En minnesvärd helg på Junior Nordic TeamGym Championships 2024

April 23, 2024 by Stig Johansson in Sport, Sweden

“Jag är nu ett av era fan och uppmanar verkligen fler att uppleva en gymnastiktävling!”

— Me

Så var det över, Junior Nordic TeamGym Championships 2024. Det är något helt speciellt med en arena fylld av människor som har tränat länge och som äntligen får chansen att visa upp sina färdigheter. Vissa tävlar för sin egen skull, helt uppslukade i sin egen värld, medan andra hämtar energi från en publik full av hejarrop, applåder och medryckande musik. Att skapa nya vänskapsband, umgås med lagkamrater, och att enligt tävlingens tema #forfun bara ha roligt, är ofta det allra viktigaste.

För mig var det premiär på många sätt. Det var första gången jag bevittnade en truppgymnastiktävling på plats – bara en månad efter att ha sett en på video. Det var förstås också första gången jag fotograferade gymnaster under ett sådant evenemang. Med erfarenheter från fotograferingstillfällen hos LUGI Gymnastik, som även var arrangör för JNM 2024, och lagens träningar dagen innan, lyckades jag fånga några minnesvärda ögonblick.

Helgens verkliga hjältar är utan tvekan alla volontärer, föräldrar och engagerade personer i klubbarna som gör evenemang som dessa möjliga. Jag vill särskilt hylla LUGI Gymnastik för deras fantastiska arbete och en tävlingshelg som många kan lära sig av. Från den trevlige mannen som spontant skapade nummerlappar av bakplåtspapper och serverade helt vanlig korv som smakade exceptionellt i sammanhanget, till mamman som tålmodigt förklarade reglerna för en gymnastiknovis som mig. Alla som såg till att lagen startade på exakt utsatt tid helt utan förseningar, tekniken i hallen där man enkelt kunde se vem som var på golvet och vem som skulle ut därnäst, videoteamet som gjorde det möjligt för dem som inte kunde närvara i Lund att följa tävlingarna, LUGI-tjejen som outtröttligt ropade bra jobbat till alla lag när de lämnade planen efter utförda moment. Och detta är bara en bråkdel av alla som bidrog. Grymt!

“Känslan av spänning och förväntan, rädsla och trygghet, osäkerhet och rutin, vänner och motståndare, kritiker och fans, blandas i en fantastisk symfoni av känslor.”

— Me

Även om jag inte är någon expert på gymnastik, är känslan i rummet densamma som när jag fotograferar handbollsspelare i ungdomsturneringar, vårt damlandslag i volleyboll, eller skidåkare som förbereder sig för ett 20 km fristilslopp i världscupen. Känslan av spänning och förväntan, rädsla och trygghet, osäkerhet och rutin, vänner och motståndare, kritiker och fans, blandas i en fantastisk symfoni av känslor.

Till alla tävlande i Junior Nordic TeamGym Championships 2024 – ni är otroligt begåvade idrottare! Jag är nu ett av era fan och uppmanar verkligen fler att uppleva en gymnastiktävling!

“The team! The team made a decision!”

— Me

LUGI - Success story 22/23

February 06, 2023 by Stig Johansson in Opinon, Sweden, Thoughts

I had a manager for a while who left a lot to be desired when it came to being a support when the going got tough, a mentor who could lift and get more out of each individual than they knew they had within them. A worthless leader in my eyes. But he was one of the people I learned the most from throughout my professional life. He was a fantastic analyst who could put his finger on what needed to be done, sometimes an unpleasant finger that hurt. Still, you understood that it was true deep down. But there was no doubt that the team needed to be protected from him. He needed to be filtered through others to have the desired effect. Some kind of humanizer filter. His intentions weren't evil but they came out wrong. It was his way of communicating and putting himself above everyone else that just did not work.

One thing I learned from this man was that you should write the success story of a project before implementing it. Then it was just a matter of creating what was said, simple. Describe to everyone and yourself where you are when the project is over, what you did to make it happen and what values you have delivered. Brilliant in many ways. Not only do you have a clear goal to communicate and work on together with your team. You also have the project planning in place with challenges and achieved results described. Only to implement. Easy enough!

“His intentions weren’t evil but they came out wrong. It was his way of communicating and putting himself above everyone else that just did not work.”

— Me

It may sound simple and naive. It obviously requires hard work, bringing out all the individual strengths of everyone in the project, reflections and adjustments during the journey. The job needs to be done! Of course, unexpected things will happen but they happen whether you have a goal or not.

So what does this have to do with handball and more specifically, with LUGI's women's team in the 22/23 season?

My youngest son and I usually amuse ourselves by doing match analyses after the games. It has been about technical errors, fantastic saves, good pulled pork burgers in the restaurant and everything in between. So based on that, this is the success story written before it happened.

LUGI - Success story 22/23
Lund, January 2023

“Those who are supposed to provide safety and help when it is the toughest and the team struggles are downright failing in their mission. ”

— Me

With 8-9 games left of the season, the situation is anything but happy faces and that is perhaps the worst, not the technical error in minute 47. It hurts to see the leadership that unfolds. Those who are supposed to make you feel safe when it is the toughest and the team struggles are downright failing in their mission.

“If you believe your every move can be a failure, you will stop trying.”

— Me

During the fall, when my son and I analyzed the games, we often liked certain players who stood out. Unfortunately, there were only so many and usually the same players from game to game. Some players always gave it everything, with big hearts and never stopped running regardless of the opponents or what was on the scoreboard. Why didn't more players do it? I thought at the time it was a matter of safety and I still think so. If you only think about not making mistakes, you lose all about what's essential in a game like handball. If you believe your every move can be a failure, you will stop trying.

If you instead have a positive thought that I'm going through that gap, this ball will be stuck in the net behind the goalkeeper. She won't get past me even if that is the last thing I do in this game. Then that will happen!

At the end of March, we look forward to the season's start of 23/24. Not because we think it's nice that this season is over but because we have a lot of energy left and a belief in ourselves and our teammates. That we can go as far as we like! All the way!

That it turned out the way it did in 22/23 was due to many things that are easy to blame. Injuries, the management, the opponents, the crowd, or actually the absence of them, and so on. But above all, it was due to lack of feeling safe and joy for the game! But somewhere at the beginning of 2023, something happened. Of course, some players returned from injuries. But there was something else too.

“Some they win, and some they loose. But none of that matters.”

— me

The team! The team made a decision! The group came together! A significant change in my son's and my analysis is that there are not a few players we highlight after the games. Everyone plays for the team, giving a little extra to contribute. Everyone gives their all in every situation. Sometimes the ball hits the post. Sometimes, a player gets stuck in the opponent's defense, and sometimes a ball is thrown outside the court or makes the goalkeeper better than she is. Some they win, and some they loose. But none of that matters. The players feel safe in their group, so they keep trying as long as they have time on the clock with a big heart, a straight back, and a lot of pride.

Lunds stolthet!

“The players feel safe in their group, so they keep trying as long as they have time on the clock with a big heart, a straight back, and pride.

Lunds stolthet!”

— me

Sweden vs. Serbia

January 06, 2023 by Stig Johansson in Sweden, Sport

INTERNATIONAL GAME

It's not in the first game in a World Cup you have to be at your best and definitely not in the first training game before the World Cup. So from that perspective it was an excellent game and a nice win in a packed, atmospheric arena.

The exhibit - Skåne 2020 - is open

February 02, 2021 by Stig Johansson in Sweden, Landscape

Now my exhibition is open. The theme is 2020, a year with many faces. It can probably be said that 2020 has been a very different year, a difficult year, a difficult period, a very challenging time for all of us. A time that has probably changed us more deeply than we still understand.

It has also been a year, just like any other year. The beautiful sweeping light green fields, the sunrise at Stenshuvud, the piers in Bjärred. When the sun goes down behind a large oak tree outside Stångby in the middle of a yellow sea of rapeseed. The city has also been the same. The cathedral stands where it has always stood. Stadsparken has invited extra training and play. The botanical garden with all its beautiful flowers and trees may have been a little extra beautiful this year.

It was apparent to choose 2020 as the theme of my exhibition, to show some of what has been the same. Part of the fantastic that is around us in our vicinity. Many of us had a little more time in 2020. I am one of them. When you can not travel to exotic places for reasons we can not control, you have to look a little closer around you. There is so much beauty that has almost always been there and will remain for a long time to come. It just became a little clearer in 2020.

My exhibition at the City Library in Lund runs until 28/2. If for some reason, you can not visit it, it is also here on my website. Click on the link below. Like me, if you think that pictures should be experienced in print, I will exhibit them again in the same place during October 2021. Then we can hopefully socialize in more ordinary ways. If you want a picture closer, you can also buy my photos in my new shop here.

Exhib 2021, Lund City Library

Running out of film

September 13, 2020 by Stig Johansson in Animals, film, istillshootfilm, Sweden

The other day, Exor and I made a trip to Botanical Garden in Lund. With me, I had my EOS 30 with EF 50mm f/1.2 on, charged with Kodak Ektar 100 film. Photographing flowers is not something I do very often but wow, what fantastic shapes and colors.

In the last month, I have started photographing more and more analog again. I have used my small pocket cameras, my larger SLR, and my Mamiya rz67 120mm medium format giant.

The film stock in the freezer has started to decrease to the point that I have had to refill with more 35mm film. 120mm has also decreased a bit, but there is still a fair amount left. I have had many different types of film in my freezer before, but now I will focus on a smaller number of brands and variants.
On the 35mm side, I will rely on the Kodak Ektar 100 and Portra 800, which both are color negative. Also, I will use Kodak Ektachrome, which is a beautiful slide film. As a black and white film, it will be the, perhaps, a little boring, Ilford HP5+.

At 120mm, the focus will be on the Fujifilm Velvia 50 slide film for landscape, and for color negative, I will use the Fujifilm 400H. Here I will run Fujifilm for black/white also, Acros 100.

Of course, there are many reasons to shoot with film. Maybe not as many as reasons why to photograph at all, but close enough. In addition to the emotional, the creative side, it is also a technical part, and that should be as easy and straightforward as possible.

When shooting with film, of course, you need to develop it and then either scan it or make paper copies with an enlarger. The actual development of film looks a little different depending on whether it is black/white film, color negative, or slide film you are working with. Developing black/white is the easiest, and there it has become even more convenient with Cinestills Monobath. Also, C41, the process for developing color negatives, Cinestill has significantly simplified it with its two-step solution. Then you have slide film that is a little more difficult, and there I use Tental's E6 development, which consists of 4 steps and a 2.5-minute rinsing between each step. So that takes time, and you need to agitate every 15-30 seconds so you can't do anything else during development.

For my part, I urge everyone to give it a try. You can always send your film to a lab and have it both developed and digitized. There are also lots of cheap cameras you can use. The results are still in the compositions and capturing the feeling of the moment.

My tree

August 22, 2020 by Stig Johansson in Landscape, Sunset, Sweden, Drone

It was a long time since I photographed at home, but yesterday the sky was magical, so "My" tree had to be a model. I have shot this tree many times in all seasons of the year. Yesterday it was a good quick stop on the way when I was out on an errand. But there was time for some pictures with a long and short lens and some flybys with a drone. A peaceful moment in everyday life!

Canon EOS R5 RF70-200mm F2.8 L IS USM 1/5 sec @ f / 14, ISO 100 135 mm — Canon EOS R5
RF70-200mm F2.8 L IS USM
1/5 sec @ f / 14, ISO 100
135 mm

Canon EOS R5 RF15-35mm F2.8 L IS USM 1/40 sec @ f / 14, ISO 100 35 mm — Canon EOS R5
RF15-35mm F2.8 L IS USM
1/40 sec @ f / 14, ISO 100
35 mm

DJI Mavic Air 2 1/100 sec @ f / 2.8, ISO 100 4.5 mm (24 mm) — DJI Mavic Air 2
1/100 sec @ f / 2.8, ISO 100
4.5 mm (24 mm)