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This is Valborg Jónsdóttir, 80 years old and lives in Reykjavík. She is my grandmother on my mothers side, some of you may remember a shot of her I took october 2006 with her sticking her tounge out at me, a b/w studio shot. I wasn´t actually going to have Valborg as this week, was going to save her for week 50 and take a picture of my sister Tinna this week, both of us underwater, scuba diving. My sister however broke her arm this friday so Valborg was more than up to switching weeks with Tinna. I wanted to do something different so I wanted to photograph her in her home but didn´t really had anything else planned so I just packed up the camera, wide angle lens and no lights and paid her a visit.
If you notice that wall right over her head, there are a ton of photographs there of the entire family, among others two photos of my kids that I took and a wedding photo of me and Henný, like I said, the entire family. Well I started out shooting her sitting the table that is in front of those photos, her sitting pretty much in the middle of them but it wasn´t quite working. I then decided to run out to the balcony, had her sit in a chair in front of the window where she spontaneously decided to gawk back at me with these "binoculars". What can I say, she´s a loon allright! :)
Only used ambient light for this and a polarizer to tweak the reflection in the window to my liking.
You can licence my photos through Folio.
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People gather around every year to watch a big fire, Walpurgis Nacht or "Valborg" as we call it in Sweden.
Valborgsfkvällsfika i karantäntid. Vi håller socialt avstånd.
Valborgseveningcoffe in quarantinetime. We keep our social distancing
Today is an important day in Sweden - Valborg, or, Walpurgis night.
Enormous bonfires will be built, there will be much alcohol consumed and there will be singing... Spring has arrived.
The fires were traditionally burned to scare predators away so the cattle could be safely released to the summer pastures.
One traditional song can be heard here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=JgrNj_6A9rE
Translation of the lyrics:
Längtan till landet (Longing for the country)
(a.k.a. Vintern rasat ut)
Winter has fallen away among our mountains,
Drift flowers melt down and die.
Heaven smiles in bright spring evenings,
The sun kisses life into the forest and lake.
Soon it is summer here in purple waves
Gold coated, azure diverse.
The meadows lie in the day’s blaze,
And in the grove springs dance.
Yes, I come, greet happy winds,
Out to the country, to the birds.
That I love them, birch and linden,
Lake and mountain, I want to see them again.
See them yet, as in my childhood moments,
Follow the brook dancing to clarified lake.
The thrush’s song in the pine forest groves,
Water birds play around bay and island.
Tr: Ellen Svengalis
Valborg - A Swedish Holiday involving standing around a big fire and singing songs about spring.
After the fire we had the café open and gave out free sandwiches. When the café was over we still had sandwiches left over so we gave them out on the streets and had some really good conversation with those receiving them. Good times.
On the last day of April Walpurgis Night (Valborg) is celebrated throughout Sweden to greet spring. This is done by igniting large bonfires and singing songs celebrating the coming of springtime.
In our part of the world the ice is still thick and this fire is situated on the ice. In another month the ice will be gone.