Åsa och Martin

Åsa and Martin got married in Vaxholm, a couple of months ago.
They had the luck of enjoying both a beautiful weather and their young son being in a top mood that day!

Emma and Martin.

When i left Stockholm to go to Lidö, near Norrtälje, in the early August, i got almost depressed.

I had met Emma a couple of times, long before their wedding day, and i had heard her talking so enthousiastically about the planned wedding ceremony near the water!

When i left Stockholm that morning it was raining. The more i drove (from the approximately 100 km) the darker it became. In the middle of the way it was so heavily pouring water that i could hardly drive with 50 km/h in the highway and visibility was just a few meters in front of me...

But when i got just a few kilometers away from the harbour to take the boat to Lidö, it was as if somebody drew the black curtain away. Wonderful summer weather with people sitting by the water, enjoying the sunshine and eating icecream.

I met the couple and their guests on the island. 

It was a beautiful, relaxed feeling all the time, from the preparations of the bride with help of her friends, during the ceremony, and even afterwards. 

Exactly as Emma had told me at our first meeting, long before the wedding; "we shall not have extremes, everything will be very laid-back".

(somebody was not fast enough to congratulate the just-married couple!)

My pilgrim journey to the Holly Mountain Athos, in Greece.

   That was the 10th time i visited the monastic community in Greece and as always it was a great experience.

   I visited the monastery of Filotheou where my friend brother Gabriel was waiting for me.

  As soon as i arrived with some other visitors, we where wellcomed by the arhontaris with the traditional loukoumi and tsipouro (some kind of jelly sweet and raki).

The weather was not particularly good but the autumn colours where just stunning.

The next morning, after the service, we headed to the monastery of Karakalou, some half an hour walking through the forest.

There i met another friend, brother Arsenios, who kindly showed me the monastery.

We went to the cellars where they still keep a huge barell from the 16th century, where they used to store the wine that the monastery produced.

It is so big that the height of the ceiling was not enough and they where forced to dig in the floor so that a part of the barell would be in the ground...

Leaving the monastery on our way back to Filotheou, we came across the fields where the monastery grows its olive trees. 

It was the harvesting time. 

It's the monks themselves who still collect the olives in the traditional way.

If you wish to learn more about the monastic community in Athos, visit the link;

http://www.macedonian-heritage.gr/Athos/

If you wish to see more of my pictures from previous travels to Athos (to different monasteries as well) please visit the link;

http://orasisfoto.smugmug.com/Travel/143825

Our visit to the "kingdom of glass".

This week has been the autumn school holidays s we took the chanse to take our 4 and 6 years old children and travel to the famous glass factories in the central Sweden, at an area also called "the kingdom of glass".

If the name tells nothing to you then the names "Costa-Boda" and "Orrefors" will certenly make you understand.

We visited the area where they blow glass as well as the exhibition areas.

The most beautifull was the musuem with pieces of art through the whole history of the factory. 

As breathtaking was also the exhibition of the art pieces that the artists who cooparate with the factory have produced. 

Very beautifull and reeeally expensive! 

We where forced though to visit the exhibition its one of us alone, while the other was keeping the children outside! They only wanted to run and jump anywhere they were, after so many hours of sitting at the back seat of the car...

If you are also fancinated by glass art, please visit our photogallery with pictures of an international exhibition that took place at the "Stenige Slott" in Sweden, when it celebrated its 300 years old anniversary.

http://orasisfoto.smugmug.com/gallery/525265#21658545

Ulrika and Magnus.

It was a very nice ceremony and the couple just shined from hapiness and love!

But nothing could beat the reception!

The list for the people who wished to keep a speach was endless.

It was very touchy to hear them talking about the couple but also

 the jokes and the teasing from the couple's  friends (as well as from the parents) kept everybody laughing.

When the bride left the room for a while, all the girls rushed to get a last kiss from the bridgroom. Among them some of his friends too,who wanted to tease him! 

When the bridegroom left the room some time later, the same thing happened with the bride and all the guys attending the reception. And when everybody had "stolen" a kiss, they started all over again for a second one, tills the bridegroom would come back!

Jessica and Ruben.

Although the weather was not nice at all and the heavy rain delayed the bride for the photo session, the couple had a wonderfull mood and, as soon as we started photographing, the rain stopped, providing us with a beautiful difused light.





There was a lot of laughing and kidding, and the contribution of the bestman to the mood was desicive!





The bridegroom arived in a fabolous light-blue Thunderbird and after the wedding ceremony took the bride and left, only to come back a little later for the "big entrance" to the Såstaholm herrgård, where the reception was held.





By the way, have i mentioned that the bridegroom is Dutch and many of the guests had come from Holland just for the wedding? :-)

Stockholm University 2007 doctoral awards in Stadshuset.

The Stockholm University awarded the doctoral degrees yesterday, during a fabolous ceremony in the Mayors House (Stadshuset) in Stockholm.

The ceremony took place in the Blå Hallen.
It started at 5 pm and lasted untill 7:30 pm just to be folowed by a dinner in the magnificent Gyllene Salen. After the dinner followed dance untill the first hour in the morning.

The new doctors had also the chance to be photographed with their guests in our portable studio.













If you would like to see more of the 1365 photos that were taken during the whole evening please follow the link;
http://orasisfoto.smugmug.com/Stockholms%20Universitet/394276