Hållö – Island of Rocks

An amazing island of rocks, hares, birds … and photographers. The North Sea is just outside of the small town of Smögen and to the south, the island of Hållö is located. You go there by boat if you pack your stuff really quickly and well. The skipper has no patience with city slickers …

The island is obviously a large collection of rocks and old formations from the ice age. Maybe this is the most interesting place for geology studies related to the ice age. It is also a very good choice for photography and this weekend in the end of May, we were two teams, one from Linköping and one from Lerum. Since the island is so small, only about 1300 meters long and 600 meters wide, we thought it would be crowded, but it was in fact very easy to find scenery without people ruining the shootings.

I captured photos of a variety of things and people. Panorama shooting was not so easy, but I have a few of them in the queue for processing. Later they will be posted here. The weather was very good for this time of the year, we were lucky indeed. This made it difficult to shoot unless it was at sunrise or at sunset. I especially remember the sunrise since my hostel window was heading to the north. I just had to raise my head from the pillow and watch the sunrise – which happened around 4 am. Well, not the actual sun, but the light became stronger every minute until the sunrise at about 5.20 am.

The story did not end here – there was a wedding in progress one of the days. It was actually another photographer (let’s say the third team) and he had noticed us. Since it can be quite difficult to shoot ones own wedding, he asked us for some assistance, and I volunteered. There I was, in the little chapel, dressed in walking boots, green outdoor trousers, orange middle layer jacket and no shower since yesterday … and I had to use a Canon DSLR.

Nothing wrong with a Canon – just that I am not familiar with the strange positions of the knobs and buttons. It was a new experience. We did some photos near the lighthouse and during the wedding ceremony. Afterwards, we took some more photos of the family. Everything went well and I think the married couple will remember the event and me for many years to come. Who wouldn’t with such an outfit …

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