When we woke up yesterday morning to a gloomy, snowy, windy Saturday in February, we made two decisions: Charlotte promised to fry up a tall stack of her delicious pancakes, and we agreed that, despite the crappy weather, we’d still make the day as worthwhile as possible. Said and done – we forced our way […]
Against better judgment, I tagged along to IKEA. The day had started so well: an early morning workout, then a rare writing flow – words landing where they should, sentences saying what I meant. It was one of those days when I thought: here is the formula, and I’ll run it again tomorrow. And then […]
Captured this earlier today on my merry way home from @fitness24seven where I work out, 5:45-7:00 am most Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. The temperature on my phone showed ”only” –3 °C (27 °F), but with the gusty wind, the app also made me aware that it would probably feel more like –15 °C (5 °F). […]
I woke up three times last night. Not because I had to pee, or for any other reasonable reason. I just did. It’s one of aging’s less talked-about discomforts. According to the European Sleep Research Society (ESRS), normal aging tends to bring lighter sleep, less deep sleep, and more nighttime awakenings – basically, sleep gets […]
February 1. Is it just me, or didn’t January seem a bit elongated? In the middle of a Swedish winter, when the Baltic winds sweep across the Öresund and the mercury drops to levels that I feel are almost inhumanly cold, most people stay tucked away indoors. But for me, looking out across Västra Hamnen, […]
Brrrr. Minus 16 degrees Celsius. That’s how cold it is with the wind chill here in Malmö today. The Arctic cold was enough to make the otherwise fairly gruff market guys at Möllevång Square stay home. The Vietnamese family who run the extremely well-stocked grocery store adjacent to the square, however, was open as usual. […]
This is from an abandoned office not much more than 1 kilometer from where I am writing this in Malmö. It struck me as I saw it flash by in Lightroom that I’ve been semi-subconsciously drawn to unintentional time capsules for several years – abandoned places where time has been preserved not by design, but […]
After last night’s torrential snowfall, Mrs Raboff and I were both eager to feel the soft snow under our boots and hear that deeply satisfying crunch as we walked along the coastline this morning. There’s something grounding about that sound – like the world briefly agreeing to slow down and behave itself. The sea was […]
Clomp, clomp, clomp. Wheeze, wheeze, wheeze. Blah, blah, blah. When I crawled out of bed around five this morning, groggy and stiff as a plank, it was with slow Frankenstein steps that I shuffled over to the Fitness24Seven gym in the block behind our local supermarket, ICA. I was looking forward to the week’s first […]
I’ve realized that most of my urban photography over the years can be traced back to a persistent obsession with geometry. Which in turn is something I also enjoy as a “subject” when I paint. Straight lines. Hard angles. Repeating patterns. The way glass, steel, and concrete intersect and hold their ground against sky and […]
In the past 20 years, I’ve stayed at dozens of different hotels all over Stockholm. So it is without any hesitation whatsoever that I can say Södermalm is easily my favorite island to be based on when visiting the capital. This past visit, I stayed within meters of Maria Magdalena Church captured above. The photograph […]
Shot this yesterday at Kungliga Slottet – the Royal Palace in Stockholm, where the city once again reminded me that some ancient traditions are still alive and cherished. The Changing of the Guard (Högvaktsavlösningen) rolled into the palace’s outer courtyard with such crisp, measured precision that it made me straighten my posture without even noticing. […]
The results from the poop test came in the other day. What? Let me explain. I started the new year with two things that – at least for me – were mildly anxiety-inducing. First, I handed in a stool sample to check if there was any blood in it, which in turn could indicate an […]
Sunday. Evening. Restaurant talk. When the waiter launched into his third coughing fit, I was already halfway out the door of the lunch place. The food hadn’t even arrived yet, but I could tell my friend wasn’t comfortable either. Why didn’t the waiter step outside for some fresh air – or at least duck into […]
Alright, let’s tackle this beast of a topic – “Heeding Healthy Habits.” It is a phrase that, quite frankly, often conjures images of extraordinarily fit health gurus, smoothies the color of swamp water, and the kind of relentless self-flagellation that makes me yearn for a bourbon, a greasy burger, and a super-sized bag of fries. […]
I’ve come to terms with a simple truth about myself: I’m solar-powered. Give me blue skies and a bit of sun (and preferably some warmth), and I become hopeful, inspired, childishly optimistic. Take it away, and the grey arrives like a bureaucrat: quiet, persistent, and determined to put a lid on everything until my mind […]
Norra Hamnen (the northern harbor) has never been Malmö’s “pretty” side – it’s the city’s backyard that actually does Malmö’s heavy lifting these days. In this photograph (taken from the 54th floor at @skyhighmeetings in the Turning Torso), you can see an industrial landscape built for flow, not charm. Today, it’s Malmö’s largest industrial business […]
We’ve been lucky so far this year. While unusually cold, the sun has come out – if not all day long, at least for a while every day. Seeing the blue sky and sun makes this time of winter here in Malmö more bearable. Yesterday, right about the time when I took this photograph, I […]
There’s something quietly perfect about walking in fresh snow. The crunch under each step. The small, soft spray that lifts and drifts away like powder. And that sharp, beautiful contrast – white snow against everything that hasn’t been claimed by it yet. We haven’t had much snow these past few winters, at least not the […]
Filmed at the fair My DOG 2026 at Svenska Mässan in Göteborg, Sweden on Saturday, January 3 2025. Filmed handheld on an iPhone 14 Pro Max for Charlotte’s website Hundvänliga Hotell: www.hundvanligahotell.se
Pawed my way through the first assignment of the year today – My Dog at Svenska Mässan Convention Center. As usual, the Standard Poodles carried their tails high, and not entirely surprisingly the Dachshunds got no deductions for their nosework. The Labs and Goldens spread love, and all those proud Schnauzers (three varieties) were, of […]
If you know me well enough, you’ll also be cognizant that there are few Swedish eats I love more than an open-faced shrimp sandwich – a räkmacka. It’s simple in theory, almost absurdly so: a proud little mountain of shrimp, perched on bread, dressed up just enough to feel celebratory, but never so much that […]
Wednesday. The last day of the year. Pensive. Creatively, emotionally, geographically – 2025 was a good year. Was I happier than the year before, or just less unhappy than during any of my other sixty-two spins around the sun? I honestly don’t know. Joy is assessed differently now. Elle coming home for dinner a few […]
About an hour ago, just as we sat down to enjoy a simple Sunday dinner, I found out that I’ve lost my friend Elaine Vickery. She passed quietly last night in Santa Rosa, California. Elaine and I first crossed paths when I was a little boy, and she was a young painter. Sometime in the […]
After the first wave of fog and before the last.
Just a few more hours of what’s become a tradition – spending Christmas in Göteborg/Gothenburg. Without getting into any grimy details, the past few days have mirrored the city’s winter weather: mostly clear, with a persistent fog showing up now and then. As per usual, the urge for a prolonged detox is knocking on the […]
For the past three years, we’ve spent a couple of days celebrating Christmas in Göteborg with Charlotte’s parents and then with friends. Charlotte’s father, Allan, is now living in a healthcare facility for folks with dementia. Her mother Agneta continues to live at their apartment in Johanneberg, just a few doors up from where I […]
I shot this in Botswana during a five-day safari in the Okavango Delta. According to somewhat reliable sources, this bird is a lilac-breasted Roller with the scientific (Latin) name: Coracias caudatus. This birdie will definitely make into my new book project, tentatively titled: Safari – Botswana, Kenya, Morocco & South Africa
After a full day of work and some logistical stuff that had to be taken care of, I decided that making pizza was my easiest option. I typically buy readymade dough and to get it to be more like a handmade one, I perforate the surface with a fork before pre-baking it using our old […]
Winter in Skåne definitely has its moments. Starting at 16:03 yesterday, Sunday – the winter solstice – the days will slowly but surely begin to grow lighter. Of course, we won’t really notice it for a while; the days are still going to be ridiculously short, and the darkness will linger far too long. But […]
Yesterday’s morning run may not have chased away the inevitable jet lag, nor set any records. Our bodies were still scattered across multiple time zones – loitering somewhere above Southeast Asia, briefly detained in the Middle East, while the calendar, with official indifference, insisted that we were in Europe and Scandinavia. But a slow, steady […]
Here are a few loosely compiled clips captured this last week in Asia from various places along Sukhumvit Road in Bangkok, Thailand. I’m considering adding other similar clips of Bangkok’s traffic and putting together a longer short. We’re back in Malmö now, after three months, two countries, seven cities, nine hotels, ten train trips, and […]
Shot this during last night’s visit to the teppanyaki joint in the basement at Terminal 21 in Bangkok. It’s one of those eateries you stumble onto by sheer happenstance, where delicious Japanese comfort food is served at a reasonable price by friendly staff. Much of the trip has been about food. While not a foodie, […]
357. That’s how many meters separate the hotel from BTS Asok – our nearest Skytrain station from Soi 11 along Sukhumvit Road. I mention the distance only because I’ve noticed how that relatively short stretch changes character in a rather brutal way once dusk begins to fall. Late in the morning, the pavement is mostly […]
I found this Nelumbo nucifera – the Sacred Lotus – growing quietly beneath The Green Mile, the relatively new skywalk that links Benjakitti Park with Lumpini Park. Through this elevated ribbon of concrete and greenery, the two parks now bridge the Sukhumvit area with Silom and Saladeng in Bang Rak district – a soft, walkable seam stitched […]