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Travel Journal Photos
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daylight Sundsvall is a small industrial town nestled between two mountains in northern Sweden. The city is on the coast, facing Finland. It feels like Vancouver, but at 1/10 the size. I am staying with my friend Anna's family. I met her last fall at an environmental journalism conference. Her family has been showing me around their spectacular islands and mountains. Although it is somewhat chilly, it hasn't hurt my photography. This far north, the sun never sets during summertime. It simply strolls behind the mountains for a cigarette break. Night time pauses at sunset and at 3am fast-forwards to sunrise. Within Sundsvall, I've toured the northernmost Ikea store in Sweden and possibly the world. On my first day in Sundsvall, we watched a Swedish high school graduation, which have much more fun and energy than American graduations, which look as formal and serious as a funeral by comparison. The students were presented in groups of 30 on the steps of the school, according to their specialization. They wear a special white cap with a black band and vinyl black brim that look like a captains hat. They sing a special graduation song and then take of their hats. The parents are below, holding signs on yardsticks with pictures of the graduates when they were younger, in scenes sometimes embarrassing and occasionally naked. Many of the people tie ribbons to flowers and small bottles of champaign and drape them around the necks of the graduates until they have manes of flowers. The climax of the celebration is a short march to the town square, while singing the graduation song. There, the students board flatbed trucks, decorated by the junior classes with ribbons and tree branches, for a victory lap around the city center. Tomorrow morning, I am leaving Sundsvall for a music festival in Hultsfred. Following the festival, I will tour Stockholm and Gothenburg. At MSU, I know the psychiatrist who diagnosed the Stockholm Syndrome. When I come back from Europe in two weeks, I will be attending a seminar he's hosting for photographers to help them cover graphic and traumatic news events. I am currently waiting to hear whether my top two picks for employment are going to make me offers. If so, I will soon return to Europe for a year or two. |
