This blog has been silent for quite some time, and that has a medical and a travel reason. However, now that I am back home again and healthier (yep, like so many I came down with the infamous Corona virus) I am going to get back to posting to this site, including the remaining summaries of my 2021 edition of my 365 projects, both of December and the whole year.
The cover image of this post is obviously NOT taken in Sweden, but rather in Austin, Texas. After not being able to go there for the whole of 2020 and almost all of 2021, since the U.S. blocked people from Europe going there (unless you had special permissions) the Biden administration finally let those of us with full vaccinations and negative tests enter the country. It was so nice to be able to go back there to see lovely people I’ve not been able to see in far, far too long!
I was down at the Hike & Bike Trail along the Colorado river when I took this picture, and I must say that as someone who first went to Austin in 2007 the number of skyscrapers that have shot up downtown since then is pretty astounding, including the Jenga like building on the left hand side of the image. I can’t say that I am in favor of all the glass and steel, but it is obvious that Austin’s housing market is booming!
Day 340 - December 06: We got to work on your balance
This image from the start of the month felt like going back to my “roots” of doing street photography. I went into nearby Lund with no set agenda for what pictures to take (I also was on the hunt for Christmas gifts to bring to Austin) and came across the skating rink that the city had set up for the winter season outside City Hall. On the day I was there there were only two people using it, but I still managed to land this picture. I am usually very careful about taking pictures of kids in public, but I felt like this one was okay as far as getting close (I generally get some sort of permission when being really close when I take pics of kids).
Day 345 - December 11: Snowy Street
When I saw this one on my screen after I had put it through a black and white conversion I thought to myself…if that isn’t a perfect illustration of what a winter day down here in southern Sweden can be like I don’t know what it could be described as! The general gloominess, people bundled up and the sleet falling from the skies (we rarely get much snow down here in the south). This is from my usual “hunting ground” along the pedestrians only streets in central Malmö, but there’s just something about the precipitation streaking across the image and the people out and about, making their way through the mess that attracts me to it.
Day 355 - December 21: Flying with the setting sun
It is a bit of a cliché to take a picture out of a plane window, but when I was given the privilege of seeing Venus for hours upon hours as I made my way west across the Atlantic I had to try to take a picture of the scene…even though my cell phone couldn’t capture the epicness of seeing the sky aglow outside the window. Once I arrived in Chicago and the plane descended towards O’Hare I was granted the second privilege of the flight, seeing downtown with all the skyscrapers all lit up. That time though I decided to just enjoy the moment, rather than try to take a cell phone picture of it…it wouldn’t do the experience justice at all!
Day 361 - December 27: Down by the river
During one of the drives in the area around Austin with my beloved and delightful host we came to San Marcos, a small university town (where she studied) and we had lunch at the Kerbey Lane café there. They had an outside patio right along the San Marcos river and I couldn’t help but capture the lovely scene. It wasn’t until I looked at the photo on a larger screen I noticed that the two people in the right hand corner are a photographer and his model shooting a portrait. When I took the image I just noticed two people that would make a nice contrast to the flowing water and the trees. I guess I got lucky there!
Day 365 - December 31: Last light of 2021
This picture was taken as the sun was going down on the last day of 2021. In the past 365 projects I’ve used fireworks pictures as my last picture of that year (you can see for yourself in the previous years’ galleries available on this website), but this year I felt this one was a good choice. My beloved host and I were out riding in the car, going down random roads in the Texan countryside as the darkness slowly descended upon the area and just before the sun went down on December 31 it gave me this brilliant moment of light, making for a good closer to 2021.