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Riai Taiko
While walking back from a café where I’d been working on selecting images for the new book, I noticed this colorful crew. After a few seconds, I knew that the event had to be, if not internalized then certainly eternalized via the collection of clips you see above. All shot on my nearly three-year-old iPhone.
The Dojo these fine drummers belong to has a homepage. Visit it by clicking here. More of my super short films can be found here.
From Gylsboda to Göteborg
Shot this intriguing valve or duct in an old repair shop whilst in Gylsboda last week. I’m currently in Göteborg selecting and editing the forthcoming book’s images.
Bought a few ingredients for last night’s crunchy salad at Saluhallen, the old downtown market, just as I did back in the old days when I called Göteborg my hometown.
I don’t feel like I’m a tourist here. More of a familiar visitor with enough history to allow me to navigate between my errands comfortably.
Certified Outhouse
Just picked up my vaccination card at www.covidbevis.se – the Swedish branch of the pan-European effort to certify/authorize those of us that have smart enough to get vaxxed. The rest of you…well, the jury’s still out.
I do feel relieved. However, I was a little worried about the document’s top headline, which reads, “EU Digital COVID Certificate”. With a heading like that, it rather makes it sound as if I can now officially prove that I carry the virus and that I am also a certified superspreader.
Rock’n’roll
From yesterday’s Rock’n’roll shoot at a diabase rock quarry in the northeastern Swedish province of Skåne. With two stationary 4k cameras and one drone, also shooting at 4k, from a filmmaking perspective, this was definitely one of the most complicated three-camera scenes I’ve ever attempted. Interestingly, I was as calm as the two quarrymen that worked there.
The Dive
I shot this one very early morning a few years back in Malmö. I vividly remember how stressful it was to first position the drone and then allow it to hover 25-30 meters above me while I dove into the sea. A nonetheless interesting technical and creative challenge.
Road Trip with Lennart
Sembo, the travel agency, and a subsidiary of Stena Line Travel Group AB, recently hired me to produce an inspirational road trip commercial with Lennart in the lead and Charlotte as a supporting actor. We spent a night at a castle and a day shooting in the coastal villages of Rå and Bortashusen. Here’s Sembo’s SoMe page
Blue: Joni Mitchell
I’ve admired Joni Mitchell for about 40 years. Her voice, musicianship and storytelling continue to inspire me. Happy to hear that she’s steadily recovering from a 2015 aneurysm.
Though I can appreciate him as an artist, I’ve never been a fan of Dylan. Maybe it’s the voice or Bob’s inability to vocally harmonize with his unique melodies. I realize I’m missing out, but so be it.
I don’t have to choose, but I tend to focus on bands and musicians that I feel best to represent the genre they belong to The Beatles vs the Stones, Led Zeppelin vs Deep Purple, Joni Mitchell vs Bob Dylan.
Joni’s now 50-year-old album Blue isn’t my favorite, but I totally recognize its greatness and there are some incredible tunes on it. My list of her best albums: Court and Spark, Mingus, Night Ride Home, Chalkmark in a Rainstorm, and Turbulent Indigo.
An interesting anecdote about Joni that I heard from someone a long time ago was how rock musicians she played with would get frustrated by her complicated jazz tuning/chords/melodies and jazz musicians would find her pop and rock n roll songs boring to play.
In addition to being a musical virtuoso and lyricist, Joni Mitchell is also an amazing painter. Back in my painting days, in the mid to late 1980s, when I’d converted the tiny kitchen in my small apartment in Göteborg to a miniature art studio, Joni’s music would often keep me company, keep me going.
Here are some of her visual works.
Another Moon
Off the cuff, from the hip, out of the blue, spontaneously shot this moon earlier tonight. Saving up my creativity for next week’s shoot in Bohuslän.
Lennart visits Bohuslän
Another ad starring Lennart went live the other day. This time, Lennart visits beautiful Grebbestad in Bohuslän along Sweden’s southwest coastline. Produced for the Tourism Board of Western Sweden.
Random Sushi
I don’t remember where or when I shot this. Could have been in Malmö a few weeks ago. I pretty much always take a photo of my sushi meals, regardless really of whether or not they were tasty or nicely presented. It’s maniacal, I know. Have been putting off watching the documentary Seaspiracy for a while. Not sure I want to see it before lab-grown fish is readily available…
Clarion Hotel Malmö Live
A teaser ad for a new rooftop bar opening in August 2021. Shot in less than an hour last week for friends/clients at Clarion Hotel Malmö Live in Malmö. A huge thanks for helping out goes to my buddies and Extras Michael Poe and Giedre Gaizauskaite Poe.
The Wall
Love this wall. Shot somewhere in Malmö. The hues, patina, and texture give me goosebumps. Creatively speaking.
New Book Project
Don’t want to disclose much at this time, but I was just recently commissioned to produce a new book about a most interesting artists’ colony here in southern Sweden. This is one of the first images captured for this project, shot earlier today.
Timelapse Göteborg
This is timelapse from Göteborg shows the view our hotel room in Göteborg provided during our 22-hour visit from Thursday the 3rd of June to Friday the 4th. We were in our old hometown to celebrate the graduation of our friend’s daughter, but also to spend some time with Elle. I even got a chance to hang out with Lars for a few hours. The weather was spectacular, just as when Elle graduated in Malmö in 2019.
Illustrating Poems: Return to Normalcy II
For a while now, I’ve been illustrating poems. Not my own poems, though. I haven’t written one since my English teacher, Mr. Greenspan, gave me and my fellow seventh grade classmates an assignment to create a collection of sonnets, haikus, and limericks during the spring semester of 1977.
Several family members on my father’s side write poetry, but only one, Paul Raboff, is a Poet. Interestingly, there’s not much creativity on my mother’s side of the family. I’ve heard that at some stage in her life, my mother was decent at drawing.
Illustrating poetry is an inspiring challenge. It’s also a process with a fairly steep learning curve. While creating a new piece for my Resurfaced series takes time, by trying to decipher the soul of a poem, I am provided with helpful clues and/or guidance in my choices of color, composition, and cohesiveness. The above work is called, “Return to Normalcy II”
Watering in SloMo
While watering the garden last night, I asked Charlotte to capture a few seconds of me in slow motion. I’ve been planning a longer watering video for about a year, but just haven’t gotten around to it. So, see this as a teaser.
Mother’s Day
Today is Mother’s Day here in Sweden, so this is my mother four years before I was born on a game show hosted by none other than comedian Groucho Marx.
I can’t remember any part of my childhood or have any recollection of my mother that would make her worthy of celebrating today. Which is sad on several levels.
Truth be told, I would have loved to love and be loved by her. And even if I know in my heart of hearts that my mother loved me, at least instinctively, as most mothers love their offspring (regardless of species), my memories of our relationship are to this very day so painful that I can only imagine such love and not feel it where it counts.
My mother’s mother, on the other hand, my grandmother Agnes (Elle’s namesake), was an amazing woman and incredibly impactful during my early, formative years while I was visiting her and grandfather Eskil in
Trollhättan, Sweden. So, it’s her and Charlotte, who is also an amazing mother, that I’ll celebrate today.
Visit to Bohuslän – Grebbestad
Shot this last weekend during an evening walk around the harbor of the coastal town of Grebbestad in southwestern Sweden. I was intrigued by the half dozen or so trawlers and commercial fishing vessels across the bay from where the leisure boats were anchored. I don’t know why, but there’s something inspiring about fishing boats and the whole fisherman scene.
mRNA by Pfizer
Last night, ahead of our allocated time slots, Charlotte and I got our Pfizer/Biontechs mRNA-vaccine shots. The process was as smooth as the jabs were painless. Incidentally, the vaccine location was at an old military (Swedish airforce) base.
I don’t see how this vaccination should be treated any differently than other viral diseases I’ve been inoculated against in the past. The fact that it took a considerably shorter time to develop isn’t a miracle. It’s quintessentially a combo of new technology (mRNA), more resources for larger/faster trials and less bureaucracy
The next jab is July 7.
Fired unceremoniously by the New York Times for a stupid comment he made on a field trip, one of my favorite reporters, Donald G. McNeil Jr., has a really thoughtful and insightful take about the reality of this pandemic over at his new home on Medium.
Family Activities in Ängelholm
Here’s a short film produced for Ängelholm Näringsliv AB to showcase just a few of all the activities available for families visiting the city and its beautiful surroundings. Produced last fall but published now as part of the company’s spring marketing mix. Of the five films I was commissioned to create, this is my favorite.