jottkah

Of course I had hoped to see some northern lights during my trip, but as it was a very short one I knew the chances weren’t especially good. So I was incredibly happy when in the first evening someone came into the dining room and yelled “Northern lights!” I put on several layers of clothes in no time (actually I wished I could dress that fast on a regular workday morning …) and went out to the lake. I had seen northern lights once before, and back then the activity was very slow and barely visible for the human eye. This time was completely different. The lights were bright, the green hue was clearly visible, they were large and moving rapidly. The sky changed so quickly that I could hardly keep up with taking photos. And besides I was very, very busy staring up in the sky, mouth wide open, shouting “Oh my God, this is so amazing!” over and over.

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My stay in Jokkmokk, Sweden, was very short but one of the best trips I ever took. One reason for that was a ride on a dog sled – my first one ever, and hopefully not the last. I was assigned to a group that should start their ride at 1 in the afternoon – that’s when the sun goes down. I was quite annoyed by this at first, but there sure were some advantages: Atmospheric campfire in the dark! Clear and starry sky with an almost full moon! Snow sparkling in our mushers’ headlights!

But it was almost impossible to take any photos. During the ride I could neither take a single picture nor use my GoPro. I was stuck in the back of the sled and I was wearing two pairs of gloves (and two pairs of socks and long johns and a down jacket and a thermo overall and a balaclava and a beanie and …), so even if I would have been able to grab my camera, there would have been no chance to press the shutter release button.

I tried again when we stopped for a campfire and coffee and grilled sausages. But it was so dark already that I had to put the camera on the ground for a longer exposure time and so all the photos are blurry, grainy, and mostly show legs. But I like them anyway. :-)

Thanks to Matti and Stina from Jokkmokkguiderna, who were fantastic hosts!

CAN WE GO NOW? I ALREADY HAVE MY RACING GLASSES ON!

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And here’s the last batch of mobile phone photos from 2016. I spent an awesome weekend in a winter wonderland – with lots of snow, huskies and northern lights. I even managed to take some photos with a real camera without my fingers freezing to death. When I finally get around to edit those pictures you’ll find them here, of course. Have a great start into 2017!

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Lots of things happened in November. I went to see Placebo (I’m obviously at that age now where I attend 20 year anniversary shows and nag half the time that the band should play their old stuff because that was so much better). I won a huge pile of shit on a fairground (literally) and I went to London for a few days. And then I took a holiday from the holidays and spent a day in Brighton. (Beach! Beautiful weather! A giant donut!)

Last month I took walks in beautiful autumnal woods, visited cute animals, and went to see three great women perform their fantastic music: Aurora, Regina Spektor and Kate Tempest. There’s no picture of the latter one, because she asked the audience to leave their phones in their pockets, and when rappers tell you to do something, you obey, right?

I’m way too late with last month’s VSCO Roundup. That’s probably because it’s huuuuge! I spent a week on a beautiful island in Denmark and there were lots of things to see, boats to ride, bike paths to cycle and – most importantly – pastries to eat.

Besides that, there was the Way Back When Festival in Dortmund and some great autumn light.

For almost four months this summer the river Emscher is an outdoor exhibition space. There are about twenty artworks and installations along the river, which runs through several cities in the Ruhr area. Today I finally managed to ride my bike to two of these projects: Kunstpause and Zur kleinen Weile.

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(I’m really wondering when I will ever take a photo with a real camera again.)

In August I went to see two tiny, local, and very beautiful concerts (Ben Hermanski, Call Me Mary (no, there are no photos of those guys – I just wanted to make sure to write this down, so when they become famous I can say “I already listened to them ages ago!”), watched the sunset from top of a landfill (which is not in use anymore and is actually more like a nice mountain with a great view (but doesn’t landfill sound so much cooler?)) and wore a helmet to attend an art installation.

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As usual, the latest photos from my VSCO grid. Last month I spent a few days in a very creepy – yet photogenic – house in the Sauerland (a region that feels like time travelling to the 80s).

Last month I went to a Skunk Anansie concert (16 years after seeing them for the first time), apparently had a thing for walls, and was fascinated by light.

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