Friday My Town Shoot Out - Anniversary Celebration

 

Friday My Town Shoot Out is celebrating its 4th anniversary – their first post was Feb 27, 2009.

“In this week's post share something about FMTSO. Tell us when you started linking up with us, share memories, repost your favorite theme from one of our topics, or talk about the friends you have made.”

I’m not quite sure when I first joined in. I think I was just following for a while before I decided to take part. But at least I have been with you a little more than half the way…

Here are some of my contributions to various themes, randomly picked from my archive on this blog:

 

Some Place Yummy (12 October 2012)

 

RED (16 December 2010)

 

WEIRD STUFF (13 January 2011)

 

April Fool’s Day (1 April 2011)

 

“Match a Quote” (19 August 2011)

 

Lawn Tools (24 November 2011)

 

Arms and Legs (12 January 2012)

 

Steeples, Spires and Weatherwanes (23 March 2012)

 

Shallow Depth of Field (7 September 2012)

 

Self Portraits (16 November 2012)

Happy Blog-Anniversary
to All Shoot Out Friends !

PS. Did you take part in FMTSO in the past, at any time?
Even if it’s been a while, please feel welcome to take part in the celebration!

(from a celebration in my town, May 2011)

Ruby Tuesday: Tulip

A red tulip bud for Ruby Tuesday

Friday My Town: Bicycles

It’s not exactly bicycle-friendly weather here just now.
The two winter photos are from this month, the rest from my archives.

This one I snapped with my mobile one morning this week, outside the hospital. In the summer this bicycle parking spot is usually overfull… In winter, not so many!!!

I used to have an old bicycle similar to this one. Back in my twenties I cycled a lot, living in a town that was mostly flat. (Never used to cycle in the winter in snow and ice though.)

Then I moved to a town not so flat… For many years I lived on top of one hill, having my place of work on top of another hill. As I always had to walk and push the bike half the way anyway, sometimes it just did not feel worth while.

After an injury causing long-lasting neck problems I gave up the bike altogether. No, I did not throw it in the river ;) I gave it away to some junk recycling collection in connection with moving, not having used it at all for eight years. Maybe it got a new life, maybe not… I don’t know!

Better keep an eye on your bike in town…
Leaving it over night by the riverside is not a good idea.

An unusual bike for two.

Friday My Town Shoot Out – Bicycles

 

Ruby Tuesday: That Balloon Again…

… Now with icicles …

Ruby Tuesday 2

Foggy Monday

Straight-out-of-the-camera foggy Monday morning;
and yes, it’s the same view as in yesterday’s post.

To save you the tedious task of scrolling back to compare:

Shadow Shot Sunday

The glimpses of sun have been rare lately…
Only occasionally do the clouds part for long enough
to remind us of the difference between light and shadow.

For Shadow Shot Sunday 2

Oldest Building – Hedared Stave Church

Friday My Town Shoot Out

On our way to Nääs Castle last summer (see FMTSO posts Frozen in Time and Windows and Doors) , we also passed a candidate for the FMTSO theme “oldest building”. It is in fact the oldest surviving building of its kind in Sweden: Hedared Stave Church from 1506.

Landscape photo from the neighbourhood of Hedared.

Windows and Doors – Nääs Castle II

Friday My Town Shoot Out

Another FTMSO topic that gives me a reason to show some more photos from a visit to Nääs Castle last summer.

In case you missed the previous post about Nääs, or wish to refresh your memory, you can find it here: Frozen in Time 

Nääs Castle

 

One of the wings in front of the castle

 

 

Close-up of entrance to the wing, and an open window

 

The barn (now stables)

 

A kitchen window in the basement of the castle

 

House built for the director of Nääs Craft School in 1878.

 

▲ Lots and lots of windows in this building… ▼

I’ve been to crafts exhibitions here in the past. There was nothing going on in that room just now – BUT…

… there was an outdoors exhibition to do with building techniques and doors and windows…

Ruby Tuesday: Blowing in the Wind

Looking out of my window, there was this red balloon hanging from a neighbour’s balcony… swaying in the wind. The answer to the question: What to post for Ruby Tuesday?

Me and My Cameras

Friday My Town Shoot Out

My present camera companion: Casio Exilim EX-H30 (bought in May, 2011), here with a flexible “GorillaPod” attached.

For the portrait above I had to use my other digital one, a Nikon Coolpix 4600, bought in spring 2006:

The Coolpix has two advantages which may still sometimes make it useful:
1. It runs on common AA batteries.
2. It has an optical viewfinder.

However, the Exilim has a very good battery and can take LOTS of pictures before need of recharging. It has no optical viewfinder but it has a much better zoom. So I very rarely use the Coolpix now (except for tricky challenges like how to show you the back of the other one!).

I got my first camera when I was nine (back in 1964). It was an old one I ‘inherited’ from my dad, who also processed our black-and-white films himself back then.

My little brother with two playmates in 1965. Photo taken by me (at 10 years old) with my first camera; reproduced here with help of my present camera and a bit of digital editing, because the original is glued into an album with spiral spine which won’t lie flat on the scanner!

I don’t remember the name of that first camera or what happened to it. I never got very good at handling the manual settings. Through my teens and into my twenties, I had two or perhaps even three instamatics. At least one of them was a Kodak pocket one using the 110 format.

In 1983 before a journey to Germany I bought an Olympus XA2 with 3-zone autofocus, which allowed me to also take diapositives. That camera came to serve me well enough for 23 whole years until I bought my first digital one.

▲ Image of an XA2 from the Internet

A winter picture taken with the XA2 in 1984. Back then I was living in Karlstad north of Lake Vänern, and they were still floating timber down the river Klarälven.

 

Nowadays I live close to another river, Viskan.
Photo from December 2012.

Today (1 February 2013)