But now it turns out that a photographer was arrested in England – Europe! And this guy wasn’t even taking pictures of something vital to the society (unless you think a fast food shop is the worlds most important thing). Anyways, here’s the link the to article published by The British Journal of Photography. Reading his own blog post about the event reminds me of a film I saw about the issues developing in regards to personal integrity vs. threats of terrorism. Sadly I can’t remember the films name right now, I’ll update the post if I remember it again.

—

Update: With the help of my girlfriend I got hold of the films name: Taking Liberties (since 1997).

I got in the car and left town at about 10 pm and drove straight for a set of coordinates I had picked from a satellite photo of the area. I arrived at the position at about half past three on the morning only to realize that in the middle of the summer the sun doesn’t really rise. Mostly because it doesn’t set properly in the first place! Disregarding this slight setback I still got a few pictures which I’m quite happy with. Following this stop I drove around on small gravel roads round the lake and after a while I ended up on the top of a mountain looking down a ski slope and a series of ski lodges. At least the mosquitos were happy to see me. From there I went to central Mora and stopped for a couple of hours of sleep (in the car). After being woken up by a freight train which was everything but a well oiled machine it was time for breakfast for both me and the car – i.e. gas station for the both of us.

When looking at the map and the GPS it occured to me that going to Gävle would result in this day ending too soon. So I decided that I’d drive to the opposite side (west side) of this pine-clad country. Five or so hours later I arrived in Bengtsfors where I had lunch and later on I stopped by a good friend to the family who lives a few km outside of Bengtsfors (we used to spend a couple of summers there when I was a kid). By now the little bluetooth GPS transmitter I had used for navigation in combination with my PDA had completely run out of battery, so I decided that I’d head home to Stockholm. But when driving past signs showing exits to Enköping I couldn’t resist visiting this other old home town of mine. I went to have a look at the building where I had lived when I was working for the army in Enköping and I also drove around a bit on the training grounds remembering old times.

And now a year later I would like to do something similar again – just leave town and head to a distant target and do what ever you please on your way to it while taking pictures and listening to good music. Freedom.

The results of last years midsummer roadtrip can be seen by clicking the picture below:

Now let’s see if I have something to show you a year from now…

This is about as fun as it gets…

Turns out that Arlanda on a saturday night is pretty darn boring. I’m guessing that going there on a sunday night would’ve given me more photo opportunities. Some other time maybe. Instead I decided to head out to Nynäshamn and maybe take a few pictures of the sea. I might be able to show you the result of that little trip later tonight.

Update:
Here’s the picture I promised you before: http://blog.diktator.org/index.php/2009/05/25/mist-over-the-road/. As you’ll see it has nothing to do with water or boats (which is what I had imagined when I set out to Nynäshamn). I just saw this scenery and I had to get out and take some pictures of it. So there you go, enjoy! =)

I’ll use this a lot I think. Just tagged 366 pictures with coordinates. =)

Update:
Does anyone know if there’s an equivalent software for Mac OS X? I might need one when I decide to switch over to a MacBook Pro at home.

Update 2:
Looks liks PhotoGPSEditor is what I’m looking for. Can’t really try it without a Mac though. ;)

Time to move on with the newer and better Nikon D700!

Time for 8 hours (or so) of sleep and then it’s more photography tomorrow before heading homewards.

Said and done – the car was backed out on the beach and the cameras and flashes were all rigged. Pictures were taken (hopefully I’ll be able to show some of then on this blog later on) and different composures were thought about. At about a quarter past nine we gave up due to the temperature dropping rapidly and the light vanishing quickly. After we had packed all the gear in the car we got in and drove off the beach.

Or atleast, so we had imagined the end of this particular photoshoot. It turns out that the car was terribly unable to get itself off the beach. All it did was dig itself a deeper hole in the sand. I tried reversing. I tried starting in second gear (which is a known trick for slippery conditions). I tried rocking the car back and forth. No go. We were seriously stuck on a pitch black beach with absolutely no one around to help us. Did I mention that it was cold?

Sometimes in life you need a break. We found a left over piece of an old jetty lying around in the edge of the water which we figured we could use as skidmat for putting under atleast one of the front wheels (for those of you who don’t know – the S40 is a front-wheel-drive car). So now it was our turn to dig in order to get the skidmat placed infront of one of the wheels at a proper level – basically trying to undo all the digging that the car had done. I have to tell you that I have a completely newfound respect for people who compete in a Paris – Dakar rally. What we see of that rally on TV is the action, the speed and the thrill. Not the endless amounts of hours they must spend on digging out their cars from gigantic sand dunes.

In the end we had to dig and roll/push the car onto the skidmat (rinse & repeat) for well over an hour before we finally had solid ground under the wheels. And we were exhausted! Partially from the frantic diggig, but I was also worked up by the fact that I, for a while, seriously doubted that we’d get the car out of there at all without getting towed by a tractor. And that wouldn’t be happening until the next day. I can’t describe the joy of finally getting the car back on a real road!

So, what does this tell us?

• A photoshoot needs a certain amount of bodily pain and mental agony – it makes the pictures look better in the end.
• If you’re gonna take pictures of a car on a beach – make sure that you bloody well can get it off the beach as easy as you got it on the beach!
• If you are gonna to the proverbial “extra mile” for a photoshoot (Stockholm to Gothenburg in this case) – be prepared for having huge troubles with the last extra centimeter. You might need a shovel. =)
• Getting a car off a beach without a helicopter or someone to tow you out from there is gonna make your clutch smell funny. A slight resemblance to burnt condom is the best way to describe it.

Time to go to sleep now and dream unpleasant dreams about sand. With some luck I might be able to publish pictures of the ripped up beach tomorrow or sometime after that.

Update:
Last night I processed some of the pictures taken and published them. Go have a look! Some of the pictures are linked directly from the text above as well.