Can’t remember when I was in Gothenburg last. Seems like years ago. Anyhow, I’ve been invited by Fotobok Gbg 17 – a photo book focused weekend long event – produced by the Swedish Association of Professional Photographers (SFF) during the city’s annual book fair – to speak tomorrow afternoon about my latest book project, We are Malmö Opera.

Update: Despite the Neo Nazi rally (or, attempt thereof) and subsequent anti-fascist movement’s violence against a sea of well-prepared and appropriately geared-up police, my presentation went well and was positively received. I even heard that a few copies of the new book were sold shortly afterwards.

From one of many small lemon gardens that are scattered throughout the city of Sorrento, along the Amalfi Coast in southern Italy.

The weather here in Umeå is spectacular. Much warmer and dryer than in Malmö right now, I’m told. I headed out early this morning for what turned out to be a most refreshing and rejuvenating run along Umeåälven, a river that is approximately 400km long and is connected with smaller waterways and river veins that originate as far west as Norway.

The 15 of August is special. Very special. It marks Charlotte’s and my wedding anniversary. We were married 19 years ago today at Brunnby Church between Arild’s chapel – where we got engaged exactly a year earlier – and where both Charlotte and our daughter Elle were baptized. Our wedding dinner was celebrated royally with about 100 good friends and relatives at Mölle by the Sea. A spectacularly joyous event, by any definition.

So here we are a year before celebrating our “Porcelain Anniversary. It’s long been clear to us how unique our relationship is. Fact is, we only have but a few friends who can honestly say the same about their marriage. Many seem to live together for convenience and seem almost to embrace every opportunity to quibble and fight.

Not that we haven’t seen our fair share of challenges along the way. But because our love grew out of genuine friendship and has always been based on respect for each other, we are able to shield ourselves from whatever obstacles life throws at us.

If you ask me, what characterizes our marriage most though, is that we always have fun together. That’s how it’s been since we met for the very first time back in 1996. In our lives, laughter is never far away, and although we don’t have the exact same sense of humor, we can always find common topics and situations that make us laugh hysterically. Fortunately, our amazing daughter Elle has inherited our ability to laugh at ourselves and the weird stuff that just seems to happen once in a while. That’s an magnificent inheritance, indeed.

Tonight, somewhere in Copenhagen, we’ll lift our Champagne glasses, smile at each other and rejoice for yet another great year together.

Historically, I don’t think this has ever happened before. Probably won’t be a sequel, either. Consequentially, I’m feeling some physical fatigue after two back-to-back crayfish parties. Combined, Charlotte (pictured blurrely above) and I likely chewed and sucked my way through a hundred of them lil’ red Chinese and Turkish critters.

Shot this beautiful house last night sometime in between the third and fourth course of a fabulous dinner at Talldungen – a rural hotel just outside of Brösarp in Österlen, the that stretches along the eastern seaboard of Skåne County in southern Sweden. Talldungen will be part of an upcoming “Sweden Weekend Getaway” story.

I shot this mini portrait with triathlon competitor, Anna Eriksmo a while back. This is a new and tighter edit of a lengthier version. Anna’s so amazingly focused at whatever she does.