Stockholm Street Photography at night
I tend to photograph and document a lot less during our dark winters here in Sweden. It’s just that the light is crap and the darkness does not inspire me much. Many photos comes out blurry anyway, so why bother? It’s hard to take a decent photo indoors all through the winter, so inspiration to document anything kind of dwindles. I even reach for my phone camera less and less, until spring and the light returns. But all that said…
Just before Christmas, when we went into the capital to watch Wicked at the cinema (yes, I loved it and absolutely would recommend you to see it if you haven’t already. Then I listened to the soundtrack for days afterwards and learned all the songs, oh my… anyway….) I saw a YouTube video where this guy was talking a bit about street photography and giving some hints of what to think about. I didn’t really think much about it then, it was just a video that came up in my recommendations that I enjoyed. But when I was out at night (it wasn’t even late, maybe around 6 pm) I looked. I really looked, as I sometimes do. And inspiration hit.
I think the street photography talk made me “think outside the box” (of my own narrow-minded way) and snap a few pics.
All these street photos are taken with my old phone camera, but I love them a lot anyway. I love all the twinkling lights that decorate the city and the big buildings. I love how the colored light is reflected in the wet street below, and how beautiful (if you can ignore the cars, the trash and the rats) the city looks at night.
After the movie we had dinner at a Swedish food joint called Bastard Burger, inspired by NY but serving only Swedish meat and delicious little burgers. It was my first visit but not my last for sure, because the fries are to die for. So crisp and yummy!
I also love when cities choose to illuminate sculptures or buildings in the dark, transforming the ordinary to something extraordinary in a way. Like how they make this otherwise rather gray glass sculpture glow red in the dark:
The sculpture is placed in the middle of a huge, round fountain basin (of course turned off during winter) called Sergelfontänen at the square Sergelstorg in Stockholm. The rather phallic bit in the middle is called Kristallvertikalaccent (crystal vertical accent, – a rather descriptive but boring name) was built in 1967 and it’s made out of a steel construction and 60 000 glass prisms that are lit from the inside. It is 37,5 meters high, and most beautiful in the dark if you ask me.
Jag har alltid arbetat med glasets inneboende kraft. Glas är på sitt sätt så elegant. Jag vill få bort elegansen, jag vill ta fram glasets naturliga kraft! *
– Edvin Öhrström, 1986
* My translation of this quote, from the artist who designed the sculpture: “I have always worked with glass’ innate power. Glass is in its own way very elegant. I want to remove the elegance, to get to its natural power!”
The Crystal Obelisk at Sergelstorg lit up
Another interesting fact about this sculpture, also known as the Crystal Obelisk (which I think is its most beautiful name of the nick names) is that it was always intended to be lit from the inside, but it did not happen until 1993 for some reason. I mean it’s glass, so that makes sense to me at least, that it should be lit.
Then a lot later in 2017 it was restored and the lights were changed again so that you can now change its colors (which is my personal favorite bit). So it’s not too strange that it was when I went to the theater in late autumn 2017 that I saw this obelisc lit in pink for the first time, and was mesmerized by how gorgeous it was. I took a photo of it so that’s the reason I still remember that fact, and then I also decided to draw the obelisk from my reference photo. I did a search on the blog to find the drawing, but it seams that I only shared it to instagram at the time. Take a look here.
Anyway, I wanted to end with this last photo, which is my favorite from my impromptu photo sesh. I took the advice to “wait for the movement” and snapped my photo as a stranger was passing by. I love it so much – the red and blue lights, the darkness looming, and the movement in the person passing by.
Are you interested in what’s called street photography and have you done any of it yourself?
I love street photography! I myself though am but a humble amateur, much too shy to approach people or often time even bring out my big girl camera. As with so many things I dabble – but as I find that enjoyable, I keep doing it.
If you want to learn more check out Peter’s video 7 Street Photography Tips (the minimalistic approach) on YouTube, which was the ideas that I had in the back of my mind as I took these photos with my phone camera.
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Night photography is so fun.
I did a course – or was it a school activity? – and the topic was night photography. We had to experiment and school our view and perception and after that we went into the dark room and developed the things.
I have fond memories of it. Not sure I still have the photos somewhere. I fear not.
I like the reflection of the tower in the window and the shadow person walking by.
Thanks Tobia. I took photography too and have been quite a lot in a darkroom to develop prints back in the day. I loved it even though I was a bit too impatient for the process. I think I am an even bigger fan of the instant gratification of digital.