Tyresta After Rain
Sometimes my planning fails, most of the time it works out all right, and sometimes it is a bit too successful. This was one of the "too successful" moments. I have a thing for water in my photographs. I don't know what causes it - much of it is the reflections one can get, but also flowing water tends to catch my eye. Perhaps it is because it is so rare to find water where I usually go. I can find water in lakes and, living in Stockholm, the Baltic Sea is always available - but things like waterfalls, streams and such are rare.
During spring Tyresta has the spring floods, which means that lots of water can be found. During summer there's no real source of water and the park dries up. Water can still be found in the lakes, but the streams are reduced to a trickle. I was actually looking forward to a wetter season. Which I got - August was quite rainy. Consulting the weather forecast, I sought out a rainy day followed by a day with sun in the afternoon and evening. That, to me, seemed the ideal time to go on a hike to find water in Tyresta. I was going to aim for the north-east corner of Stensjön.
This is where we get to the "too successful" part: Tyresta had water all right - actually, the park had so much water it didn't know what to do with it. Areas that were dried bogs were overflowing with water. No big deal initially, but I soon realized that the log bridges were very close to the water surface - and they flexed. It wasn't until I had reached the inflow of Stensjön that the water stopped me and I had to turn back.
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The following sequence of photos were taken at Bylsjön on my way back. I was waiting for darkness and shooting some b-roll video clips[1] when I noticed that the bluish tint that the forest on the other side of the lake had gotten sure looked good. I pocketed the video camera, set the still camera up and fired off a few shots. The clear reflections made me realize that it was time to skip the b-roll and start shooting a-roll - which I promptly did. Normally I try to avoid showing "the same thing several times" on this blog. For example, just one photo, showing the reflection and the blue tint should, in my mind, be enough. But these turned out so good that I think they're best shown together.
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The Hike
Once more I tried to reach Stensjön, only to turn back before reaching my goal. This time it was the water that did it. If you switch to satellite view and look at the easternmost end of the hike, you'll see just what happened. The easternmost end of my hike is just where the water flows into Stensjön. The rains had completely overwhelmed the drainage capacity of Stensjön and thsi area, which is filled with water even during dry times, had completely flooded.
With water levels high enough to turn bogs into swamps, the tiny log bridges that allowed dry passage over the bogs ended up inadequate and in my case, floating on the water. One end of the bridge was below water, so I figured I'd jump over it and on to the dry part of the bridge. Of course, not being able to remain afloat with my roughly 200 lbs on it, the whole bridge sinks into the water to about a foot. I briefly considered pressing on - my feet were already soaked, so it's not like turning back would make any difference. What made me turn back was the realization that if I slipped and fell - well, that would make a difference and could cost me all my photo equipment. I don't know how bog water compares to salt water, but I'm fairly sure they both don't compare very well to clean air.
Thanks to the ventialted design of my shoes and the fine weather my feet dried quickly and the rest of the hike went fine. I am still a little bit annoyed at not getting all the way to Stensjön, but I guess the lake will be there for some time.
Footnotes
[1] | I am trying to get back into video editing. It is a lot of fun to work with moving images, but does it ever take a lot of time! Shooting, editing, rendering... It just doesn't end! |