Author Archives: poa

Published in Rock & Ice

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A photo I took a while back in Bohuslän was recently published in the Ascent issue of Rock & Ice. This is Erik Heyman on the Crassostrea Gigas 8b at Sjöhäller, a very sustained and hard route only allowing two pieces of gear as protection before reaching the anchor. Erik climbed the route with a crashpad underneath since the first protection about halfway up the 15 meter route.

Erik Heyman on a Bohuslän testpiece, Crassostrea Gigas 8b.

The crag sits right by the fjord Åbyfjorden on the Swedish westcoast, and if you’re lucky you can find Japanese oysters in the shallow waters of the fjord. Crassostrea Gigas is the latin name for Japanese oysters, hence the name of the route.

– I ate several raw oysters each time I came to Sjöhäller to work on the route, says Erik.

Published in climbing book

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Last week I got the news that the swedish book about climbing, Stora boken om klättring, was printed and released to the stores. I got a few copies from the author Nils-Ragnar “Bobo” Gustavsson, and was happy to see a couple of my photos on a few spreads. Maybe I will post a few of my photos here in the near future.

The book is a solid piece of work with plenty of good instructions and illustrations about climbing technique, safety and everything else you need to know as a climber. Very good work indeed, and worth buying if you want to learn more about all this!

A sneak preview of a few of my photos in the book:

A photo from Tonsai beach, Thailand.

Full page with pro climber Said Belhaj climbing in Spain.

Published cover

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I got an early Christmas gift from Norway – the cover of the December issue of the Norwegian magazine Klatring. This photo was taken over a year ago during a mini expedition to the inland village Övre Årdal in Jotunheimen National Park (Norway), and it’s enormous icefall Vettisfossen. With it’s 275 meters vertikal drop, Vettisfossen is the highest waterfall in northern Europe. A lot of the ice climbing in Norway is fairly easy accessible, but to climb Vettisfossen you have to pay your toll in sweat just to reach the bottom of the climb. Especially if you’re there as a photographer, with all the extra gear you need to carry.

Klatring also published a spread in their section Klassikern.

Wedding shoot

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My latest wedding turned out to be one of the most stressful days in my life… Earlier this year I got an inquiry to shoot a wedding at June 11. Since I knew my baby girl was due in the end of the month, I asked my girlfriend what she thought about it.

– Well, that’s almost three weeks before due date so it can’t be a problem. Book it!, she replied.

So I did. My pregnant girlfriend even agreed to be my assistend for the day, adjusting flashes, holding reflectors and diffusers… But so it didn’t turn out. The day before the wedding I held my newborn baby girl in my arms for the first time. Although happy and euphoric I desperately needed to go from plan A to plan B to be able to make the wedding shoot.

Problem: I had no plan B, and a wedding shoot can’t be canceled last minute. Furtunately, my girlfriend rocks. She let me off the hook for a few hours that day. I quickly recruited my father as assistent, and decided to meet him at home to pack all the photo gear. As soon as I got out of the car at the parking lot back home I realized that I left my home keys at the hospital. F@#@#ck. Back to the hospital, ended up in the Saturday midday traffic jams. As soon as I stepped into the maternity department at the hospital I realized another thing. The. Keys. Are. In. The. Car. Oh well, back through the traffic once more. I ended up just in time to meet the bride and groom, and we got to work.

Climbing in Bohuslän

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Erik Heyman, one the hardest trad climbers in Sweden, wanted some photos of his recent contribution to the trad climbing in Sweden: the FA of a route at Häller in Bohuslän called Doktor Snuggles. Erik started working the route during the fall of 2010, but a very cold and snowy winter forced him to leave it for few month. After a few sessions on the route early this year, he finally sent the route. He thinks it’s a solid 8b.

Mr Heyman, contemplating the last attempt.

7b climbing to a good rest...

...where the last pro is placed...

...before the 12 move intensive power endurance crux.

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The last hard move before easier ground. If you miss this, you get about 20 meters air milage.

Ice climbing

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Hiked along with my two friends Peter & Peter to check out the local ice climbing in Gullmarsfjorden, a fjord in Bohuslän on the west coast of Sweden.

Going deeper into the fjord. Skates instead of boots makes it a whole lot faster…

Checking out potential climbs:

Powder running

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Can running in fresh powder snow be as thrilling as skiing?

My good friend Anders Andersson owns almost every outdoor gear you can imagine. It seems like he can squeeze in way more than 24 hours in day. Running, kayaking, multisporting, mountainbiking, hiking, climbing, cycling…

When I asked him if he wanted to be a “powder model” for a few hours he thought about it for about one millisecond before turning his face into a big friendly YES. Thanks Anders.

So, back to the question. Is it as fun as skiing in knee deep powder? No, not really but nevertheless a fun thing to do.

Happy new climbing

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Winter climbing in Sweden can be frustrating cold, but on the very first day of the year we got a window of sunshine. The winter here in Sweden is keeping its grip on us, forcing us to work on our plastic project most of the climbing days. But when there’s a window of sunshine we fight the cold. What is better than start 2011 with a bouldering session with some good friends in a stunning environment out on the island of Öckero, just outside of downtown Gothenburg. After only 30 minutes on the island I dipped both my feet in almost knee deep freezing water… The rest of the day was spent in climbing shoes.

Cold? YES.

We find what we think is yet an unclimbed problem just right of Gullik’s Surf’n Turf. Carl-Johan Svensson trying it:

Family portraits

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Christmas means spending time with my family. Swedish meatballs, beatsallad, herring, and other classic pastries are all part of the family holiday. But it’s very easy to forget to document the people you hold most dear. I took the opportunity to remedy that…

Simple setup on the following photos: one SB800 on each side. The right one with a +0.7 warming filter in a softbox, and the left one into a silver reflector.

Same setup as above but this time with a blue filter on the left flash:

Lesson learned: it’s sometimes very hard to work effeciently in small confined spaces using multiple flashes. It took many tries to get the setting right when using this setting.
You need to be careful when using side lights, especially with a colored filter, so you don’t light up the wrong part of the face.

The following photo below is taken in a very small stairway, with a Elinchrom Ranger with a 20 degree raster together with a SB800 with a blue filter at the bottom of the stair. In my left hand I’m pointing a silver reflector to lighten up the shadow in his face.

The following photos are taken into a woodshed with SB800 with a +0.7 warming filter inside the shed, and two flashes on the outside, on one of them I again put a blue filter.

Backlight and front side light: