hellocloud photography by Ken Lönnström » nature

Time to begin

Ken — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 12:48:03 +0000

Yesterday we had worked for 14 days in a row, needless to say that we have been extremely tired most of the time, especially since we also work almost ten hours a day. Fruit picking is a tough and demanding job but we sure enjoy it. Where else do you have your office outdoors in the sunshine and rain?

After work we went straight to the hostel to shower and then we drove a few minutes to Warren District Agricultural Show here in Manjimup. It is quite a big festival down here in the South West. They had a horse riding competition, a cute carnival, live music, motocross shows and one big exhibit hall.

This is a yearly event and it keeps quite a few people occupied, because they work hard in order to prepare something good and out of the ordinary for the exhibit hall. What you can show is your locally grown fruits, vegetables, plants and flowers. You can also show your skills at cooking, painting, sewing, photographing. All of the above are also judged which encourage people to get better and better at what they are doing.

Our friend Shirley at the local video store told me about this show a couple of weeks ago and encouraged me to enter a selection of my photographs. The night before the photos had to be delivered, me and my lovely Jenny were sitting up late working on them. I had gotten them printed the day before but we had to fix some sort of frame around all of them, which ended up being very amusing. I’ll upload pictures of me on Facebook, sitting on the cement floor with a piece of wood and a sharp knife, trying to get the correct size for the frames.

When we came to the exhibit hall I was a bit nervous but we stayed occupied looking at all these beautiful pictures. Imagine the surprised look on my face when I found out that two of my photographs had received second prize in Landscape / Seascape and Monochrome – my two favourite classes!

I’m feeling so proud. Not only because of the prizes but also because I saw people point on my photos to both discuss and compliment them.

Later on when I collected them, the lady working told me about the Monochrome class. There were only two judges and they loved one picture each. They came absolutely nowhere in their discussions so in the end they decided to just flip a coin. Just thought I would let you know about what’s been going on. Now however, it is definitely time to sleep.

Have fun and stay happy!

Early mornings lightens the burden

Ken — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 14:41:57 +0000

Watching the reflections

Ken — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 12:04:19 +0000

Home is where your heart lies

Ken — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 15:46:12 +0000

Magnificent even after death

Ken — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 12:35:38 +0000

In this moment I am writing this blog post from inside our car in a small town called Walpole. We’ve had an amazing day, done lots of driving on scenic routes, gazed in amazement at this enormous trees along the road, visited a summer residence village and walked over 10 km in the bush and next to the ocean.

During that trip we encountered three kangaroos – twice! They stood completely still barely five-six meters from us and did not even blink when I photographed them. Otherwise it has been a day filled with deep discussions about life, educations and other important matters.

Good night and sleep tight!

Finding something perfect

Ken — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 12:51:01 +0000

When I looked upon the world

Ken — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 14:28:17 +0000

Yesterday, the last day of the weekend, I went on a road trip together with my Jenny and two of our friends. Cramped together in our little V-dub Herman the German were also Matt, the awesome Australian and Masako, our cute Japanese friend.

We have all worked together a few months ago so it felt a little bit like a reunion to go somewhere in our orange suntanned Beetle. Straight after lunch we jumped in the car, put on some Swedish country music and just enjoyed a relaxed and fun day.

First we went to see this old bridge called “One Tree Bridge.” You guessed it, it was made out of a huge tree, in fact it was a Karri tree, which can grow and become quite huge. Other places we visited was “The Four Aces”, “King Jarrah Heritage Trail”, “Fonty’s Pool” and at sunset we went to “The Diamond Tree” just outside of Manjimup.

It is a 51 meter high Karri tree which is still used as a fire lookout. There’s a “ladder” that enables anyone to climb up to the top and watch in awe, the forest surrounding the area. This is also where I took the above picture and a few others. It is undoubtedly the most intense sunset I have ever seen. I took pictures for probably 25 minutes because everything changed the whole time.

The others climbed down 20 minutes before me because they did not want to climb when it was dark, but hey I did not mind. Not the slightest. Being alone 51 meters up in a tree gazing around as the world burns and becomes ashes is an incredible experience/memory. Serenity.

Oh, how I’m gonna miss Australia.

Untitled till the world changes

Ken — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 14:01:15 +0000

The calm before the storm

Ken — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 13:38:22 +0000

Not just another beautiful day

Ken — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 16:33:26 +0000

Early in the morning a few days ago I was working in the apple orchard as usual. Many mornings are so fantastic. Beautiful. Getting up at four and an hour later start working, getting a head start on everything and come home earlier than everyone else.

This morning I kept climbing up and down the ladder but I could not really concentrate on work because of the surroundings, the sun rise, the peaceful moments. At the top of my ladder, I just stopped, took a deep breath and looked out over the orchard, watching the mist rise from the ground. Sometimes I even feel so light, as if I could glide up with the mist to greet the clouds. I truly love mornings and my work.