Half a year has gone by since I snapped the first image in this project and now we’re in the home stretch! Just over 180 images have been uploaded to my Instagram account and here on my site from January 1 to June 30th and I am pretty content with the stuff I’ve shared so far.

This year, just like last year is totally affected by Covid-19 and honestly I was hoping we’d be a lot further with the return to normal life (at the start of the year there was talk about everyone here in Sweden being fully vaccinated by June 30th…and we’re still a loooong way from that), but it is a very good thing that more and more people are getting both their shots, bringing the number of infected, hospitalized and dead way down by the day. We’re getting there!

The cover image of this post is from the early days of the month when I was out at Trollskogen Nature reserve outside Lund, Sweden for a bit of a stroll with my camera(s). This family had just discovered that right at the water’s edge a whole heap of tadpoles were swarming, to the point of coloring the water inky black. I liked shooting this candid moment…it’s been a while since I’ve done that sort of photography!

This image was taken at the Scania swimming area in Malmö, Sweden during the season closer event for my photo club. We gathered (socially distant of course) at a barbeque area to have some hot dogs and beer and do a bit of photo walking among the people enjoying the warm weather and setting sun. I must admit I was hesitant about going (covid paranoia etc), but I am glad I did, because it was very enjoyable seeing fellow photographers in person and to shoot some street photography again.

The title of this image might be a bit too much “on the nose”, but I couldn’t help myself. I included it in this post, because it’s an example of an image I wouldn’t have taken if I hadn’t brought along my camera for my stroll in the neighborhood, a place I’ve lived in for many years now and where it’s difficult to find something “new” to photograph. It still pays off to carry your camera, because if you find something interesting you can capture it.

*Day 170 - June 19: ...and I'm out of here!*

This image is one of those “oh man I got lucky there” shots that we photographers should appreciate and treasure. It is taken at the Möllevången square in Malmö where there was a bustling produce market with a lot of stalls selling vegetables and fruits, with many opportunistic sea gulls catching whatever food fell to the floor. This one was sitting on top of one of the canopies, scoping out the food situation and I managed to capture it just as it took off. Thanks to the Samsung S20’s excellent camera I managed to get this shot without it being too blurry.

This image was taken during the same outing as the one above (although posted a few days later) at Möllevången Square during my first street photography photowalk in a long time. I wrote about that outing in the previous entry on this blog, how rusty I felt at shooting in the streets but how enjoyable and invigorating it felt afterward. At first I thought of posting this image in color because the kid had a very colorful FC Barcelona team jersey on, but I decided that all the various colors in the scene distracted from the situation, of him having a quiet moment to himself there in the shade…so down the monochrome route I went.

Another monochrome image, shot at Lake Krankesjön outside Lund, Sweden. This is a walkway through a large reed bed that leads to a hide where you can observe a lot of the birds that make the lake their nesting habitats. I only had a 35 mm lens on my Fujifilm XT-3 so my bird watching capabilities were pretty limited to say the least, but it was a lovely day at the lake all the same! I converted the image to black and white to emphasize the wooden walkway and the way it curves back and forth through the reed bed.