The Story Behind The Photo

When most people see a photograph they look at it, either like it or not and then move on, but have you ever stopped and thought about the story behind the picture? What might look like a simpel landscape shot, might actually have taken hours to produce due to perfect planning, unpredictable weather changes, un-cooperating tripods, etc.

The list goes on and on. What this article will be about is me taking this opportunity to show of some of my shots, while giving you the details behind photo. Maybe not everyone's cup of tea, but if I'd come across an article like this - I'd stay.

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So, this photo was taken 2014-08-30 and it’s a very special moment for me. Having been partially gored by a cow, I developed a massive fear of cows by the age of 12. I have since kept a distance from them and felt scared just be walking past a pasture – thinking they might run through it just to get to me.. Well, despite the fear of them, I still like cows and enjoy taking photos of them (from far away). So, when I came a cross a bunch of highland cattle in the middle of a forest = no people around to help if something went wrong, I was torn wether or not to run away or stay and fight my fear in the hope of getting a shot. Well, obviously I fled the scene. But a couple of days later I returned in the company of a friend and we went over to the pasture. Dying inside, I stayed and took this shot while my friend kept trying to feed it with apples (oh, how I wish I had that bravery). Anyway, thinking back I am now very happy I fought through and got this photo, as it’s still one of my preferred shots.

I took this photo in such a rush. Having wondered around in the woods for a while, looking for the right spot, I finally found these ferns covered in dew. Settling down, taking out my tripod, changing lens and proceeding with the focusing, I was sad to see that I wasn’t alone. As I thought I had found the perfect spot, so did a giant hornet. Picturing how I was going to get stung and die in the middle of a forest, I quickly took the shot and ran away.

Another very unplanned photo. Knowing the mountain weather, it’s very unpredictable and might result in heavy rain > sunshine > hail > sunshine etc. This is what happened to me. I was going to take some close ups of my grandad’s (91 year old) brother’s horses when it suddenly started pouring down. So, instead of getting a sunny photo of 4 horses faces, I got a rainy shot of 4 horse arses, but actually I think I am ok with that.

I feel bad about this photo as I had my mum turn around the car and drive back for 15 minutes. Sitting in the backseat whilst on the motor way, you can’t do much but look out the window. So, that’s what I did and that’s when I saw this magical view. Convinced I’d just spotted the money shot, I made my poor mum turn around (if you’ve ever been on the motor way, you know it’s not the easiest). Once we reached the desired destination, I picked out my camera, placed my tripod and took the photo. So this is not me standing in a fairytale forest surrounded by nothing but birdsong, but actually me sitting with my back to a busy motorway, tying create a photo giving the opposite feeling.

You know how you call a moose either: moose cow, moose bull or moose calf (or at least we do in Sweden), this is related to my fear of cows. For some reason I’ve developed a fear towards most animals, this is pretty ironic giving that I am an active animal activist/vegan. So, having family up in the north means that you’ll be surrounded by this animal as soon as you find yourself in a nature area. Sure, I have always wanted to get The Shot of a moose (and I am still working on it), but every time I find myself in a situation where I might actually have the opportunity, I freeze up and usually escape the scene. Though this time I decided it was time to get past this and actually get a decent shot. Yes, a big part had to do with the fact that we were 4 people there = only 25% risk that I’ll be the one getting attacked, but I also think me concurring my fear with the “golden” cow, might have something to do with it.

Usually I don’t spend taking more than maybe 10 photos of one motif, but with this subject it took me over 800 shots to get this specific one. I sat on my porch, holding down the shutter button, trying to capture the dropping from the roof. Eyeing through the shots I finally came across this one and decided it was a keeper.

Visiting Cornwall for the first time, of course we were blessed with the worst kind of weather. Though during our last day that happened. After yet another extreme downfall, the sky cleared up and the sun came out. I don’t particularly enjoy rain, but I must say that it helps you get a better photo once it’s done. Thanks to the rain it was also a big clearance of people, which is always a plus for photography.

This picture was taken on Horsey beach, a place 30 minutes drive from Great Yarmouth. Me and some friends had decided to go to Great Yarmouth for the day to hopefully find some seals, but unfortunately we were out of luck and only found a massive dead fish on the beach. We therefore decided to ask around for where to go and got tipped to visit this secluded beach. So we called a cab and paid a generous amount of £££ to get there (fun fact: the taxi driver told us we were the only people he had ever encountered that were willing to drive this far to see some seals). Once there, I was overwhelmed by the amount of seals I found and picked out my camera. By the look of them you would think they are sweet little creatures, but the whole time I was taking this photo this little guy kept jumping closer and closer towards me – trying to attack. If this wasn’t bad enough, so were all the other seals too.

Peaceful? Calm? Relaxing? Yeah, not for me. Taking this photo meant that I had to open the gate and lie down in a pasture full of cows next to me.

As I took this shot, I had no idea I would create this amount of bokeh. Having just bought my beautiful little macro lens, I decided it was time to try it out and put it in the grass, trying to capture the morning dew. Setting the focus right, I pressed the shutter button a couple of times and then took a look at the result. Ok, being Swedish I am not supposed to brag, but I was very happy with myself for producing this shot.

Just a typical day hiking around Stanage edge with a lovely picnic prepared? No. This was a day, me and my sister became heroes. We made a decision to walk the longer route that day and started our hike early in the morning. As we reached Stanage edge we were still within a good time frame, however! As we were about to move on, my sister heard a bleating from the ground and we could see a little sheep crying for help. Having the worst possible phone signal, we spent 2 hours trying to contact the RSPCA and give them our exact coordinates. Giving my luck, a horrendous storm appeared in the middle of this and we had to seek shelter. A moment later however we got a call from the RSPCA telling us the sheep had been saved.
Ps, this is were they shot Pride and Prejudice = I stood on the same spot as Keira Knightley.

I love stoats and tend to come across them from time to time, but this particular one was not the nicest. I first saw it between some rocks, but failed to shoot it. So, I looked around for a while and sure enough found it under a plank. It was very curious and kept sticking out it’s little face at me. Then all of a sudden it turned to my sister and started hissing angrily and attempting to bite her. I quickly took my photo, then we decided this was our cue to leave.

This photo looks easy enough, but don’t be fooled! It took me a good 4 hours to get the shot. During this time I had to endure rain and freezing cold, but I was determined to photograph this little guy no matter what. Some might call it passion, other’s might say unhealthy obsession. Either way, enjoy!

What was supposed to be a photobomb turned out to be an improvement of the photo. I was just going to shoot the field, but as my friend walked into the shot, my camera set it’s autofocus on him at the last minute. Ok, this time I’ll let it pass.

This shot was taken in sports mode as I was just randomly photographing from the car window. Having a reputation of ruining car trips with my need to stop and photograph every 10 minutes, I have matured and learnt to compromise. So, my solution is to use sports mode and just hold down the shutter button. Sure, 99% of the photos are crap, but then there are the little lucky ones that actually turn out decent. This shot is one of them.

This photo was taken during yet another one of my scary moments. I decided I wanted to photograph the mist an early morning and headed over to a forest I am not familiar with at all. I know, great decision. So, being in photography mode and only looking for beautiful motifs, it’s easy to get lost – which is what I did (for 5 minutes). Yes, it was a short time, but in my world that’s a terrifying experience, bare in mind these woods are filled with bear, wolves, lynxes, wolverines, moose etc.. Anyway the shot might look calm, but I can assure you I wasn’t.

This photo was taken out of pure luck, no planning nor thought behind it actually. Me and my sister saw a baby hare on a church yard and both wanted to photograph it, all though I gave up pretty much straight away after seeing how quick it was. So instead I sat down in the grass and was looking through some shots, when suddenly the baby (escaping from my sister) came running and almost ran into me. We were both shocked by each other’s presence, but I quickly grabbed my camera and fired some shots before the baby ran away. What I am most amazed by is the fact that the photo actually turned out in focus – my camera was broken at the moment and all my photos were taken in manual focus.

I wasn’t in the best condition when I took this photo. Sitting on a rock, wearing only one shoe and discovering that I had not brought the ND-filter, I felt a bit down. But making the best of the situation, I still took some photos before heading back and if you ask me, I am not sure the picture would have turned out better with a slower exposure.

While having lunch outside the Sandringham estate (like you do), we saw this horse. Of course I had to photograph it, but what it did was something I’ve never encountered before. As I was arranging the focus, this horse suddenly started screaming like a human man and ran away from us.. I have yet to get an explanation to what this was, but yeah, this was the photo I took afterwards.

I took this photo in Windsor, obviously not of the castle, but in the city. Going here I had persuaded my friends that we wouldn’t be able to enter the castle, but the garden was definitely open for the public. Well, I was wrong and we spent a good 3 hours walking around the walls trying to get in. I can still hear me say: Let’s just go past that and I am sure the entrance will be there.

Another pure luck-photo. When you look at this, you probably imagine me sitting hidden somewhere in a deep forest – sorry to break it to you, but this is 20 meters from our local Tesco. I was caring my camera in my bag as I was suposed to do an assignment that day, but it got canceled and I decided it was a good idea to go to Tesco and do some comfort shopping instead. As I got off the bus, I got a pleasant surprise seeing this fox. Quickly taking out my camera, I fired some quick shots before proceeding with my shopping.