2011 Archive

​December

Merry Christmas 2011![a]
The little Christmas tree from 2010 is still with us, but this year let me show you a (slightly) bigger one.

A Window Somewhere[b]
I found this little picture frame propped up against the wall of one of the faceless buildings surrounding Brunkebergstorg.

Hammarby Sjöstad in HDR[c]
My christmas present for myself this year was to do something fun: Grab the camera, tripod and other gear and head out.

Vasagatan[d]
View from Klarabergsviadukten toward Norrmalmstorg along Vasagatan.

Sveavägen Rush Hour[e]
Rush hour at Sveavägen, the main road leading out north from Stockholm's city center.

Monster Island[f]
A worthy successor to Fragger and a good game in its own right.

Fragger[g]
A wonderful little game that is easy to pick up, fun to play, and incredibly addictive.

Mångkulturellt Centrum[h]
This little "Multicultural Center", way out in Botkyrka, serves up a fantastic buffet of Mediterranean and Middle-Eastern food.

Café Blåbär[i]
A great little café right by Odenplan with nice salads.

Blod Eld Död by Ika Johannesson and Jon Klingberg[j]
A good read for just about everyone, and a must-read for anyone who has been in contact with the Swedish death- and black metal scene.

Layali Dance Academy Student Show[k]
The end of semester dance show, this time at Dieselverkstaden in Sickla.

Fnittrofon[l]
A "giggleophone", a touch-sensitive block of wood that giggles when it is gently stroked.

​November

Kista Apples[m]
An unexpected apple tree.

Kymlingelänken[n]
Crossing Kymlingelänken on my way north through Järvafältet.

Krutbanan[o]
Sweden's most secret railway?

Think Outside the Spaceship[p]
A doodle.

Biking to Kista[q]
Third time's a charm.

Slussen Revisited[r]
As I've been on record since 2009 as saying that Slussen is an embarrassment, I think it is fairly obvious which side I'm on in regards to the preservation of that object. That said, I can understand why there is a movement to preserve it; I can also understand why those most vocal are people with an aesthetic background.

Dennis Ritchie[s]
Few people knew his name, and he never became a superstar outside of his own little circle, but Dennis Ritchie helped shape the digital world.

Greyfriars Kirk[t]
Greyfriars Kirk in Edinburgh.

Edinburgh Castle[u]
Walking up all those stairs to Edinburg Castle.

Edinburgh[v]
A trip to Edinburgh.

Abbot House, Dunfermline[w]
The Abbot House is right next to the Abbey.

Dunfermline Abbey[x]
The Dunfermline Abbey, with a history dating back to the ninth century.

Dunfermline[y]
Back in Dunfermline, after six years.

Nydala[z]
A trip to Mönsterås.

Persecution of Christians[aa]
These photos were taken at a demonstration against modern-day persecution of Christians. While we may think of Christians as those doing the persecution, it is unfortunately alive and well around the world.

​October

Purity vs. Trial and Error[ab]
Forget about purity. Art is about transcending boundaries, not elevating them to divine laws. Go forth and create great images.

Steve Jobs[ac]
Steve Jobs managed to do a lot before his all too early death. But he couldn't transcend the need to personally control it.

Back to Stensjön[ad]
A late summer return to Stensjön.

​September

Autumn Colors in Tyresta[ae]
Autumn is here! Last time there were the odd yellow leaf here and there - now there's red and yellow everywhere.

Flow[af]
Finally assembled the video I shot when visiting Tyresta after a rainy day.

Snigelhjärta by Helen Rundgren and Kenneth Andersson[ag]
A little book with a tome of love.

D-Day. The Battle for Normandy by Antony Beevor[ah]
History is just one thing after another, and this book is just like that.

The Kaiser's Holocaust by David Olusoga and Casper W. Erichsen[ai]
This is one of the most surprising books I've read. Surprising in terms of altering the way I'm looking at one whole continent and its people, at the history of Europe during the 20th century, and at the origins of certain political movements of today. It isn't often that a book manages all that, but this one did - even if it, in an ironic twist, itself falls prey to the problem it points out in its introduction.

​August

Tyresta After Rain[aj]
Visiting Tyresta after a day of rainfall.

Restaurang Gondolen[ak]
The "Gondola" restaurant, part of the now defunct Katarina Elevator structure, seen against the setting sun.

Lightbulb[al]
One of the many lightbulbs hanging down from the ceiling on stalks at Babel Deli.

Leaving London[am]
View from the plane after takeoff from Gatwick heading for Arlanda, Sweden.

Mews[an]
Old stables.

North and South Bank, London[ao]
A walk along the Thames.

Herman ze German[ap]
The Kraut is back, and he's bringing pretzels.

Windows in the Old Town[aq]
Some windows in one of the many alleys in Stockholm's Old Town.

JYC P9 Flash Diffuser[ar]
A cheap and easy way to get better photos.

Stockholm Pride 2011[as]
A flaming hot and gay day!

Flowers for Oslo[at]
Candles and flowers for the victims of the July 22 terrorist attack in Oslo and Utöya.

​July

Kista Science Tower[au]
Back in 1990-something, Kista had a boring indoors shopping mall with a few stores that, besides the grocery stores, always seemed to be on the verge of bankruptcy. Then, around 2000, the mall was rebuilt, the tower went up, and suddenly this immigrant-dense suburb was hot stuff.

Vera's Teddy Bear[av]
Returning a lost teddy bear.

Playing or Obeying[aw]
I'd really like a "can't be arsed"-button in games.

Offensive Maneuvers[ax]
On being an offensive, politically incorrect bastard.

Practice Makes Ferpect[ay]
Repetition can improve the quality of your output, but just repeating the same thing over and over leads nowhere.

Raw vs. Jpeg[az]
Re-evaluating the advantages and disadvantages of RAW and JPEG from an image-quality and workflow perspective.

​June

Chalk Drawing[ba]
Chalking up a day of drawing all over Sergels Torg.

Rose Hip, Granholmstoppen[bb]
No moonrise this time. Too cloudy. But I did get a nice shot of a rose hip flower!

Flowers on Barnhusbron[bc]
Flowers tied to the railing of Barnhusbron.

Alice: Madness Returns (American McGee's Alice 2)[bd]
A great game that is brought down to "barely passable" by some very poor decisions by its creators. A pleasure to look at, but a pain to play.

Graduation[be]
Graduation Day.

National Day 2011[bf]
The National Day, formerly "The Day of the Swedish Flag" - our newest national holiday.

Tyresta In Bloom[bg]
The flowers are in full bloom.

​May

Portal 2[bh]
A blockbuster that just doesn't know when to stop and leaves you saying "thanks, that's quite enough".

Moonrise, Granholmstoppen[bi]
The planned moonrise shot.

DDR Museum[bj]
This is where it belongs.

Der Führerbunker[bk]
This is where Hitler spent his final few days, determined to take as many with him as possible.

Holocaust Memorial[bl]
The Holocaust Memorial by Brandenburger Tor.

More Spring in Tyresta[bm]
Two weeks since last visit, two weeks more spring-y in Tyresta.

​April

Cherry Blossoms in Kungsträdgården[bn]
Another year, another round of cherry blossoms.

Spring in Tyresta[bo]
With the last of the snow evaporating I figured a trip to Tyresta was in order.

Berlin TV Tower[bp]
Just like the old DDR, that this tower was once part of, you will need your entry ticket to leave.

German History Museum[bq]
The German History Museum is one of those places where you can find one-of-a-kind items. In this case, it is relics of the Cold War, mostly related to the partition of Germany into West and East.

Die Humpty-Dumpty-Maschine[br]
"The Total Future" according to Jonatan Meese, its creator.

Harro Schulze-Boysen[bs]
Harro Schulze-Boysen was a German officer and a resistance fighter against Adolph Hitler.

Neptunbrunnen[bt]
A fountain with a statue of Neptune.

Marienkirche, Berlin[bu]
Right next to the Neptunbrunnen is the Marienkirche.

East Side Gallery[bv]
A 1.3 km long section of the Berlin Wall converted into an outdoor gallery.

Jewish Museum, Berlin[bw]
The museum itself contains nothing that you can't find on Wikipedia, but the experience makes it well worth a visit.

Neue Wache[bx]
Memorial to the German war dead of World War I, the victims of World War II, and the victims of war and tyranny; in that order.

​March

Jin & Peeters[by]
Jin & Peeters is a lot better than a small deli way out in what amounts to nowhere has any right to be.

La Petite France[bz]
La Petite France is a place one must visit, definitely for the macarons, certainly for the other pastries, and perhaps for the food, too.

Hermitage[ca]
A nice restaurant with good food served at a reasonable price.

Distortion Correction[cb]
A simple algorithm for distortion correction.

Moss[cc]
Close up of some moss at Bergkvara farm, south-east of Växjö.

Macro Focusing Rail[cd]
Using a focusing rail to accurately position the camera. A review of a two-rail set that is sold under a multitude of names.

Stensjön[ce]
A hike to Stensjön, at the center of Tyresta national park.

​February

Nikon D7000 Focus Issues[cf]
A posting I made regarding the autofocus "issues" that seem to follow the Nikon D7000, and especially beginners trying to use the camera.

A Bit of Ice[cg]
I woke up to see a heavy snowfall, and lots of half-molten snow on the kitchen window. This is what they look like through a close-up lens.

A Nightly Walkabout[ch]
A nightly walk to Liljeholmen and the long way back.

Stockholm City Hall[ci]
The city hall, from the inside this time.

Tomato Soup[cj]
A nice creamy tomato soup.

Googly Titles[ck]
Side effects of Google's ranking algorithm: Pages designed for Googlebots, not humans.

Notes on Flash and ActionScript 3 Development[cl]
First impressions of using Flash and AS3 in anger.

Pasta Bruschetta[cm]
A simple and quick pasta sauce. Like a bruschetta, but with sugarsnap peas and chili.

​January

Pasta Condita[cn]
A great pasta recipe I learned at Vapiano.

Bigshot VR with CSS 3D Rendering[co]
Using CSS3 3D transforms to create a VR panorama.

Making VR Panoramas[cp]
Notes on how to make VR panoramas with Nodal Ninja and Hugin, covering multi-resolution stitching and common pitfalls when processing the panorama.

Burnt Area, Tyresta[cq]
Hiking to the area devastated by the forest fire of 1999.

Camera Technique[cr]
A note regarding just what you can expect after unpacking that new DSLR you just bought.

Ljusterö Morning[cs]
The morning, seen from just outside Jörgen and Milka's house.

Bitterfittan by Maria Sveland[ct]
A one-inch stack of victim cards, Bitterfittan is a list of all the ways its main character has been wronged; With plenty of bitterness, but with no framework, context nor a discussion of what was wrong and what would have been right.

Bigshot VR[cu]
Extending the Bigshot toolkit to support zoomable VR panoramas.

Christmas[cv]
Some late Christmas photos.