3cm BALTIC BROWN granite 4.22.13
Slunce zapadá a moře dostává barvu studené oceli.
The Ring

“One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them,
One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them.”

J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings

Stockholm, Sweden, February 2013
Skeppsholmen by Night

Looks like the middle of the night but it only was 18:15 PM, saturday 23rd of February, 2013, Stockholm, Sweden.

At that time of the year in Sweden, this is still midwinter. The days are short, the weather is cold, snowy and the sea may be frozen… or almost. On that particular evening, the -10°C wind was freezing my fingers as I was setting up my tripod and camera to take that shot of Skeppsholmen by night, one of the islands of Stockholm. That island is positioned strategically at the entrance of Stockholm from the Baltic Sea and, consequently, was a traditional location for military buildings. Nowadays, museums have replaced military facilities, such as Stockholm’s Museum of Modern Art.

The old sailing ship is the af Chapman, a 1888 vessel that was used as a training ship by the Swedish Army before serving as barracks during World War II. It is now owned by the Swedish Tourist Association and serves as a youth hostel.
3cm Baltic Brown
A Northern Sunrise

Stockholm, the Old Town, February 23rd, 07:19 AM…

The days are still short and while the sun rises, the nature invariably behaves as it has been waiting for it for entire months. Warmth that contrasts with the coldness of the night, the frozen sea, the polar wind that hits the face like thousand knives. The yellow-orange-red that contrasts with the blue-grey-black. The light that contrasts with the darkness.

It was a Northern Sunrise. One of those I used to watch when I was a young boy, when I went to Sweden and Finland to pay a visit to my mother’s family. The Scandinavian air, light, sounds and smells that are so unique. All those things that I suddenly remembered, just because I was watching the sun rise from Skepsbron, with Stockholm’s Old Town just behind me.

I was time to go back to the hotel to try to fall asleep from a couple of hours more, then wake up and have breakfast with salted smörgås and a lot of coffee :-)
Peter and Paul Cathedral in St Petersburg, Russia.
St Isaac's Cathedral in St Petersburg, Russia.
Peterhof Palace in St Petersburg, Russia.
Peter and Paul Cathedral in St Petersburg, Russia.
Peter and Paul Cathedral in St Petersburg, Russia.
Peter and Paul Cathedral in St Petersburg, Russia.
See photo in original gallery.