Last weekend, I had the opportunity to spend some time on the beautiful West coast of Sweden. The fishermen's village called Smögen is one of the classical settings of idyllic Swedish summer days.
This time, I did not sail - but spent some time kayaking instead!
Trying out the underwater camera - above surface, below clouds. |
The weather is key factor in West Coast - it changes fast, and provides for dramatic differences in the atmosphere around. It can be wet and cold, and then turn to sunny and almost unbearable heat. Be ready for any weather when heading out to sea!
A completely another setting as soon as the sun comes out! |
I got inspired by the amazing Julia Kuznetsova and went off to shoot some Lion's Mane jellyfish underwater. It's a fun chase, especially from a kayak. You can only paddle that far, then you're busy with the camera. You gotta come very close to capture them, but be careful not to run over them, so you have to calculate your angle, approach and drift-off... and to top it all off, you cannot come too close - then you get burned!
Such a good way to both experience nature from the water level, and get a nice workout of paddling for several hours. I would love to come here over and over! Such an amazing place to be in. So happy that we have such beauty here in Scandinavia. Next time I hope to be able to do some climbing too - there are really good crags for trad climbing, starting just at the boardwalk of the harbor.
The classical Smögen fishermen huts, crags at the background. |