg at noon.

País Vasco Revisado | San Sebastián

I'm gonna start trying out a couple new things in the approach to my story telling. One of them things is a new workflow which hopefully will enable me to spend less time editing and more time sharing my visual stories...and to post more frequently.

When I hopefully get my head around this new photographic voyage I've embarked on I'll make sure to let you guys know. I think it deserves it's own space and time in the dimension of my consciousness which is scribbled down on this digital diary. Until that day let's continue our summer vacation photo-story. Next stop San Sebastián or as it's called by the locals; Donostia. 

If you haven't been yet, then what the heck are you waiting for? It's awesome. The food's amazing. The people are super friendly. As the Spanish would say: "Es maravilloso. Es super guay. Es una pasada tío!!".

Over and out! 

P.S if you missed my previous photo-story about this marvelous place make sure to check it out right here


La Rumba de Barcelona

Now that we’ve got yet another Christmas and New Year in the back mirror and out our systems I’d like to continue where I left off. Where were we though? Oh yeah right, we’d just left Lofoten and were headed to Barcelona the day after.
 
You know, maybe I’m biased in this matter, but Barcelona is a great freakin’ city. I’d even venture saying that it’s one of Europe’s best ones, like in any comparison..EVER. It depends on your preferences of course but we’re not here to talk about you now are we??

I said I’m biased before because Spain is kinda my third home – with Iran and Sweden being number uno and dos in hat little reference there. Anyhoot, I lived in Spain for about 3 years, of which I spent over a year in Barcelona. But it’s not for nothin’ that this city top’s at least one list of “The best European destinations” or some such ever year, every year people, on a lot of lists of a lot of magazines and tourist guides.

I mean what there not to like!? You’ve got the mild Mediterranean climate, great shopping, amazing club scene, outstanding restaurants and taperías, awesome ice cream, hell of an arts and culture scene, a world leading football team, kilometer-long beaches close to the city center, aaand the list goes on…

As my man Donnie Brasco would say “Fucking forget about it!!”.

"Forget about it" is like, if you agree with someone, you know, like "Raquel Welch is one great piece of ass, forget about it." But then, if you disagree, like "A Lincoln is better than a Cadillac? Forget about it!" you know? But then, it's also like if something's the greatest thing in the world, like minga those peppers, "forget about it." But it's also like saying "Go to hell!" too. Like, you know, like "Hey Paulie, you got a one inch pecker!" and Paulie says "Forget about it!" And then, sometimes it just means forget about it."  
– Donnie Brasco

Speaking of all good things, if I had only one day in this marvelous city, I’d do as my wife and I do every time we’re in town and make sure to visit our favourite neighborhood Born and go have dinner at our favourite restaurant Casa Lolea.

This place isn’t like any other restaurant we’ve been to, and trust me we’ve been to a lot of “restaurantes”. The staff is AMAZING, the food AMAZEBALLS and their own produced sangría is out of this world. If you’re ever in town, you HAVE to go there and try it. You’ll come out happier that you’ve been in a long time, I guaranty that and many laughs!

"Spain has always been a country with a passion for joyful conversations and encounters. Combine this story with our simple locale and a lot of ambiance where many small plates of amazing food and sangría serve to invite your senses to a nightlong fiesta. Welcome to Casa Lolea!"
– casalolea.com

¡Hasta la proxima!


Merry Christmas!!

I'm a tad late on this here blogpost...just a taad. Yeah, I know. It's crazy how time flies when you're out there knocking down shots of Jose Cuervo. But hey, better late then never, right?! 

Anyhow, just wanted to take this here opportunity and wish you all, my digital friend-o's, a merry Christmas and a happy new year!! 

Here are some of my favourite moments of last years' shenanigans. Ho Ho Ho!!


The Untamed Islands | Lofoten, Norway

We returned from our lovely Italy voyage on a Thursday and the plan was to head back out on the road again two days later. There in between we made time for a couple washing machine batches, changes of outfits from summer to winter clothes and most importantly spent time with the Englund family whom we always miss dearly whilst away from home.

On the Saturday we flew from Stockholm to Kiruna, got the rental car, made a run for a whole lot of groceries and drove towards Lofoten. 8 hours later we had arrived at our final destination Reine.

We spent a week in Lofoten with our base in Reine visiting the surrounding locations such as Sakrisøya, Hamnøy, Henningsvær, Uttakleiv Beach and Rambergstranda. We loved every minute of being at this rare wilderness outpost!!

The Lofoten Islands are draped across the turbulent waters of the Norwegian Sea, far above the Arctic Circle and offer an unlimited landscape of majestic mountains, deep fjords, squawking seabird colonies and long, surf-swept beaches.

If you are seeking unforgettable nature experiences, Lofoten will definitely not let you down. Due to the area’s diverse landscape, you can go hiking, skiing, fishing, ocean rafting or scuba diving. Lofoten is also one of Norway’s best sites for surfing, and one of the world’s northernmost.

Fishing has been, and still is, to a degree, the reason why people have lived here and the region is known for its many small fishing villages. Here, you can as we did stay in a Rorbu – an old fishermen’s cabin.

The rapidly changing weather and magnificent light conditions have inspired artists and drawn them to this area for several decades, which is an absolute dream for any landscape photographer as myself.

This trip is by far the most adventurous vacation we’ve done so far and experiences we gathered are unparalleled for us. If I may quote my good friend Arnie, I’ll (most definitely will, many, many at times) be back!! 


Italy Part III - Elba

After the hustle and bustle of Cinque Terre and Florence we were looking forward to get some down time at our next destination Elba. 

We found ourselves following a nice little daily routine during our five days there. With the exception of me sneaking away with my gear before sunrise the rest of the day was spent together, as husband and wife and around sunset as photographer and assistant in charge wifey.

Yes I'm getting off topic, our daily routine; it started with breakfast at the hotel, followed by a veeery short promenade to the end of the quaint waterfront, our feet then steered us a few meters more all the way to the small white pebbly beach called "Bagni Capo Nord". There we'd rent two sun-loungers and hang out most of the day viewing over beautiful turquoise crystal clear water at the foot of the green slopes of Mount Capanne.  

Insert delicious Tuscan cuisine for lunch and dinner somewhere there in between including the mandatory cooling Prosecco on the former occasion and local white on the latter. Furthermore add to this regimen many, many, many scoops of heavenly creamy gelato (for him aka. boo) and nutella pancakes (for her a.k.a. bae). Well there you have it, that was our day! 

Elba is an Island best described as a green and blue oasis in the Tuscan Archipelago. It's an island of endless horizons and golden beaches overlooking crystal clear water. The sought after breeze tells stories of people through history blessed by the sun while passing by caressingly. 

This little heaven on earth rewards you in a variety of aspects, typically sensed all at ones; its beaches and its cliffs, its wind, its land, its perfume, its flavors, its hard working people, its hillside villages and its terraces facing the sea are all but the start of a journey where you discover an island that will never disappoint you. 

Sea, land, wind, and ancient traditions. Go there and experience it yourself!!


Italy Part II - Florence

I was originally set on sharing photos from Florence & Elba combined in the same post.
But as I was working on it last night I realized that it would be a huge article with loads of photos.
That's why I changed my mind and decided to do it as two separate stories. So, this post is the second part of our summer vacation series which consists of:

  • Italy Part I - Cinque Terre & Portofino
  • Italy Part II - Florence
  • Italy Part III - Elba
  • Lofoten, Norway
  • Barcelona
  • San Sebastian
  • Biarritz 

Whenever we're out travelling our preferred means of transportation is definitely by train.
It's such an enjoyable way of getting around. We usually just relax and enjoy the view, catch up on some reading and/or get some shut eye.

We had one day that we'd planned to visit Florence and we were of course not going there by any other means of transportation. A train ride from La Spezia Centrale to Pisa and another from Pisa to Firenze Santa Maria Novella took us about 2:20h with the regional train company Trenitalia.

We'd finally arrived to Florence!! This is the capital of the Tuscany region, the birthplace of the Renaissance and the city of lilies. You can imagine what high expectations we hade for this place.

At the end of the day, after an entire day on foot exploring, sightseeing, eating pasta and having to many scoops of gelato - I think we'd walked for about 7-8 hours - both my wife and I felt the same way. We were delighted but at the same time sad. Sad because we had to catch the last train back towards Pisa but delighted that Florence had categorically lived up to our expectations!!

Next time we're gonna be staying for a whole lot longer, Firenze ci vediamo presto!


Italy Part I - Cinque Terre & Portofino

We've had a real busy summer packed with a 5 week itinerary including trips to Italy, Norway and  a do-over of last years' Barcelona-San Sebastian-Biarritz combo. We truly feel grateful & humble being able to travel & explore so many wonderful locations during 5 weeks straight.

So what's been going on since summer you make ask and where the heck are the photos?
Well, I've sure been buys. Except for a new day job and new photo projects I've been keeping myself occupied sorting through & post processing all the images in my catalog. 

This post is the first part of our summer vacation series which I probably will be sharing in the following order:

  • Italy Part I - Cinque Terre & Portofino
  • Italy Part || - Florence
  • Italy Part III - Elba
  • Lofoten, Norway
  • Barcelona
  • San Sebastian
  • Biarritz 

Ever since I got serious about photography, Cinque Terre has been on my photo bucket list. 
Ever since I got serious about eating delicious food, Italy has been on my radar. 
Ever since I tasted my first ice cream as a kid, the search for scoops of that heavenly creamy gelato has been my mission...I don't think any further explanation is needed to justify the reason for choosing Italy as one of the destinations of our summer vacation.

How was it? We loved it, it was great! We're definitely set on visiting Italy more in the future.
 
We had time to explore the following locations in Cinque Terre; Monterosso, Vernazza, Corniglia & Manarola. Also we made a day trip out to the luxurious Portofino and another day trip to Florence before spending 5 days in Elba. But more about Florence and Elba in the next post. 

Here are my favourite memories from our time in Cinque Terre and Portofino.