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The Crying of Water

12th December 2023
Poetry
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  1. Things to Do in the Belly of the Whale
  2. From Blossoms
  3. Wild Geese
  4. The Peace of Wild Things
  5. My Gift to You
  6. Departing Spring
  7. The Skylark
  8. What a Strange Thing!
  9. Although The Wind …
  10. The Old Pond
  11. Spring Is Like A Perhaps Hand
  12. Hast thou 2 loaves of bread …
  13. Youth and Age
  14. A Postcard From the Volcano
  15. The Kraken
  16. He wishes for the Cloths of Heaven
  17. There Is a Solitude of Space
  18. Because I Could Not Stop for Death
  19. Mad Song
  20. Answer July
  21. Success Is Counted Sweetest
  22. Hope Is the Thing with Feathers
  23. The Bluebird
  24. A Vision of the End
  25. The Crying of Water
  26. A Rose Has Thorns As Well As Honey
  27. Winter
  28. The Dark Cavalier
  29. There is no Life or Death
  30. Sheep in Winter
  31. To a Snowflake
  32. Sextain
  33. A Crocodile
  34. Sea Fever
  35. The Giant Cactus of Arizona
  36. The Coming of Night
  37. Going to the Picnic
  38. Moon Tonight
  39. A Southern Night
  40. Greenness
  41. Twilight
  42. On the Wing
  43. In Summer
  44. Before Parting
  45. Sonnet
  46. The Red Wheelbarrow
  47. Acceptance
  48. At The Pool
  49. Incurable
  50. Bluebird and Cardinal
  51. [Say What You Will, And Scratch My Heart To Find]
  52. The River
  53. Vas Doloris
  54. Squirrel
  55. Ghosts
  56. The Spirit of Poetry
  57. Nightfall in the Tropics Scheduled for 10th December 2024
  58. Journey of the Magi Scheduled for 23rd December 2024
  59. The City Lights Scheduled for 7th January 2025
Close-up of sea

O water, voice of my heart, crying in the sand, 
All night long crying with a mournful cry, 
As I lie and listen, and cannot understand 
The voice of my heart in my side or the voice of the sea, 
O water, crying for rest, is it I, is it I? 
All night long the water is crying to me. 

Unresting water, there shall never be rest 
Till the last moon droop and the last tide fail, 
And the fire of the end begin to burn in the west; 
And the heart shall be weary and wonder and cry like the sea, 
All life long crying without avail, 
As the water all night long is crying to me.

Arthur Symons (1865 – 1945) was a British poet, short story writer, critic, translator, and editor.

To read more poems, click here.

Favorite Photos: November 2023

3rd December 2023
PhotographyWildlife
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  1. Favorite Photos: January 2023
  2. Favorite Photos: February 2023
  3. Favorite Photos: March 2023
  4. Favorite Photos: April 2023
  5. Favorite Photos: May 2023
  6. Favorite Photos: June 2023
  7. Favorite Photos: July 2023
  8. Favorite Photos: August 2023
  9. Paris Is Always A Good Idea
  10. Favorite Photos: October 2023
  11. Favorite Photos: November 2023
  12. Favorite Photos: December 2023
  13. Favorite Photos: January 2024
  14. Favorite Photos: February 2024
  15. Favorite Photos: March 2024
  16. Favorite Photos: April 2024
  17. Favorite Photos: May 2024
  18. Favorite Photos: June 2024
  19. Favorite Photos: July 2024
  20. Favorite Photos: August 2024
  21. Favorite Photos: September 2024
  22. Favorite Photos: October 2024
  23. Favorite Photos: November 2024 Scheduled for 1st December 2024
Reflection of pine trees and birches in the sea

Baltic Sea reflections. I hoped to photograph some beautiful swans that day, but they were nowhere to be found. 

Instead, I stumbled upon the most breathtaking reflection of pine trees and birches in the sea, which looked like a Monet painting. I tried to do justice to that feeling in the editing.

Close-up of a a tiny snail peering down over the edge of a cone flower

A macro shot I haven’t gotten to process until now, a tiny snail peering down over the edge of a coneflower. I usually take lots of photos during spring and summer, when the light is good in Sweden, and then process many of them during late autumn and winter when there’s hardly any light. It’s a way of reducing my frustration during that dark time and enjoying spring and summer again.

Close-up of daisies

This is another shot from the archives that I just processed. I had almost deleted it. It wasn’t a bad photo, but there wasn’t anything special about it. Something about it made me give it a three-star rating and keep it to try processing it on a rainy day. Now I’m glad I did; I love it!

European honey bee (Apis mellifera
European honey bee (Apis mellifera

Another photo from the archives, a European honey bee feeding on an allium flower.

This November has been one of the darkest I can remember, and the snow came first at the end of the month. I use only natural light, so taking photos this time of the year is a challenge. The sun goes up around 8am, and it starts getting dark at 2pm already this time of the year. Unless it’s sunny or snow, there’s no real light in between, just some kind of grey curtain hanging over the world. On heavy overcast days (and we had many of these this month), you wait and wait for the daylight until you realize it’s getting dark again!

I’m glad I still have many photos left to process. Other people may be stressed by having many unprocessed photos, but I don’t. I know November will come, you see.

Red Squirrel (Sciurus vulgaris)
Red Squirrel (Sciurus vulgaris)

What a difference some snow makes! It acts like a giant reflector, hides messy backgrounds and dampens colors.

I hope you enjoyed these photos; there are more to come next month.

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A Vision of the End

28th November 2023
Poetry
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  1. Things to Do in the Belly of the Whale
  2. From Blossoms
  3. Wild Geese
  4. The Peace of Wild Things
  5. My Gift to You
  6. Departing Spring
  7. The Skylark
  8. What a Strange Thing!
  9. Although The Wind …
  10. The Old Pond
  11. Spring Is Like A Perhaps Hand
  12. Hast thou 2 loaves of bread …
  13. Youth and Age
  14. A Postcard From the Volcano
  15. The Kraken
  16. He wishes for the Cloths of Heaven
  17. There Is a Solitude of Space
  18. Because I Could Not Stop for Death
  19. Mad Song
  20. Answer July
  21. Success Is Counted Sweetest
  22. Hope Is the Thing with Feathers
  23. The Bluebird
  24. A Vision of the End
  25. The Crying of Water
  26. A Rose Has Thorns As Well As Honey
  27. Winter
  28. The Dark Cavalier
  29. There is no Life or Death
  30. Sheep in Winter
  31. To a Snowflake
  32. Sextain
  33. A Crocodile
  34. Sea Fever
  35. The Giant Cactus of Arizona
  36. The Coming of Night
  37. Going to the Picnic
  38. Moon Tonight
  39. A Southern Night
  40. Greenness
  41. Twilight
  42. On the Wing
  43. In Summer
  44. Before Parting
  45. Sonnet
  46. The Red Wheelbarrow
  47. Acceptance
  48. At The Pool
  49. Incurable
  50. Bluebird and Cardinal
  51. [Say What You Will, And Scratch My Heart To Find]
  52. The River
  53. Vas Doloris
  54. Squirrel
  55. Ghosts
  56. The Spirit of Poetry
  57. Nightfall in the Tropics Scheduled for 10th December 2024
  58. Journey of the Magi Scheduled for 23rd December 2024
  59. The City Lights Scheduled for 7th January 2025
Abstract photo of sea waves in tones of dark blue

I once beheld the end of time! 
   Its stream had ceased to be. 
The drifting years, all soiled with crime, 
   Lay in the filthy sea. 

The prospect o’er the recking waste 
   Was plain from where I stood. 
From shore to shore the wreckage faced 
   The surface of the flood. 

There all that men were wont to prize 
   When time was flowing on, 
Seemed here to sink and there to rise 
   In formless ruin blown. 

In slimy undulations rolied 
   The glory of the brave; 
The scholar’s fame, the rich man’s gold, 
   Alike were on the wave. 

There government, a monstrous form 
   (The sea groaned ’neath the load), 
A helpless mass blown by the storm, 
   On grimy billows rode. 

The bodies of great syndicates 
   And corporations, trusts, 
Proud combinations, and e’en states 
   All beasts of savage lusts. 

With all the monsters ever bred 
   In civilization’s womb, 
Lay scattered, floating, dead, 
   Throughout that liquid tomb. 

It was the reign of general death, 
   Wide as the sweep of eye, 
Save two vile ghosts that still drew breath 
   Because they could not die. 

Ambition climbed above the waves 
   From wreck to wreck he strove; 
And as they sank to watery graves, 
   He on to glory rode. 

And there was Greed—immortal Greed— 
   Just from the shores of time. 
Of all hell’s hosts he took the lead, 
   A monarch of the slime. 

He neither sank below, nor rose 
   Above the brewing flood; 
But swam full length, down to his nose, 
   And steered where’er he would. 

Whatever wreckage met his snout 
   He swallowed promptly down— 
Or floating empire, or redoubt, 
   Or drifting heathen town. 

And yet, it seemed in all that steaming waste 
There nothing so much gratified his taste 
As foetid oil in subterranean tanks, 
And cliffs of coal untouched in nature’s banks, 
Or bits of land where cities might be built, 
As foraging plats for vileness and guilt; 
Or fields of asphalt, soft as fluent salve 
Or anything the Indian asked to have. 

I once beheld the end of time! 
   Its stream had run away; 
The years all drifted down in slime, 
   In filth dishonored lay.

Too-qua-stee (1829 – 1909) was an American poet, short story writer, and essayist born in the Cherokee Nation. He was also known as DeWitt Clinton Duncan.

To read more poems, click here.

We’ll Always Have Paris

26th November 2023
Photography
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Close-up of a lion head door knocker in Paris

I was going through my Paris photos and was surprised to see how many door knockers I seem to have amassed. I love architecture and shoot many buildings and details when traveling, so I shouldn’t be surprised. It appears that Paris brought forth the architecture nerd in me, though.

Close-up of a lion head door knocker in Paris

Paris is a haven for architecture lovers, indeed. This is one of my favorite door knockers of all time. I do have a faiblesse for ornate lion heads.

Close-up of an ornamental door knocker in Paris

One more!

If you’re interested in architecture, too, I recommend you read “The Architecture Lover’s Guide to Paris” in preparation for your Paris trip. I used it to plan our time there.

A lion head door knocker in Paris

Surprise: another lion head! I love the distressed look on this one. It sat on a dilapidated building, and as soon as I saw it, I knew exactly how I wanted to edit it.

Close-up of a lion head door knocker in Paris

The light was fading fast, so I only had a little time to experiment. I was also exhausted, having been out and about Paris for the whole day. We were on our way to the hotel, and I wasn’t in the mood for more photos that day, but I couldn’t resist it!


I’m pleased with how it turned out in the end, considering it was a “quick & dirty” job.

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The Bluebird

21st November 2023
Poetry
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  1. Things to Do in the Belly of the Whale
  2. From Blossoms
  3. Wild Geese
  4. The Peace of Wild Things
  5. My Gift to You
  6. Departing Spring
  7. The Skylark
  8. What a Strange Thing!
  9. Although The Wind …
  10. The Old Pond
  11. Spring Is Like A Perhaps Hand
  12. Hast thou 2 loaves of bread …
  13. Youth and Age
  14. A Postcard From the Volcano
  15. The Kraken
  16. He wishes for the Cloths of Heaven
  17. There Is a Solitude of Space
  18. Because I Could Not Stop for Death
  19. Mad Song
  20. Answer July
  21. Success Is Counted Sweetest
  22. Hope Is the Thing with Feathers
  23. The Bluebird
  24. A Vision of the End
  25. The Crying of Water
  26. A Rose Has Thorns As Well As Honey
  27. Winter
  28. The Dark Cavalier
  29. There is no Life or Death
  30. Sheep in Winter
  31. To a Snowflake
  32. Sextain
  33. A Crocodile
  34. Sea Fever
  35. The Giant Cactus of Arizona
  36. The Coming of Night
  37. Going to the Picnic
  38. Moon Tonight
  39. A Southern Night
  40. Greenness
  41. Twilight
  42. On the Wing
  43. In Summer
  44. Before Parting
  45. Sonnet
  46. The Red Wheelbarrow
  47. Acceptance
  48. At The Pool
  49. Incurable
  50. Bluebird and Cardinal
  51. [Say What You Will, And Scratch My Heart To Find]
  52. The River
  53. Vas Doloris
  54. Squirrel
  55. Ghosts
  56. The Spirit of Poetry
  57. Nightfall in the Tropics Scheduled for 10th December 2024
  58. Journey of the Magi Scheduled for 23rd December 2024
  59. The City Lights Scheduled for 7th January 2025
A bluebird

A winged bit of Indian sky
Strayed hither from its home on high.

Alexander Posey (1873 – 1908) was an American poet, journalist, and politician in the Creek Nation.

To read more poems, click here.

Favorite Photos: October 2023

2nd November 2023
MillesgårdenPhotographyWildlife
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  1. Favorite Photos: January 2023
  2. Favorite Photos: February 2023
  3. Favorite Photos: March 2023
  4. Favorite Photos: April 2023
  5. Favorite Photos: May 2023
  6. Favorite Photos: June 2023
  7. Favorite Photos: July 2023
  8. Favorite Photos: August 2023
  9. Paris Is Always A Good Idea
  10. Favorite Photos: October 2023
  11. Favorite Photos: November 2023
  12. Favorite Photos: December 2023
  13. Favorite Photos: January 2024
  14. Favorite Photos: February 2024
  15. Favorite Photos: March 2024
  16. Favorite Photos: April 2024
  17. Favorite Photos: May 2024
  18. Favorite Photos: June 2024
  19. Favorite Photos: July 2024
  20. Favorite Photos: August 2024
  21. Favorite Photos: September 2024
  22. Favorite Photos: October 2024
  23. Favorite Photos: November 2024 Scheduled for 1st December 2024
Glowing autumn foliage at Millesgården, Stockholm, Sweden

Autumn has never looked more stunning than at Millesgården. The vibrant colors of the garden are simply breathtaking, and that Lensbaby Velvet 85 lens creates the most delicious blur and bokeh. Can you believe this is a real place?

I usually use my Canon RF50mm F1.2 L USM lens at Millesgården or the Canon RF100mm F2.8 L MACRO IS USM one, but this time, I wanted to test my new toy, the Velvet 85. I bought it for flowers and still-life photos, but I was curious about other images.

All Lensbaby lenses use only manual focus, so it’s best to take lots of photos to make sure you nail the focus – especially when shooting at large apertures, as I do. I love to shoot for the blur, and I usually love F/1.8 to F/2.8, but I noticed that F/2.8 to f/4 works best for me when using a Lensbaby – for flowers.

It turned out that F/2.8 is the only aperture I love for this type of photo. F/1.8 is wonderful; the blur is insanely soft, but it only suits some photos, and getting the focus is really tricky. F/4 and up is fine; it’s pretty easy to focus, but as more of the background comes into focus, some of the magic disappears. Hence, F/2.8.

St. Martin fountain by Carl Milles at Millesgården, Stockholm, Sweden

Another shot from Millesgården. It is such a magical place in the autumn! This is the statue of St. Martin on the lower terrace.

Millesgården was the home of Swedish sculptor Carl Milles (1875 – 1955); he designed and built it, and it is now a museum with Milles’ antique collection, sculpture garden, and art gallery. The garden is inspired by Italy’s Mediterranean gardens, and it’s a work of art in itself. Carl Milles and his Austrian wife Olga, an artist herself, spent the winters in Italy that both loved.

A red squirrel atop a pumpkin

Squirrels! As soon as there are fewer squirrel photos on my Instagram or Facebook accounts, someone will wonder where the squirrels are. Somehow, I became the squirrel whisperer. Not a bad thing when it comes to social media.

This is a photo from last year that I hadn’t processed. I thought it would make a nice Halloween card and processed it accordingly. You can see the card here.

A red squirrel eating a hazelnut atop a pumpkin

Just squirrel-ing around and finding its inner peace, ha, ha!


I had a few pumpkins out in the garden to get some photos for a squirrel Halloween card, but I wasn’t pleased with the images. They were fine, like this one, but didn’t work for a card, so I gave up in the end and used that photo from last year.

Eurasian nuthatch (Sitta europaea)

I love photographing wood nuthatches (Sitta europaea); they usually strike a pose when landing and again before taking off, checking their surroundings. I can always count on them to sit still long enough for me to get a decent photo.


Did you know that nuthatches can forage when descending trees head first? Inveterate hoarders, they store the food in the bark of the trees, then conceal it with moss or small pieces of bark.

I hope you enjoyed these photos; there are more to come next month.

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Happy Halloween!

31st October 2023
Uncategorized
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Trick or treat, bag of sweets, ghosts are walking down the street.

Happy Halloween!

Happy World Kangaroo Day!

24th October 2023
Wildlife
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A mother and a daughter kangaroos

Happy World Kangaroo Day! 🦘🦘These adorable creatures are truly one of a kind. I feel so lucky to have watched them in the wild on Kangaroo Island. It was amazing to see how the mother took care of her little one. Such a special bond between them! 😍

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Autumn at Millesgården

20th October 2023
MillesgårdenPhotography
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Autumn foliage at Millesgården, Stockholm (Sweden)

Glowing autumn foliage at Millesgården, Stockholm (Sweden). Millesgården is one of my favorite places to both stroll in and photograph; it’s beautiful and peaceful. 

It was the home of Swedish sculptor Carl Milles (1875 – 1955); he designed and built it, and it is now a museum with Milles’ antique collection, sculpture garden, and art gallery. The garden is inspired by Italy’s Mediterranean gardens, and it’s a work of art in itself. Carl Milles and his Austrian wife Olga, an artist herself, spent the winters in Italy that both loved.

The photo was taken with Canon R5 and Lensbaby Velvet 85 mm at F/2.8, 1/125 seconds, ISO 100. I applied basic adjustments in Lightroom, processed it in Photoshop using Nic Color Effex 6, and finally added Photoshop warming filter 81.

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To read more posts on Millesgården, click here.

My First Cover Photo!

6th October 2023
PhotographyWildlife
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Red Squirrel with Strawberry

I’m feeling grateful and honored as Canon Sweden chose my photo to be their Facebook cover for the month of October. I am so excited to share my passion for photography with a broader audience!

(I know there’s a long way to go to a National Geographic cover, but one has to start somewhere).

“If we can teach people about wildlife, they will be touched. Share my wildlife with me. Because humans want to save things that they love.”, Steve Irwin said.

I talked about how I became a wildlife photographer in my previous post and how I found my mission to share my animal photos with the world; and, by doing so, inspire people to protect them and ensure human activities don’t harm them and their habitats.

This is what the Canon Sweden Facebook page looks like now; I’m so proud! Please forgive me for blowing my own trumpet but I feel the more people see how beautiful these animals are, the more they’d be inspired to do something for them.

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